Converting your RBBS to the File Management System (FMS)
By Loren D. Jones, Fargo IBM PC Users Group RBBS
RBBS-PC version
15.1A adds
a significant enhancement to RBBS
with
the new File Management System (FMS).
FMS is a single fixed
length
random access file containing all information normally contained in
an
RBBS download directory (.DIR) with the addition of the
specific
category information.
Users may list all files or just those
files
contained in a specific directory, just as they have always done.
Use
of FMS is virtually transparent to the user, with the exception
that
the S)can feature works significantly faster and they always see
the
newest files on the system first!
To convert a non-FMS system to FMS requires several steps.
I
will
explain the steps and the basis for each, then will walk you
through
it step-by-step.
First, all of the current directories must
be
converted into fixed length records and combined.
The
program
CNVDIR.EXE is provided for this purpose, although I will suggest
a
slight deviation from the parameters suggested in CNVDIR.DOC.
The
changes I suggest are due to FMS' fixed length directory file,
which
means care must be exercised to maintain the integrity of the file
by
assuring constant field (line) lengths.
Any character
mistakenly
added or deleted in careless editing will throw all the records
off.
The easiest way to minimize the chance of this occurring is
to
carefully structure your file such that the last character in
each
record is a visible, non-space character and to use an editor
that
makes such records readily visible. I use Norton's Editor
(NE.COM)
which works well with fixed length records. Column 80 is the
CR/LF,
allowing you to run the cursor up and down this column to quickly
see
if any files exceed the limit. The Norton editor displays
little
double-arrows if the line exceeds the 80 characters being
displayed.
The beauty of FMS being set up in this manner is the fact that it
can
be easily edited with many editors while having the benefits of
being
a random access file.
I recommend using a 43 character description and a three
character
category designation. If you use numbered directories, use a
three
character string to represent the category, i.e. 001, 010, 015,
095,
etc. Avoid using any designation scheme that uses a space for
the
last character in the record, as it is too easy to miss a
truncated
line.
Once converted you must sort the master FMS directory.
All
files
must be in date sequence (earliest to latest) for the proper
operation
of FMS, since it keys on dates when searching through the
master
directory.
I recommend using QSORT for the sort, since it
handles
multiple key fields. You will need to key on the year, then
the
month/day when sorting.
Finally, you
must go
into config
before
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and set certain options
running RBBS.
Here are the steps to
get FMS
up and
running on
your
pre-15.1A system:
1.
Get
all
your
directory
files together in your
working
subdirectory, which should also include CNVDIR.EXE.
Have access
to
your favorite editor.
2.
Create
your
DIR.CAT
file,
which
is RBBS' translate table
for
associating directory designations and descriptions with the
category
code. Make sure your category code is three characters in length!
If
you have directories with descriptive names, your DIR.CAT should
look
like this:
"GAMES","GAM","Games and Entertainment"
"FILES","FUT","File Utilities"
"LOTUS","LOT","Lotus Spreadsheets & Utilities"
"RBBS","RBB","RBBS-PC Files & Utilities"
Of course,
the designations
are entirely up to you.
If you
use
numbered directories, your DIR.CAT should look something like this:
"1","001","Communications"
"2","002","Word Processing and Editors"
"10","010","Games and Entertainment"
"95","095","RBBS-PC System Files"
3.
Invoke CNVDIR with the following command:
CNVDIR 43 dir.cat master.dir DIR
This translates as follows:
43
DIR.CAT
MASTER.DIR
DIR
=
=
=
=
Number of characters per description
The file you just created listing your categories
Your master FMS directory, whatever you named it.
Your normal directory extension, i.e. GAMES.DIR,
1.DIR,
etc.
This
files,
will
cause
CNVDIR
to
go through all of your .DIR
strip unnecessary header lines,
and place
each directory
entry
into
the proper
fixed length format, insert with category designation,
and
add it to the master directory.
4.
The process is very quick!
You must now sort the master file into date order.
I suggest
the
program QSORT with the following format:
QSORT master.dir /30:2 /24:5
This tells QSORT to sort first by year, then the Month/Day.
Make
sure you have plenty of disk space if your master.dir is large!
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5.
Now you may want to
go
through
and
edit
the
listing
of
any
multi-part files.
Since
FMS reads the master.dir file from the
record back to the
first, multi-part
last
files should
be in
a last-
in,
first-out order.
CIA.BAS
010
MONITOR.ARC
007
GRAF-PIX.ARC
008
YAHTZEE.BAS
010
PLAYMATE.PQC
008
NUDE1.PQS
008
PCWRITE3.ARC
001
PCWRITE2.ARC
001
PCWRITE1.ARC
001
HOPPER.BAS
010
HANGMAN.BAS
010
GUITAR.BAS
008
Your master file should look like this:
13786
11-23-82
Adventure game
27502
12-04-82
Aids in development of BASIC prgms
24478
12-20-82
Create excellent graphics on PC
16356
01-01-83
The game - Nice!
