CHAT V3.3 Split-Screen Chat Program.


Installation stuff!
-----------------------------

One important step is that YOU NEED A FOSSIL DRIVER INSTALLED! This program
will not function if you do not have one installed. I won't bother explaining,
but it makes the modem read/writes alot better, and it's all BUFFERED!

(JUST ONE NOTE: THIS CHAT PROGRAM WILL WORK ON OTHER BBS SYSTEMS OTHER THAN
TELEGARD, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND OUT HOW TO INSTALL IT BY YOURSELF!)

Copy CHAT.EXE into your C:\BBS or C:\TELEGARD, or whatever your Telegard
directory is.

Command-Line parameters:
CHAT [ ]

Make a batch file in your BBS directory called "GLOBAT1.BAT". This is a Global
Function-Key batch file that Telegard will use. Every time you press ALT-1 from
ANYWHERE in the program this batch file will load, and inside the batch file,
you will set it up to load the Chat program.

So... In the batch file (1 line needed only):

@CHAT 1

The @ symbol just means that the command won't be echoed to the screen. Makes
things look neater...

The N/A is the name because you can't pass the user's name through that
particular batch file. Read on for the use of this function...

Some people may want to add a command on one of the menus for friends so they
can page you through it at any time. To do this, add a command. Leave the
titles BLANK so no-one knows it's there. So.........

(1) Long (Blank it out)
(2) Short (Blank it out)
(3) Letters PAGEME (Or whatever you choose)
(4) ACS y480
(5) Cmdkeys D-
(6) Command CHAT 1 C:\BBS\TRAP\SYSOP.LOG @N

(To activate this command, you would type in "//PAGEME")
(ACS of y480 means this command can only be used after 480 mins after midnight,
which is after 8:00am.)
(@N Passes the user's name, so you know who it is who paged you.)

So... That's all set-up!

Everything else on the program is pretty well self-explanitory.

If you want to run it in LOCAL mode, just send the command "ATE0&C0" to your
modem to make the Carrier Detect turn on. That's how I tested most of it out in
the programming stage.

So...... EXPERIMENT!!! Let me know how it works, or of any improvements you
can think of!


VERSION 1.3

Well, this program was mainly designed for Telegard, but I guess you could
install it on practically ANY BBs. The one thing this program wasn't setup for
was Paging the sysop, etc. However, you could set it up in Telegard for
special users on the board, and when they enter it, it has key-clickking, so if
you were around, you would be able to hear it. You could also set up a
time-frame for it.

Oh ya, and for those curious people, this program was programmed in Turbo-C
V1.5 (I found that Turbo-C V2.01 compiles programs larger, so I switched
back...)


UPGRADE TO VERSION 1.5

Version 1.4 was skipped being as it wasn't an official release. (I gave it to a
couple of people, but never had the time to send it to everyone.) Well, there
were a few improvements since the last version...

I cut out some of the unnecessary ANSI codes, so it should cut down on the data
being sent.

The marker was changed on the beginning of the line.

The line below the one being typed will be cleared (makes it easier to read).

The colour will change when you start at the top again, which makes it stand
out a little more.

And... That's about it... I can't remember what else I did, but that's most of
the major stuff.


UPGRADE TO VERSION 2.0

This version can now use full EGA 43/VGA 50 line modes when chatting. It
will do a scan to find out how many lines the user has, and find out the
maximum the sysop has, and go to the highest mode possible. I have tested
this feature on CGA and VGA adapters, with the user using CGA/VGA, and it
works perfectly. It will display:

SCREEN SIZES: Sysop:50 User:50--Mode:50 VGA

The mode it is using.
Lines the user has.
Lines the Sysop has.

This is what it would say in the 50 line mode. It will automatically change
the sysop's side from 25 line mode to 43/50 line mode depending on what the
user has. If the user screen size says "??", then their terminal program
did not respond, and it will default into 25 line mode.

Scrolling has been added so the cursor will not go back to the top of the
screen when the user's screen if full. There is a little jump, but that's
the scrolling effect, which nothing can be done with. People wanted
scrolling, and so you now have scrolling.


