DOOR SKELETON
COPYRIGHT (C) 1992 BERNIE GALLAGHER
...is a complete BBS DOOR ready to compile and run!
--- INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------
Of course, it doesn't do anything (except ask the caller a few silly
questions)... It's just a skeleton program for YOU to build your
brainchild Door around.
However, it is a functional door even as it exists now and you could
very well install it as a door on your BBS. In fact, why don't you do
that and see what it does before you make any changes to it?
Even in it's skeleton form, you will see that it extracts the user's
name from DORINFO file (or prompts for your name in local mode), and
maintains a player file indexed by first and last name.
--- INVOCATION --------------------------------------------------------
The format to invoke the program is:
DOORSKEL <node> <bulletin>
<node> is a number from 0 to 4. Node 0 means local mode. Node 1 to
4 causes it to read DORINFO<node>.DEF which is created by your BBS (or
by a door file conversion program). It obtains the caller's name, com
port, baud rate, time remaining, and ANSI preference from this file.
<bulletin> is optional, and is the full path/name of the score
bulletin to create or update when the player ends his session.
No special config or install program is required. This program
will create all files it needs "on the fly" when it runs for the
first time.
--- INSTALLATION-------------------------------------------------------
As suggested above, I again suggest that you install it in it's
present form as a door on your BBS before you make any modifications to
the source.
You install Door Skeleton just as you would any other door:
configure your BBS to call a BATch file similar to the following one
when the caller selects it from your menu of doors. Also configure your
BBS to write a caller info file to the directory in which Door Skeleton
resides.
REM EXAMPLE BATCH FILE TO CALL DOOR SKELETON FROM BBS NODE 1
CD \DOORSKEL
DOORSKEL 1 C:\BBS\BULLET7
CD \BBS
STARTBBS.BAT
Door Skeleton expects a DORINFO type caller info file, named either
DORINFO<node>.DEF or CALLINFO.<node>. The format of this file is:
Line 1 = Name of BBS
Line 2 = Sysop's first name
Line 3 = Sysop's last name
Line 4 = Com port (1, 2, 3, or 4 - non numeric characters
are ignored, ie. "COM3", "COM 3", "3", " 3 ", etc.
all translate to com 3)
Line 5 = Baud rate (begins scanning at first numeric digit
and continues scanning until it comes to a non
numeric character or EOL, ie. "2400", " 2400 "
"baud 2400", "2400,8,N,1", " 2400 7 E 1", etc.,
all translate to 2400 baud)
Line 6 = ignored
Line 7 = Player's first name
Line 8 = Player's last name
Up to this point, all lines are required, Door
Skeleton will now keep reading until all optional
lines are read or until it comes to EOF.
Line 9 = ignored
Line 10 = ANSI switch (numeric value of 2 will select ANSI,
any other value will not select ANSI - default is
no ANSI).
Line 11 = ignored
Line 12 = ignored
Line 13 = ignored
Line 14 = screen width (default is 80)
Line 15 = screen length (default is 24)
--- CUSTOMIZATION -----------------------------------------------------
The assumption here is that you are already a proficient programmer
in Pascal (or are an expert programmer in some other language and are
familiar with the syntax and use of your Pascal compiler). Door
Skeleton is not intended to be a "door writer's construction set". It
is merely a foundation (async/modem drivers, remote terminal I/O, and
file locking). YOU must still do the work of programming the "meat" of
your door program.
After you have tried it out, and have got it to work as a door from
your BBS in it's pristine state, you can begin to use it as the
foundation for your own door. At first, you should not change any of
the modules except these:
One is PLAYREC.INC. This is the file record for the player file.
You will need to add your own fields to this record to keep track of
players position, score, options, etc. during and between sessions. DO
NOT delete or modify any of the fields already defined! And DO NOT
yourself write to any of those fields with your code! IMPORTANT: any
time you change the format of any file record, you must delete that data
file, and let it be re-created from scratch, otherwise you will get a
"RECORD LENGTH ERROR" the next time you enter the door.
