     
     
     
     
                           R_Utils
     
                              
                              
     A Collection of Utilities for the RemoteAccess BBS
                              
                              
                              
                              
                              
                              
    Copyright (c) 1994, Cabell B. Clarke Jr., ALL RIGHTS
                          RESERVED
                              
                              
                        Version 1.00
                        Documentation
                              
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     --------------
     >>DISCLAIMER<<
     --------------
     Users   of  R_Utils  hereafter  referred  to  as   'THE
     SOFTWARE', must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
     
     THE  SOFTWARE is supplied as is. Cabell B. Clarke  Jr.,
     hereafter  referred to as 'THE AUTHOR',  disclaims  all
     warranties,  expressed or implied,  including,  without
     limitation,  the warranties of merchantability  and  of
     fitness  for  any  purpose.   THE  AUTHOR  assumes   no
     liability  for damages, direct or consequential,  which
     may result from the use of THE SOFTWARE,
     
     If  you find THE SOFTWARE useful and find that you  are
     using  and  continue the use of THE SOFTWARE  after  30
     days,  you  must register THE SOFTWARE per instructions
     in  the  enclosed  registration form (LICENSE.DOC),  or
     stop using THE SOFTWARE,
     
     Anyone  distributing  THE  SOFTWARE  for  any  kind  of
     remuneration  must  first contact  THE  AUTHOR  at  the
     enclosed address for authorization,
     
     THE  SOFTWARE,  all  programs,  and  documentation  are
     copyrighted  (c)  1994 by Cabell  B.  Clarke  Jr.,  ALL
     RIGHTS  RESERVED.  You may share unmodified  copies  of
     the  whole package, providing that the copyright notice
     remains intact on all copies,
     
     It  is  forbidden to modify, adapt, translate, reverse-
     engineer,  decompile and/or disassemble  THE  SOFTWARE.
     Patching  THE  SOFTWARE  to  remove  or  change  author
     information and/or copyright notices is also  expressly
     forbidden,
     
     THE  AUTHOR may choose not to fix any problem  that  is
     related to hardware and/or software configurations  and
     that causes THE SOFTWARE not to run correctly,
     
     THE  AUTHOR  may at a future date choose to discontinue
     support of THE SOFTWARE,
     
     THE  AUTHOR  makes  no other warranties,  expressed  or
     implied.
     
     
     ----------------
     >>Introduction<<
     ----------------
     R_Utils  are a collection of utilities that I wrote  to
     help  me in the day to day operation of my RemoteAccess
     2  BBS.   They are simple but useful and I use some  of
     them  every  day  in the various types of  batch  files
     which  control  my BBS.  I decided to release  them  as
     Shareware so that others might make use of them.
     
     It  must be stressed here that some of the programs are
     only  compatible with RA 2.0x and will  not  work  with
     older  versions of RA.  Unpredictable things may  occur
     if  you  attempt to run those utils in any  environment
     other than RA 2.0x.
     
     The R_Utils are:
     
          AGSET          (ra2 only)
          FLAG           (ra2 only)
          CITYFIX        (ra2 only)
          CALLER         (ra2 only)
          RASYSTEM             (ra2 only)
          RAEVENTS       (ra2 only)
          R_LOG
          SPACE
     
     Each  program  is described in detail in the  next  few
     pages of this document.
     

     -----------
     >>CityFix<<
     -----------
     CityFix is a RA 2 utility program for cleaning  up  the
     LOCATION  field  in  your user file.  Ever  notice  how
     everyone types their location differently?  I  bet  you
     didn't  know  there  were  so many  ways  to  punctuate
     `Richmond VA'...  I didn't.
     
     This   simple   utility  reads  your  USERS.BBS   file,
     capitalizes  the first letter of each word and  removes
     ALL  punctuation  from it.  There are  no  command-line
     parameters for this utility.  Simply type:
     
          Cityfix
     
     The  program would make the following changes to  these
     examples:
     
     1)        rICHmond , VA
     
          becomes
     
               Richmond Va
     
     
     2)        HOLLY ,, grove  va
     
          becomes
     
               Holly Grove Va
     
     
     That's  really all this program does.  It is  merely  a
     beautification program for your user file.
     
