
                      DCT Note to the Next User v0.05
                             By Dan Traczynski
                               July 22, 1996

            Copyright (C) 1996 Dan Traczynski.  All rights reserved.



                                      

   DCTNext is a message to the next user program compatible with any BBS
which is capable of creating a DORINFO1.DEF or DOOR.SYS drop file.  Setup is
fast and easy, and DCTNext is FreeWare.

   Features:

     Supports both DORINFOx.DEF and DOOR.SYS allowing it to be run on
      virtually any bulletin board system.
     Fully run via lightbars.
     Problem users can be locked out.
     Full configuration of the output ANSI file.
     Optional user censor (allowing you to filter out swearing).
     Optional user logging.
     Colour configuration.
     User time-out after a configurable amount of time.
     Multi-tasker friendly.
     Internal SysOp-User chat mode.
     It's FREEWARE!  No unregistered beeps, delays, or disabled features!



                                      

    Installation
..

   Installation requires a few steps, but is quite easy to do.  First of all,
you must create a directory for DCTNext to reside in and run CONFIG.EXE to
configure it to your system.  You may also wish to edit DCTNEXT.FLT if you
will be using the user censor.  DCTNext does not have to be run from the
directory it resides in, as it automatically looks for all of its files in
its home directory.  Have your BBS call DCTNext with a command-line similar
to "C:\BBS\DOORS\DCTNEXT\DCTNEXT.EXE /PC:\BBS".  The "/P" parameter is only
required if the drop file will not be in the current directory when DCTNext
is run.

   After installing DCTNext, you must make it display the note which the user
has left when the next user logs in.  To do this, have the BBS display the
file which was defined in CONFIG.EXE as the output filename.  If you use
RemoteAccess, you can define the output filename as ONCEONLY.ANS/ASC, and the
note will only be shown once each time it is updated.



                                      

    Configuration
..

   The DCTNext output file may be configured to look however you want so
that it will fit into the general theme of your BBS.  To configure it, you
must edit the DCTNEXT.HDR/FTR files to how you would like the header and
footer to look like in the output file.  This can be done using any ANSI
editor; just be sure that the size of each file is no greater than 1024 bytes
(only the first 1024 bytes will be read in if it is greater than that).



                                      

    External Files
..

   Support has been added so that parts of the program allow more
customisation by letting you design your own ANSI/ASCII screens.  The
following files, if they exist, will replace the internal displays.  Note
that these files are not required in order for the door to function properly.
Wherever you would like the display to pause and wait for the user to press a
key, add the Ctrl-A character into the file.  If no Ctrl-A character is at
the end of the file, there will be no pause and the screen will be cleared
before the user has a chance to see the ANSI.  The user can press <S> to
abort the display of any ANSI or ASCII file.

    LOGO.A??      If this file exists, it will be displayed when the user
                  enters the door.  If it does not exist, the user is thrown
                  directly into the main menu upon entering DCTNext.
    GOODBYE.A??   If this file exists, it will be displayed when the user
                  chooses to logoff the BBS.  Otherwise, the user is simply
                  given the message "Hang up now!"  This feature is useless
                  if "Allow Logoff" is disabled in CONFIG.EXE. :)
    LOCKOUT.A??   This is shown if the user is locked out.
    INUSE.A??     Message telling the user that someone else is using the
                  door on a separate node and that he cannot enter the
                  door at this time.



                                      

    SysOp Keys
..

  F1     Shows the Sysop keys on the status bar.
  AltC  Invokes the chat mode.
  AltT  "Twit user".  Returns the user back to the BBS.
  PgUp   Adds 5 minutes to the user's time.
  PgDn   Subtracts 5 minutes from the user's time.



                                      

    Distribution & Disclaimer
..

   DCT Note to the Next User is copyright (C) 1996 by Dan Traczynski.  All
Rights Reserved.  I encourage you to distribute it, but DO NOT change any of
the files within the original archive.  The archive should be named
DCTNU005.ZIP, preferably kept in its ZIP format.

   The author, Daniel Traczynski, will take no responsibility to anything
that this program may or may not do to your system.  Although the program has
been tested thoroughly, no guarantee can be given that it will do what it was
made to do.  Nevertheless, if anything should happen, the user is totally
responsible and the author will be under no obligations whatsoever.  By using
this program you agree to this disclaimer.



                                      

    Credits
..

  Alan Ianson of Al's Place BBS (604) 251-1817 for all of his support.
  Terry Mah for letting me beta test DCTNext on his BBS.



                                      

    History
..


    + Added a new feature/Something was improved.
    - Removed something.
    * General comment.
    > Bug fix.

 Version 0.05 -=- July 22, 1996.
   * First public release.
   + DCTNext now allows users to post notes anonymously.
   > If a user tried saving an empty note, DCTNext would abort like it should
     but it redisplayed the main menu twice.  Fixed.
   > Fixed a bug in the user time-out.
   > If the user's name was only one word, DCTNext would add a trailing space
     character to it.  Fixed.
   * Many internal changes have been made to make DCTNext run faster and more
     efficiently.
   * DCTNext no longer needs to be told what drop file to use.  It now simply
     searches for both DORINFOx.DEF and DOOR.SYS and loads the first one it
     finds or terminates if neither exist.
   + Added an INUSE.FLG file so DCTNext should run fine on multi-node systems.
   + Added the CONFIG.EXE program so there's no more text control file to
     configure.
   + Added user logging.
   + DCTNext can now optionally allow users to logoff the BBS within the door.
   + If the censor is enabled, any text is now filtered out as the user enters
     it rather than after he hits [Enter] on the string.
   + Added the external file support.
   + Added colour codes.
   + Improved the internal note editor a bit.
   + Added ASCII support.


  Version 0.01 -=- February 2, 1996.
   * Initial creation of DCTNext.



                                      
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