The module CLRPLAYR.INC is what initializes each new player record
whenever a player enters the game for the first time. You need to
initialize all the fields you define here, otherwise your fields will
contain random gibberish.
Another is CFGREC.INC. This is the file record for the config file.
You may want to add your own fields to control the number of credits
each player starts out with, the maximum number of widgets a player may
posess at any given time, etc.
The config file also has it's corresponding CLRCFG.INC. You could
change the default values for the daily time limit, turn limit, session
limit, or snoop toggle here.
COMMON.INC is where you should define all global variables used by
your own routines. However, you really should make your variables local
whenever possible and pass them as formal parameters.
Put the logic of your game in PLAY.INC. This currently contains
some comments and example statements to display text and prompt the
remote user for input.
Modify BULLETIN.INC to create your SCORES BULLETIN. Again, DO NOT
change any of the logic of this module. Change only the WRITELN's to
format your SCORES BULLETIN the way you want.
Add your COPYRIGHT to COPYRITE.INC. You MUST leave my COPYRIGHT
intact so it will display at the start of the program! And depending on
what brand of Pascal compiler you use, they may also require you to add
their copyright too.
Oh, and you'll probably want to change the name of the program
header in DOORSKEL.PAS to the name of your door.
--- ADVANCED CUSTOMIZATION --------------------------------------------
After you have become comfortable with Door Skeleton, you might
become daring and start to modify some of the support modules to really
customize your door. In fact, you will have to do this if you want to
add ANSI special effects, respond immediately to the press of arrow or
other keys (hot keys), and other things to make your door truly unique.
But DO NOT do this until you thoroughly understand how the support logic
works!
Browse through some of the INC files that came with Door Skeleton
and read the comments at the top of each one. I've given you some Good
Stuff that might be useful in writing your door.
A really sophisticated door will probably need additional files.
For example, in a Trade-Wars-like game, you will need a file of all the
ports. You can create your own additional files with Pascal's low level
REWRITE, RESET, READ, WRITE, and CLOSE functions; or you can use
PLAYREC.INC, GETPLAYR.INC, PUTPLAYR.INC, CLRPLAYR.INC, DEFPLAYR.INC,
ADDPLAYR.INC, and FNDPLAYR.INC as examples for creating equivalent
functions to access files of your own design.
If you use my file functions as models for additional files of your
own, you should place your DEF's after the existing DEF's for the player
and config files in START.INC.
Of course, you may wish to take the complete opposite approach. You
may just want to yank out the async/modem drivers (in ASYNC.INC) and
write everything else yourself from scratch. Be my guest - and good
luck!
--- SPECIAL FEATURES --------------------------------------------------
Some of the nifty features already included are as follows:
A sysops CONFIG menu which is automatically entered in local mode,
and is also entered in remote mode when the user's name matches the
sysop's name on the caller info file. You can set the the maximum
number of player turns, daily sessions, time limit, and local snoop
toggle from the config menu. Add other options that you need for your
particular door.
All output sent to the remote user thru PUTSTRING is word wrapped.
I.E., you do not have to place end-of-line marks so that your text
doesn't run off the right edge of the screen (though you can insert them
when you want text formatted Just So).
Through the use of a wide variety of ASK_... functions, all input is
length, type, and range checked before it is passed back to your code.
When ANSI mode is on, all remote text is displayed in ANSI color,
with one color for text generated by the program, and another color for
text typed by the user.
Supports COM-1 thru COM-4, from 300 to 9600 baud.
If it is a remote connection, it converses with the remote user,
while echoing all communication on the local screen (if snoop is on).
It monitors Carrier Detect and exits if the user drops carrier. It will
also exit if the remote user remains idle for over 5 minutes.
With Turbo Pascal's "split screen" ability, it displays a static
status line at the bottom of the local screen at all times while the
user is playing (this feature may not be supported if you use a Pascal
compiler other than Borland's).
