Network Bulletin Board 
 
This program was created with the intent to enhance office 
communications.  It cannot fully replace the physical bulletin board 
that most offices have.  But, if used regularly it can become a valuable 
asset in disseminating office information.  It can replace the general 
office memo, saving time and resource expense.  It can improve the top 
down communication process, keeping employees informed  and up to date 
on such items as company status, personnel changes, policies and 
procedures.  And it can provide a forum for addressing agenda items that 
are not worth the scheduling hassles of a full fledged meeting. 
 
How the program works: 
 
Initially the Network Administrator will need to create a home for the 
program on the Network File Server, i.e.,(F:\BB).  This location should 
be accessible to all users, i.e., (No rights restrictions).  Then the 
program can be installed by copying the file BBZIP.EXE to this new 
network location, and executing the file by typing  BBZIP.  The program 
will then expand and all the necessary sub programs and datafiles will 
be created.  The Network administrator will then run the main program, 
BB.  The following screen will appear for initial setup. 
 
___________________________________________________________________                                                                         
*** Setup Options ***                           
                                                                          
Utility Menu Password:                                                  
                                                                          
The utility menu password can be ten characters or less.               
The master override password is SUPER.                                
                                                                          
Import User ID's from the Bindary?:     N                               
                                                                          
This procedure will poll the bindary for all user login names.   
If you have any qualms about this just answer No.             
___________________________________________________________________ 
                                                                          
The after answering the prompts for password, and Importing User ID's, 
the program will display the following screen. 
 
___________________________________________________________________ 
*** Setup Options ***                           
                                                                          
Utility Menu Password:                                                  
                                                                          
The utility menu password can be ten characters or less.               
The master override password is SUPER.                                
                                                                          
Import User ID's from the Bindary?:     Y                               
                                                                          
                                                                          
For any changes in the future,    
you can access this screen again from the Utility Menu.          
The next thing you will want to do is review the user names        
that were imported from the current servers bindary, you can access    
the User file from the Utility Menu                    
                                                                          
 Press ESC to continue                           
___________________________________________________________________ 
                                                                          
Basic program initialization and setup are complete.  You will now be 
shown the following menu.  This is the same menu that will appear each 
time you access the program. 
 
___________________________________________________________________ 
M A I N  -  M E N U 
                                     
Bulletin Board           
                                     
Report Program Use       
                                     
Rules                    
                                     
                                     
                                     
Utilities                
                                     
Quit                     
___________________________________________________________________                                     
Choosing Bulletin Board takes you to the following screen. 
 
___________________________________________________________________                                    
      B U L L E T I N -  M E N U        
                                     Total/ New      
    Classified Ads        	        1   /   0      
    Computers                 		/   0      
    Development      	       		/   0      
    Finance             	        	/   0      
    Management             			/   0      
    Marketing                 		/   0      
    Miscellaneous           			/   0      
    Policies                  	   	/   0      
    Programs                  		/   0      
___________________________________________________________________ 
                                     
These are all predefined categories, the list of categories is 
expandable, just use the arrow key to scroll down the list and the 
others will show up.  The numbers to the right indicate the total number 
of messages in that category, and the number of messages, that are 'new' 
to the logged in user.  If you want to add/delete categories access the 
Utilities menu from the Main Menu.  Pressing [ENTER] when a category is 
highlighted will take you to a screen similar to the next screen. 
___________________________________________________________________ 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--+ 
|                         * Classified Ads Bulletins *                    
| 
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--| 
|  Subject                             Date       Time      Author        
| 
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--| 
|  Bicycle for sale                    01/13/9507:50:48    SCOTCOO        
|  
|                                                                         
| 
|                                                                         
| 
|                                                                         
| 
|                                                                         
| 
|                                                                         
| 
|                                                                         
| 
|                                                                         
| 
|                                                                         
| 
|---------|MESSAGE|-----------------------------------------------------
--| 
|I found myself riding up and down too many hills, so I whimped out and   
| 
|bought a mountain bike.  Now my old faithful classic 10 speed never 
gets | 
|ridden anymore.  It's a Mitsutani, red, complete overhaul in July '94,   
| 
|best quality new tires and brakes.  I am asking $100, but as a realist   
| 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--+ 
 
 ADD  EDIT  DEL   UP   DN    PGUP   PGDN   HOME   END   MISC   LOOK   
QUIT 
___________________________________________________________________ 
 
At the top of the screen is the Category title. 
 
	"* Classified Ads Bulletins *" 
 
Next is the Subject, Date, Time, Author column headings. 
Followed by a line entry for each message in this category. 
 
	"Bicycle for sale     01/13/95 07:50:48    SCOTCOO" 
 
After the Title [MESSAGE] comes part of the message for the highlighted 
line entry. 
 