     ---------
     >>AGSet<<
     ---------
     AreaGroupSet  (or AGSet) is a RA 2 utility  program  to
     manipulate the Areas and Groups in your User File.   It
     is  used to change the values in the default File Area,
     File  Group, Message Area, and Message Group fields  in
     your USERS.BBS file for all users.  This is useful, for
     example, if you use your file areas for mounting  CD's,
     or  maybe you want certain message groups available  on
     certain days (?).  AGSet gives you a quick way to  plug
     in  any  value you like into these fields and like  the
     other R_Utils, can be run from your batch file.
     
     The Syntax for AGSet is this:
     
       AGSet <switches>

         where valid switches are:
     
         -FA<number>          set FileArea to number
     
         -FG<number>          set FileGroup to number
     
         -MA<number>          set MsgArea to number
     
         -MG<number>          set MsgGroup to number
     
     
     
     You may use all four of these switches on your command-
     line during a single execution of AGSet.
     
     ---------
     >>R_Log<<
     ---------
     R_Log is a program which generates a log entry based on
     command-line  parameters and an  environment  variable.
     It  will  generate log entries in 'both' of the popular
     formats  -  Opus/Binkley style  as  well  as  FrontDoor
     style.  The Output of this utility may be redirected to
     the file of your choice using standard DOS conventions.
     
     R_Log  determines what Log style you  want  to  use  by
     reading  the  environment variable R_Log.  The  default
     log  style  is  FrontDoor, so if you want  a  FrontDoor
     style log entry, you need not set the r_log environment
     variable.   Valid  settings for the  R_Log  environment
     variable are:
     
       set r_log=FD        ; FrontDoor style Log
     
       set r_log=BT        ; Opus/Binkley style Log
     
     From  this, R_Log can determine what style of log entry
     to generate.
     
     Syntax  for  R_Log  is  a little complicated  and  will
     differ   depending  on  which  log  style  you  select.
     Basically the syntax looks like this:
     
          r_log <switch1> <switch2> <logtext>
     
     where
     
       switch1   -log 1st char of line
                         or
             \     (no 1st char)
     
       switch2   -Product identifier (1st FD entry/ALL BT entries)
                         or
             \     (not initial entry fd mode)
     
       logtext   -What you want displayed in log entry
     
     The following examples illustrate the r_log operation.
     
     FD Mode examples
     
     1)   r_log ! ValidOOR Beginning... >> system.log
     2)   r_log \ \ Calling Home >> system.log
     
     would append the following to the file `system.log':
     
     
     ----------  03 Nov 94  ValidOOR
     ! 12:00:00  Beginning...
       12:00:01  Calling Home
     
     
     BT Mode Examples
     
     1)   r_log ! VDOR Beginning... >> system.log
     2)   r_log \ VDOR Calling Home >> system.log
     
     would append the following to the file `system.log':
     
     ! 03 Nov 12:00:00 VDOR Beginning...
       03 Nov 12:00:01 VDOR Calling Home
     
     
     
     Remember  to use a 4-character product identifier  when
     in  BT  mode so as to maintain compatibility with other
     logging  programs.   The backslash  is  not  valid  for
     Product  identifier  in  BT  mode.   If  you  use   it,
     unpredictable results will occur.  Use the greater than
     (>>) characters to direct your output to a log file  as
     illustrated  above.   That sums  up  the  operation  of
     R_Log.
     
     R_Log  is not a BBS-specific utility - it may  be  used
     for  any  type of logging you might want to do  from  a
     batch  file  or  whatever.  The two output  styles  are
     however  designed to mimic the two popular log  formats
     of BinkleyTerm and FrontDoor.

     ---------
     >>Space<<
     ---------
     This  is  a  little program for displaying  information
     about the space on your hard disk systems.  It displays
     total  and free space for a list of drives.  The format
     for  the  display  is  the  same  as  R_Log  and  Space
     understands  the  R_LOG environment  variable  detailed
     above.  The syntax follows:
     
          Space [drive letters]
     
     Thus: Space a c d e
     
     would display information on drives A: C: D: and E:  in
     that order.
     
     Colons  after  the  drive letters  are  not  necessary.
     Space is not a BBS specific utility - it should work on
     any MS-DOS system.
     
