Alterwho?

BETA version 1.1

A T.A.G. Utility for Multiuser T.A.G. SysOps




Written by: Melanie A. Meyer
The Snooze Button BBS
Glen Burnie, Maryland


Node 1 1:261/1106 (410)766-4058 USR Dual Standard
V.32bis, HST


Node 2 1:261/1156 (410)766-0640 Practical Peripherals
PM14400FXSA V.32bis




Registration There isn't any! This program is free. You may use it for
as long as you like.





Disclaimer This program is not guaranteed to do anything except take
up space on your hard drive. However, after testing it on
my own multiuser T.A.G. BBS, version 2.6c, I have found it
to do the job quite nicely.





Share Aware? Yes. This program utilizes file sharing/locking routines
by Mike Woltz BCSHARE (C) 1990, Buffalo Creek Software, and
*SHOULD* work properly on systems operating in multitasking
environments.


















+===========================================================================+


What This Does...

The program alterwho.exe will read the contents of a configuration
file, and then change the long description in the $who.dat file.




Why would you use it?

After a user logs off of a T.A.G. board that is run with a front end
mailer, T.A.G. exits and changes the long description in the $who.dat
file to "Down". Suppose Muffy Button entered the Whos Online command.
This is what she would see:


Node 1: Down
Node 2: Muffy Button from Glen Burnie, Md at 2400 baud
Node 3: Down


So to change this, the Sysop would execute alterwho.exe AFTER T.A.G.
exited, and BEFORE the batch file loaded the front end mailer.



Suppose you wanted SysOp Steve to see:

Node 1: Muffy Button from Glen Burnie, Md (2400 baud)
In the GAMES again!
Node 2: Still waiting...
Node 3: Sysop Steve from Glen Burnie, Md (keyboard)

instead of:

Node 1: Muffy Button from Glen Burnie, Md (2400 baud)
In a door
Node 2: Down
Node 3: Sysop Steve from Glen Burnie, Md (keyboard)

when doing a Whos Online...


You would execute alterwho from the batch file that called the game,
before the game executed.



As Arthur Ward pointed out, T.A.G. normally reports that the user is
"In a door" when in reality, LOGOFF.BAT is executing. A remedy for this
would be to place a call to ALTERWHO.EXE at the top of your LOGOFF.BAT
file. example:


Node 1: Muffy Button from Glen Burnie, MD (2400 baud)
Walking the Plank! <- Logging off
Node 2: Waiting for a caller...766-0640
Node 3: Sysops Only






+============================================================================+




Setup


Easy.

1) Put ALTERWHO.EXE and ALTERWHO.CFG in your Multinode Directory
(the directory where $who.dat resides..)

2) Edit the ALTERWHO.CFG file to your liking.

3) Insert a call to ALTERWHO into your batch files.

Done.






ALTERWHO.CFG


The ALTERWHO.CFG file has the following format:

GAME
Playing games AGAIN!
WAIT1
Waiting for a caller...766-4058!
WAIT2
Waiting for a caller...766-0640!
LOGOFF
Hitting the long, lonely highway...
GWAR
Instigating GLOBAL WAR!



As you can see, the format is:


HEADER1 <- In CAPS, 8 char MAX!, CR
String associated with HEADER1 <- 64 char MAX, followed by CR
HEADER2
String associated with HEADER1















+=============================================================================+
Color Codes



Yes.. you can use T.A.G. color codes in ALTERWHO.CFG. And to
make it easy, I've included a function that changes any '^'
encountered into a T.A.G. Contol-P color code.

example:

WAITING
^6Waiting for a ^9CALLER ^2!

"Waiting for a " would be in color number 6. "CALLER " would be
in color number 9 and "!" would display in color number 2.

Just place a carat(^), followed by a number from 0-9 in the text.


Calling ALTERWHO From Batch Files


cd\Multi <- Change to Multinode Dir
alterwho 1 WAITING <- Execute ALTERWHO on node 1
and use WAITING as your
header.
cd\wherever <- Change Directories back to
where you need to be.


So the complete command line is:

alterwho

is automatically converted to uppercase letters.




Well.. Thats about it. If you have any trouble, please notify me
at FIDO 261/1156 or 261/1106. Thanks..

Melanie A. Meyer