UPGRADE TO VERSION 2.1

Well, so much for the scrolling. Told you all it wasn't a good idea!
1) It screws up Telix's Incoming Translation tables (so some characters
wouldn't even be printed--A bug in Telix)
2) Amiga users, and other ANSI Emulating computers didn't support the
Scroll function, so it looked all screwed up.
So.... It's been changed back to the way it was, but with a few changes
this time, to make it easier for the sysop and user to see what's going on.

Also, Change the command in the GLOBATx.BAT file to "@CHAT 1" (Just get rid
of the N/A from the end.) Command froma Telegard Menu is still CHAT 1 @N

Let me know how it all goes!


UPGRADE TO VERSION 2.2

Well, due to a request from B.C., I have made a few more improvements in
the chat.
1) When you hit Ctrl-L, it will only clear the window of the user that
pressed Ctrl-L instead of re-drawing the entire screen.
2) Ctrl-F will force the user's scren size to whichever mode you want. This
option was added for those people whose terminal programs don't respond
to the Ansi code I am using to determine how large their screen is. If
the user isn't in the appropriate mode, their side will obviously look
screwed up! If the sysop can only support up to 25 lines, then the mode
change will have no effect.


UPGRADE TO VERSION 3.0


Quite a few internal changes have been made.
1) There was one bug. When you hit an ALT-?? combination, strange things
would happen (such as trying to access the printer). This was just from
the character produced from an ALT combination. It has been fixed.
2) The scrolling method has been changed once more, to make it easier to
read. When you reach the bottom, the last 4 lines are saved and
everything's scrolled.
3) A few more things added to speed up the program.
4) "Fake" cursor added for person not typing, so you have an idea of where
you last left off.
5) Now does a Sysop Page if the user activates it. Turn on the SCROLL LOCK
to silence it. (Also the same for Telegard's Chat--Won't page the
sysop.) To set specified times the user can page, make the command to
run the chat (as explained in earlier versions), and set ACS to,
eg:"y420!y1410". This would allow paging between 7:00am and 11:30pm. (7
* 60 = 420, 23.5 * 60 = 1410). You should make the command something
like "SPLIT-ANSI CHAT" because it's ANSI only.


UPGRADE TO VERSION 3.1

1) Chat Reason has been added, so you can tell what the person wants to
chat about.
2) Scroll-Lock now silences EVERYTHING once turned on. Therefore the CTRL-T
option to silence user in chat has been removed.

This version was a small edit, but people really wanted to have the "Chat
Reason" installed!


UPGRADE TO VERSION 3.2

1) The program will now print to a Log file so you can look back in your
sysop logs and see what the user typed in. The new command line format is:

CHAT [ ]
eg: CHAT 2 C:\BBS\TRAP\SYSOP.LOG @N
(This is what you would change in Telegard's Menu file)

NOTE! The GLOBAT1.BAT file still stays the same as "CHAT 1" or whatever
you had. No log file is needed if the sysop is going to invoke
it, but you MUST change the command in Telegard's Menus or it
will refuse to run!

2) [CTRL-G] Will now "BEEP" the user in chat. You will not hear the beep,
and if the user does it, you'll just hear his regular Keyclick and no
beep.


UPGRADE TO VERSION 3.4

1) CTRL-K Will toggle User's Keyboard On/Off so you can lock out his
typing.
2) CTRL-T Will turn on the Chat Trap, and will write the conversation to a
file called "CHAT.TXT".
S:"" is from the Sysop, and
U:"" is from the User.

Version 3.3 was skipped because I had the CTRL-T and CTRL-K active for
sysop and user, so the user could lock himself out... Hehe. It was
released, so I had to make another version.

3) There is a delay of 1 second before exiting so the fossil driver can
finish printing out what it has in the buffer before returning to the
BBS. I don't think it's all that necessary, but it's better to be safe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I hope you enjoy! And keep those suggestions rolling in! See you later...

--->SHADOW SENTINEL<--- Sysop of LAVA ROCK BBS (416)566-8518
14.4K baud -- HST V.42

P.S. Thanks to those of you who have called the BBS long distance so far!
The response from the Call-Back validation program has been
overwhelming! And remember... Call after 11:00pm. You get better long
distance rates. (BBS is down from 4:00am - 5:00am for Echo Mail. Don't
call then or you'll be wasting your time on the Front-Door Mailer, and
my TSR will hang up up at 4:00am anyway!) bye Bye BYE!