Bulletin Manager

by

John E Carrier
of Albany, New York

Compusurve ID: 75540,10




This program is designed to manage the bulletin files of a Spitfire BBS.
It creates and the the BULLETIN.BBS/CLR files and manipulates the
BULLET#.BBS/CLR files, making the addition, deletion and ordering of up to
20 bulletins as simple as possible.

The three files required are:

BULMGR.EXE - The program
BULMGR.CFG - A small configuration file
BULMGR.DAT - A data file containing the list entries

Copy these files into the SF\DISPLAY directory



Setting up Bulletin Manager


To use the system, first back up your current bulletins into another
directory, and delete them for \sf\display. Once this is done, we must edit
the configuration file BULMGR.CFG. This file is setup as follows:


line # | what is on it
-------|------------------------------
1 | Y
2 | Y
3 | Title
4 | 37;42;1
5 | 30;47;1


Line 1: This line enables the use of .CLR files.

Use Y - To enable the use of .CLR files
N - To use only the .BBS files

Line 2: This line enables the use of the ASCII graphics character border
in the BULLETIN.BBS file

Use Y - To use the border
N - to not use the border

Line 3: This line contains the tile line in the BULLETIN.BBS/CLR files.

Limitations: 1) The title can only be up to 30 chars.
2) The title is not centered automatically, you must
add to the beginning of the title to center it.

Line 4: This is the ANSI color code for the background field of
BULLETIN.CLR.

Line 5: This is the ANSI color code for the list field of BULLETIN.CLR.



With the configuration file ready, we can now execute Bulletin Manager,
and bring back your bulletins through the Add Entry option, explained below.



Using Bulletin Manager

There are nine options in Bulletin Manager. If color is turned off the
prompts for color files will be skipped. The options are as follows:


A - Add Bulletin

This option adds a bulletin to the system. When selected, the
following prompts will be given.

Enter Bulletin Number: - Enter the number of the new bulletin
Enter Bulletin Option: - Enter the line that appears in the
list, use a max. of 30 chars.
Enter NON ANSI file name: - Enter the file name of the .BBS file
Enter ANSI file name: - Enter the file name of then .clr file
or ENTER if you want to use the same
file as the .BBS file

The program will now copy the files to the correct BULLET# file
an add the option to the list. The .BBS file will have a #12
character added to the top of the file. If the system used the
.BBS file for the .CLR file, the ANSI codes to clear the screen
and set the color to gray on black, will be added to the top of
the file.


C - Create Menus

This option will create the bulletin list menus, based on the
options toggled in the configuration file.


D - Delete Bulletin

This option will delete the bulletin number specified, from the
list and delete the corresponding BULLET#.BBS/CLR files.


I - Insert Bulletin

This option is the same as Add Bulletin, except the bulletin is
inserted at the number and the current file and all the files
below it will be moved down the list.


R - Revise Entry

This option allows you to revise the information set for a
bulletin number. This includes the changing of the Bulletin
Option line, and the copying of new files into that bulletin
number.


S - Swap Bulletin

This option swaps the bulletins of one number with another,
including the bulletin option line and files.


M - Move Bulletin

This option moves a bulletin to a new number. If a bulletin
exists at the new number, the moved file is inserted at that
number and all the files at and bellow that number will be moved
down the list.


P - Pack Bulletins

This options moves all the bulletins towards the top of the
list.


X - Exit

This gets you out of the program.





I hope this program works for you, as well as it dose for me. If you have
any questions, drop me a message through Compuserv or any BBS you see me
on.