This is the Header Line (optional) |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | This file brought to you by... ÚÄ¿ | o | | o | ÚÄÄÙ ÀÄÄ¿ | o | | o | ÀÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÙ | o | | o | ÄÂÄ · Ú ÒÄ¿ ÖÄ¿ ÖÄ¿ · ÄÂÄ ³ ³ ÖÄ¿ · Ú ÖÄ¿ ÒÚÄ ÒÄ¿ ÒÄ¿ | o | | o | ³ ÇÄ´ ÇÄ ÓÄ¿ ÇÄ´ º ³ ³ ³ ÓÄ¿ ÇÄ´ ÇÄ´ ÇÁ¿ ÇÄ ÇÂÙ | o | | o | Á ½ À ÐÄÙ ÓÄÙ ½ À ÓÄÙ Á ³ ³ ÓÄÙ ½ À ½ À Ð À ÐÄÙ Ð \ | o | | o | ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ | o | | o | Greensboro, North Carolina's Christian BBS (919) 545-3117 14.4 HST | o | | o | ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | Documentation File for NewsBars | o | | o | =============================== | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | NewsBars is a little utility that allows you to input an ASCII text | o | | o | file, and create output files that look like "greenbar" computer | o | | o | paper. NewsBars will create both an ANSI file ( with alternating | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | cyan and white bars, and cute little perforations and pin feed | o | | o | holes), and an ASCII file (Just the pin feed holes and perf lines). | o | | o | | o | | o | You can see a sample of the output from NewsBars in this archive; | o | | o | NEWSDOCS.ANS and NEWSDOCS.ASC were produced by processing the file | o | | o | NEWSBARS.DOC through NewsBars. | o | | o | | o | | o | NewsBars was created one afternoon in a fit of desperation. At that | o | | o | time, nobody (that I was aware of) in Greensboro was using the | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | "greenbar paper look" for their news files, and I wanted to use it, | o | | o | to look distinctive and... well, just for fun. I had used a | o | | o | different utility (I won't mention the name) to get the green | o | | o | barpaper look, and I was having real problems getting it to display | o | | o | right... the "Continue? Y/n" prompt kept coming out black on black! | o | | o | Callers would sit there, waiting for something to happen... and | o | | o | finally, in frustration, hit "enter". I got a lot of user | o | | o | complaints... and NO SysOp likes that. Not only was the other | o | | o | program creating problems, it was also cumbersome to use. So, after | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | a lot of fussing and frustration, I decided to "roll my own", and | o | | o | NewsBars was born. | o | | o | | o | | o | NewsBars is designed to be SysOp friendly. Since different BBS | o | | o | softwareand different applications require different filenames, | o | | o | NewsBars allows you to specify the filename (complete with full | o | | o | path) of both output files, of the input file, and allows you, | o | | o | optionally, to insert a "header" and "footer" that can contain | o | | o | control characters to allow the output files to directly interface | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | with your BBS software. For example, on our BBS, running Remote | o | | o | Access, we insert a "" (Ascii 002) in the header line, which | o | | o | disables the user's ability to abort display of the file by hitting | o | | o | "S". (Users HAVE to read at least the first screenful of the news!).| o | | o | As a footer, we have "Press [Enter] to Continue...". The "" (Ascii| o | | o | 001) causes RA to pause, and wait for the user to hit Enter). These | o | | o | codes are optional, and you can specify whatever you need to | o | | o | manipulate your BBS software to the desired effect. | o | | o | | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | | o | | o | Setting up NewsBars | o | | o | =================== | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | NEWSBARS.EXE looks for the file NEWSBARS.CFG, which must reside in | o | | o | the current directory. NEWSBARS.CFG is a simple ASCII text file, | o | | o | that you can edit with your favorite text editor. The format is as | o | | o | follows: | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | Full path and filename of input text file | o | | o | Full path and filename of output ANSI file | o | | o | Full path and filename of output ASCII file | o | | o | Header Line (optional) | o | | o | Footer line (optional) | o | | o | | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | | o | | o | A "skeleton" of NEWSBARS.CFG is included in this archive, for your | o | | o | convenience. | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | Using NewsBars | o | | o | ============== | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | NewsBars was designed to be run from within a batch file, to | o | | o | simplify and streamline the process of updating news files. The | o | | o | pertinent parts of the batch file that we use here on The Salt | o | | o | Shaker look something like this: | o | | o | | o | | o | CD\NEWSTEXT | o | | o | QNEWS NEWSTEXT | o | | o | NEWSBARS | o | | o | | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | | o | | o | This calls our favorite text editor (Qedit), which has been | o | | o | specially configured for editing the news files (right margin set to| o | | o | collumn 68) and renamed (to avoid confusion with a different copy of| o | | o | the same editor elsewhere) from Q.EXE to QNEWS.EXE. The editor | o | | o | starts up and loads NEWSTWXT, which is the text file that is to be | o | | o | fed to NewsBars. After editing the news text file, NewsBArs is | o | | o | invoked, and the appropriate filenames are created in the proper | o | | o | directories. We have it set up on an "Alt-F-key" under RA, so we can| o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | easily update the news files any time that we're online locally. | o | | o | | o | | o | IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT NO LINE IN THE INPUT TEXT FILE EXCEEDS | o | | o | 68 CHARACTERS IN LENGTH. LINES LONGER THAN 68 CHARACTERS WILL BE | o | | o | TRUNCATED TO 68 CHARCTERS (and could come out looking really | o | | o | stupid!) | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | Warranties and such | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | =================== | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | You Gotta be kiddin' me. This program is guaranteed to take up space| o | | o | on your drive... period. It's simple, and oughta be safe enough, but| o | | o | I am not promising ANYTHING! | o | | o | | o | | o | BUT.... THE PRICE IS RIGHT! | o | | o | =========================== | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | In an act of repentance for all that unregistered stuff laying | o | | o | around here, this program is released as Freeware. I hope it makes | o | | o | your SysOping more hassle-free, and that you enjoy it. | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | Released May 20, 1991 | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| | o | | o | | o | Dan Case | o | | o | SysOp | o | | o | The Salt Shaker | o | | o | (919) 545-3117 HST | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | | o | |-o-|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-o-| This is the Footer line (optional)