2642
01-01-83
Another poster
7983
01-01-83
Poster
94871
01-01-83
PC-Write - 3 of 3
105021
01-01-83
PC-Write - 2 of 3
85983
01-01-83
PC-Write - 1 of 3
4995
01-01-83
Frogger look-a-like game
3686
01-01-83
Fun hangman game - mono display
1152
01-01-83
Tune your guitar with this one
^
Note that the last visible character is in position 79 ----------------------|
THIS FORMAT IS CRITICAL! Your master.dir file MUST match this
format
for this configuration of FMS to work properly!
6.
Create a file called
UPCAT.HLP.
A couple
of sample
files
are
included in the CNVDIR.
You can probably just read in your
DIR.DIR
file to create this, as it is simply the directory of categories
which
is displayed for users following an upload right before they are
asked
to categorize their upload.
We will be referring to this file when
we
get to Config.
7.
Invoke
CONFIG.
There
are
several parameters that need to
be
changed and we will go through these in order.
a)
Parameter 67:
Enter UPCAT, which is the name of the file
we
just
created.
Do
not
add
the
.HLP
as
RBBS
will
automatically add the extension.
This file MUST reside
with
the other .HLP files!
b)
Parameter 181:
Enter the drive of your upload directory.
I
am not sure that
RBBS uses
this designation,
but it
won't
hurt to have it there!
c)
Parameter
182:
Enter
your master directory name for
the
file to contain recent uploads, i.e. MASTER
(RBBS will
add
the drive\path and extension).
d)
Parameter
183:
Enter
the
drive\path
of the FMS
master
directory.
See paragraph
on
this point.
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n. below for
more information
e)
downloading.
Parameter 184:
Enter the drives available for
This is ignored
if
running
subdirectories,
but
it
never
hurts to have them designated here!
f)
Parameter
191:
Enter
the
drive,
path,
and name of
an
alternate directory for uploads to
be
recorded.
optional,
if
you
This
is
but
not
a
bad
idea
want
a
little
redundancy.
This file is recorded
in the
standard non-
FMS
upload directory format, with each entry appended to the
end
of the file.
Your entry should look something like:
C:\RBBS\UPLOAD.FIL
g)
Parameter 192:
Enter the
name
of
your
master
directory,
without the DIR extension, i.e. MASTER
h)
Parameter 193:
Set
the minimum security level required
to
designate upload categories.
I have set this to the
upload
I want all users to
minimum
security
level,
as
categorize
their uploads.
If you want all files to go to category
"99"
for recent
uploads, set
this to
your Sysop security.
Then
you will be the only one allowed to
categorize on
a
remote
upload
(which
I
suspect
accounts
for
2%
of your
total
uploads!)
i)
Parameter 194:
If you wish to have
directories in
addition
to FMS,
set this
to YES.
There
may be
a reason to
have
other
directories
in
a
specific
format
available.
Personally, I
have turned all directory maintenance over
to
FMS, so this is set to NO.
j)
Parameter 195:
Set the default
code for
FMS uploads.
If
you
do
not
allow
users
to set the category, this is
the
designation given all files.
If you want all uploads
to
be
categorized as
a "099"
or "NEW"
until you get a chance
to
set the category, enter
that designation
here.
Make
sure
this category
is provided for in your DIR.CAT file! This
is
the second field parameter in DIR.CAT, i.e. "099", not
"99",
in my
example.
If you
do allow
users to
set the
upload
category,
I
would
suggest
category designation
in this
putting
your
miscellaneous
parameter just to have it
set
to a legitimate value.
k)
Parameter
196:
Enter
the
drive
and
filename
of
your
category designation
file, which
is the DIR.CAT we
created
earlier.
You should see C:DIR.CAT,
or whatever
drive
this
file will reside on.
You could place it in your RAM disk
if
you use one.
l)
Parameter 198:
Enter the length of your descriptions,
which
in our case is 43, as described above.
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m)
Parameter 199:
While not specific to FMS, make sure you
set
the security level needed to view new uploads.
n)
Parameter 200:
Also
an optional
parameter, but
since
you
are going
with FMS, I would suggest putting it and all
your
other .DIR files into one specific subdirectory.
o)
Parameter 216:
This should be UNRESTRICTED to
avoid
quirks
with the
double listing
of the FMS directory under
certain
conditions.
8.
Run it! And enjoy the extra hours you'll have now that
directory
maintenance has been substantially reduced! Thanks, Ken Goosens,
for
your efforts in putting together FMS.
And thanks to Tom, Jon,
Rod,
Gene, Rob, Terry, Dave and all the rest of the beta testers
and
patient wives who have helped in bringing RBBS-PC 15.1A on-line!!
If you run into
any snags,
contact me,
Loren D.
Jones, at
the
Fargo IBM PC Users Group RBBS in Fargo, North Dakota at 701-2935973!
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