     ------------
     >>RAEvents<<
     ------------
     This  is  a little program for displaying your RA  2.0x
     system events quickly without having to enter RACONFIG.
     This  program  reads the EVENTS.RA file and  lists  the
     events  as shown in the example below.  Output  may  be
     redirected if desired.  Syntax is merely:
     
          RAEvents
     
     The events are displayed like this:
     
          STA Start EL  SMTWTFS Forced  Last Run
          --------------------------------------
          ENA 23:59 100 XXXXXXX  ****   01-01-80
          DIS 04:00 155 ------X         01-01-80
          DIS 02:00 123 ---X---  ****   01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          DIS 00:00 000 -------         01-01-80
          
     AN explanation of the header follows:
     
     STA       - Status of the event (Enabled or Disabled)
     Start     - Starting time of the event
     EL        - Errorlevel to exit RA with
     SMTWTFS   - Days of the week
     Forced    - indicated by `****'
     Last Run  - Date of last execution


     --------
     >>Flag<<
     --------
     This  RA 2 utility program makes global changes to your
     user  flags  in the USERS.BBS file.  It  will  set,  or
     reset  flags  for all users.  It is useful  for  things
     like   mounting  flag  controlled  CD's.   The   syntax
     follows:
     
          flag <flag> <Operation>
     
     Valid Flags are:
               A|B|C|D<1..8>
     
     Valid Operations are:
          On   -    turn flag on (X)
          Off  -    turn flag off (-)
     
     Example
     
          flag D1 Off
     
     would set all users' flag D1 Off(-)
     
     
     That's all there is to running Flag.
     

     ----------
     >>Caller<<
     ----------
     Caller  is a simple utility which allows you to  change
     the  total  calls number to your bbs in the SysInfo.BBS
     file.   Not  something that you'd use every day  but  a
     useful  utility  if you ever need to reinitialize  your
     sysinfo  file and don't want to lose that  total  calls
     number.  Syntax for Caller is simple:
     
          Caller <TotalCalls>
     
     So  typing  `caller 10000' would set  the  total  calls
     number  to 10000 in your sysinfo.bbs file.  That's  all
     there is to using Caller.
     
     
     ------------
     >>RASystem<<
     ------------
     RASystem  is  a  little  utility  which  displays   the
     contents  of  SYSINFO.BBS, the file which contains  the
     current caller count and the last caller name for  your
     RA  BBS.   The ouput of this util is expressed  in  log
     format  like  R_Log and Space and RASYSTEM  understands
     the R_LOG environment variable explained above.  Typing
     RASYSTEM is all you need for this util.  The output may
     be redirected to a file like this:
     
          rasystem > system.txt
     
     ----------------------------
     >>Registration and Support<<
     ----------------------------
     Registration of R_Utils helps to further development of
     the  programs  and ensure that shareware  continues  to
     work  for  everyone.  Registering entitles you  to  all
     future revisions within your major revision as well  as
     the  next  major revision without having to  spend  any
     more money.  That includes ANY new utilities which  are
     added  to  the major revision.  I am not one  of  these
     software  authors that releases a major revision  every
     week.  As  an  example  of this, ValidOOR  v1  which  I
     released  in  9-89 is still at v1.71  with  its  second
     major  release  coming  soon.  See  the  enclosed  file
     LICENSE.DOC for more registration information.
     
     Support for these programs may be obtained via my  BBS.
     Registration  of any of my programs automatically  gets
     you  access to the BBS system.  I am also available via
     FidoNet and sometimes Compuserve although I prefer  you
     not contact me on CIS unless absolutely necessary as  I
     cannot be sure that I will receive your message there.
     
     Cabell Clarke
     5513 Cottage St.
     Richmond VA  23228
     
     The Boot Factory BBS
     804-262-9289
     1200-28800 USR HST  v32terbo v34 vFC 8N1
     1:264/19@fidonet.org
     
     ---------------
     >>Bug Reports<<
     ---------------
     Please  report  all  bugs  to the  BBS  address  above.
     Include  as much detail as possible so I can  reproduce
     the problem.  I answer questions on the BBS much faster
     than  I  can using the US Mail so that is the preferred
     method.
     
     