"I found myself riding up and down too many hills, so I whimped out and         
	bought a mountain bike.  Now my old faithful classic 10 speed 
never gets ridden anymore.  It's a Mitsutani, red, complete overhaul in 
July '94, best quality new tires and brakes.  I am asking $100, but as a 
realist I will" 
 
 
NOTE:  Only the first four lines of any message will display in the 
lower portion of the screen, to see the entire message press the [ENTER] 
key. 
 
And finally there are what I call buttons at the bottom of the screen,  
these are the controls for manipulating the messages.  
 
ADD 
	Pressing the [A] key, or the [Insert] activates this button and 
allows you to add a new message to this category.  You may use your own 
network login name, or you may remain anoymous. 
 
EDIT 
	Pressing the [E] key activates this button and allows you to edit 
the current message, assuming of course that you created the message in 
the first place! 
 
DEL 
	Pressing the [D] key, or [Del] activates this button and allows 
you to delete the currently highlighted message, again assuming that 
this message was yours. 
 
UP 
	Pressing the up-arrow will move to the previous message. 
 
DN 
	Pressing the down-arrow will move to the next message. 
 
PGUP 
	Pressing the [Page Down] key will move through one screen of 
messages, or to the bottom of the list if that is all that exist. 
 
PGDN 
	Pressing the [Page Up] key will move to through one screen of 
messages, or to the top of the list if that is all that exist. 
 
HOME 
	Pressing the [Home] key will move to the first message in the 
list. 
 
END 
	Pressing the [End] key will move to the last message in the list. 
 
MISC 
	Pressing the [M] key will activate a small menu with Miscellaneous 
options.   
	They are as follows:   
 
		Import, allows importing a text file as a new message. 
		Print, lets you print out the currently highlighted message. 
		Reply, lets you post a reply to the currently highlighted 
message. 
 
LOOK 
	Pressing the [L] or, the [F2] key will activate the search option 
letting you search for a specific message based on the subject. 
 
QUIT 
	Pressing the [Q] or, [Esc] key will let you quit  and return you 
to the category menu. 
 
 
 
Other Main Menu options: 
 
Report program use: 
 
This is a little report that lets an administrator track the amount of 
time a particular user is accessing the bulletin board.  It keeps track 
of all of a users time regaurdless of whether they used the anonymous 
option in creating messages.  This report can be sent to the screen, a 
file, or printed (NOTE:  printing needs to be through LPT1). 
 
Rules: 
 
	Just some basic rules for the user to be aware of.  Not that 
anyone pays attention to rules. 
 
 
The utilities menu for the Network Administrator. 
 
                                        
U T I L I T I E S  -  M E N U       
                                        
Index Tracking File            
Index Bulletin File            
Index User File                
Count Messages                 
Delete Messages                
Index All Files                
Categories File                
User Count File                
User File                      
Setup 
Quit 
 
                                        
If for any reason you experience database errors, or corruption of any 
sort (lets say the power went out while everyone was in the bulletin 
board).  You can use the utilities menu to clean up the index files, and 
correct the message count. 
 
You can also delete messages after a certain date, edit the list of 
categories, edit the list of users, or access the setup screen to change 
the password, or re-import usernames from the bindary. 
 
 
As an option, there is a supplemental program included that allows you 
to display on the screen the number of new messages in each category for 
the logged in user.  This can be used as a reminder when logging in to 
the network.  To use this program, a batch file called CHK_MESS.BAT is 
included.  It should be modified to reflect the location of the bulletin 
board program on the network.  For example: 
 
*------CHK_MESS.BAT file 
 
@ECHO OFF 
ECHO Checking the Bulletin Board for New Messages... 
f:				<-- Replace with your network drive letter 
cd \dosapps\bb			<-- Replace with the location of the 
bulletin board program. 
call messages.exe 
if ERRORLEVEL 1 PAUSE > NUL 
cls 
 
*------- 
 
This batch file should be called after successfully logging in to the 
network.  Sample AUTOEXEC.BAT  
file. 
 
*---Sample Autoexec.bat 
@echo off 
prompt $p$g 
 
network drivers 
. 
. 
. 
 
F: 
login   
 
call f:\dosapps\bb\chk_mess.bat		<---Again edit the location  
 
win 
*------------- 
 
 
 
The End. 
 
Thanks for trying this program. 
 
If you wish to register program, please send $75.00 per file server to: 
 
Scott Cooper 
P.O. Box 1665 
Portland, OR  97207 
 
You will receive a registered program within two weeks.  If the program 
expires before then, Do Not remove the program.  It can be reactivated 
with your information intact, when you install the registered version. 
 
***DISCLAIMER*** 
 
Scott Cooper disclaims all warranties as to this software, whether 
express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties 
of merchant- 
ability, fitness for a particular purpose, functionality or data 
integrity 
or protection. 