It will take the modem "off hook" after a user disconnects or drops
carrier so that there will be no window of vulnurability until the BBS
reloads itself.
It opens each file only while it is being accessed and then closes
it again. There is a performance penalty imposed by this design, but
the benefit is that no more than 1 file will ever be open at the same
time - thus saving you the potential problem of your door locking up
because your users hve selected only a small number of file handles on
their machines.
It also performs file locking by node! YES, you door will be
multi-node with no special effort required on your part!
A scores bulletin is generated at the end of each player's session
(if the bulletin file name is specified on the program parameter list).
--- POTENTIAL PROBLEMS ------------------------------------------------
If the program should abend while performing disk I/O, it is
possible that it will leave the lock for that node set. All further use
of the program will report a FILE SYSTEM DEADLOCK. There are two ways
to fix this when it happens. The simplest is to simply ERASE all the
lock files. A fancier way to clear the deadlock is to run a utility
program included here called FREENODE. It lowers all the semaphores of
all the lock files it finds and reports which ones are hung. Obviously,
you don't want to do this until you are sure that there are no users
playing the game, or you could possibly free a lock that is locked
because the door is actually updating data from that node!
--- COPYRIGHTS --------------------------------------------------------
A word about copyrights... This code IS copyrighted. You may alter
it and change it around any way you like to make your door work the way
you want it to work. My only requirement is that you display the
following copyright notice at the start of the program (it does this as
of the way you received it), below your COPYRIGHT.
WRITTEN OVER DOOR SKELETON V1.0
COPYRIGHT (C) 1992 BERNIE GALLAGHER
Please also be advised that the publisher of your Pascal compiler
(Borland, Microsoft, etc) may require that you also include their
copyright in the final compiled COM program. The easiest way to do this
is to add it in to COPYRIGHT.INC below my COPYRIGHT.
You may NOT distribute any of my Pascal source code (except in it's
original unaltered ZIP file as you received it), whether you modified it
or not. You may, of course, distribute your own source code PROVIDED
that it is completely your own work and not derived from any of my
source files.
If you ernestly desire to distribute your door in source code form
so that users can compile and run it, you may place my unaltered ZIP
file as a single file embedded within your ZIP file. If you don't
charge a fee for this composite ZIP file, then everything is still
hunky-dory. But if you want to CHARGE for your source AND include my
source along with it, I'm not opposed to the idea, but we need to have a
little chat and work out royalties.
Finally, if you distribute a COM program that you have created with
the help of my DOOR SKELETON, you must register DOOR SKELETON! Note
that you do NOT have to register DOOR SKELETON merely to use it! You
may use it for months, or years without having to register it, while you
develop your brainchild. But once you start distributing a COM program
created from it, you MUST, then, register it!
Furthermore, you must register it once for EACH door that you
release. You do NOT have to re-register it for a new version of a
previously registered door, ONLY for a completely new door. IE, if you
register it for GALACTIC MARAUDERS v1.0, you do NOT have to re-register
it for GALACTIC MARAUDERS v2.0, 3.0, etc. However, you DO have to
re-register it when you release ULTRA TRADER v1.0.
--- SUPPORT -----------------------------------------------------------
You are welcome to call my BBS, the Starship BBS at (908) 828-8121
at 2400, 1200, or 300 baud.
On my BBS, you will find the latest versions of all doors and other
shareware written by myself - including Bernie Host, a complete BBS
system. You will also find a large shareware library of Pascal
toolboxes and source libraries written by various shareware authors.
Hopefully, you will even find actual doors by other shareware authors
written with Door Skeleton.
Please be advised that as I write this READ.ME in November of 1992,
I expect to be moving early 1993. I hope to be able to take my BBS
phone number with me when I move, but if not, I am listed in Computer
Shopper and you can find my new number listed there. The Starship BBS
will still be listed in the 908 area code section.
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