Bulletin Board Reader/Response For Windows


Created in Microsoft Visual Basic 1.0 for Windows 
	By D.H.Lee 

Created as Freeware; please distribute freely to PRODIGY(R) 
service members for use with the PRODIGY service.

Use this program to read an exported bulletin board file from 
the PRODIGY service . This program allows you to work with the 
exported file much as you would with the service itself, with 
the additional function of being able to view the original note 
while you create your response, using a multiple window interface.  
The program works by searching the selected exported file for 
each note and bulletin, and stores the location of each note for 
immediate retrieval.  As such, it uses your exported bulletin 
board files as a database. which allows you to search for notes 
a number of ways (by To: or From: IDs, by topic, by subject, or 
note by note).

If using a mouse, you can click on the buttons available to 
activate program options, select text, and select menu items.  
For those not using a mouse, most of the functions and menu items 
have keyboard equivalents, detailed in the online file.  For 
those that do not provide keyboard equivalents, the Tab Key 
should get you from button to button and into text fields; menu 
items can be retrieved using the ALT key and arrow keys.

If you have any questions, please post a notes on the PRODIGY 
Exchange Board (MEMBER UTILITIES topic) within the PRODIGY 
service.  My service ID is TWKS23C.

PRODIGY is a registered mark of Prodigy Services Company. Visual 
Basic is a product of Microsoft Corporation.

Disclaimer:

This program was created by Dan Lee outside the scope of his 
employment by Prodigy Services Company, and is not a product of 
Prodigy Services Company.  Neither the author nor the company 
make warranties, expressed or implied, as to the quality or 
performance of this program.  The author nor Prodigy Services 
Company will be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental 
or consequential damages resulting from the use of this program.  
Your use of this program constitutes your agreement to this 
disclaimer and your release of the author and Prodigy Services 
Company from any form of liability or litigation.

Installation:

The .ZIP file contains 5 component files. The following 4 files 
should be placed together in one directory, preferably into the 
directory that will contain your exported bulletin board files:

BBRRW.EXE   (a Visual Basic for Windows 1.0 .EXE file)
BBRRW.HLP       (a help file in the Windows Help format)
README.WRI   (A Windows .WRI file, with a few illustrations)
README.TXT    (A pure text version of the above)
 

The remaining file, VBRUN100.DLL (the Visual Basic for Windows 1.0 
Dynamic Link Library), must be copied to the Windows directory on 
your hard drive. 

Also required:

Windows 3.1 
IBM PC or Compatible computer capable of running Windows 3.1

Once these steps have been taken, you can run the file by 
double-clicking on the file within the Windows File Manager; or, 
you can run the program from the FILE:RUN option of either 
Program Manager or File Manager.

Once Windows is installed and running, place the VBRUN100.DLL 
file into your WINDOWS directory.

Once these steps have been taken, you can run the file by 
double-clicking on the file within the Windows File Manager; 
or, you can run the program from the FILE:RUN option of either 
Program Manager or File Manager.

For instance, if you place the files into the C:\PRODIGY directory, 
you can select the File menu, then choose Run..., and type the 
program name as follows:

            
C:\PRODIGY\BBRRW.EXE


Another, more useful option is to create an icon in the Program 
Manager, to allow you to launch the file by double-clicking.  
You can do this one of two ways;

A) With both the File Manager and the Program Manager windows 
available, drag the icon for BBRRW from the File Manager into 
an existing program goup within the Program Manager.

B) Select (open) a program group within the Program Manager; 
then select "New..." from the File Manager.  Choose to create 
a new Program item, then enter the appropriate infomation in 
the Dialog Box:

At the Description prompt, type in the name of the program as 
you would want to see it in Windows.

At the Command Line prompt, type in the full path name of the 
program; if the file is stored in the PRODIGY subdirectory, the 
full path would be: C:\PRODIGY\BBRRW.EXE.

Using either of these two methods will create the 
BB Reader/Response icon.  The BBRRW.HLP file can be given 
the same treatment, to allow you to launch the help by 
double-clicking.
 
Once you start the program, help information is only a 
keystroke away, once you have entered the program.  The F1 
key will bring you information specific to the screen you 
are viewing, for most of the functions (the exceptions being 
lists of subjects, topics, or member IDs, and any printer 
function windows).


Usage:

Once you have started the program, you can choose to open a 
bulletin board file for reading, or you can choose to create 
a new file for importing (proper word wrap is present).  If 
you choose to read the bulletin board file, the file dialog 
box that appears to open any exported bulletin board file 
created on or after June 28, 1993.  Once the file is read, 
the first note in the file will be displayed, and you will 
be able to navigate through the file in much the same way 
you work on the service.  If there is ever a question on 
how a particular screen or option should work, just push 
the F1 key for help on that particular screen.  The Help 
function should behave as any other Windows Help file.  The 
help function is context-sensitive on the dialog box level; 
it will describe all of the functions available within that 
dialog box.

Limitations:

Of course there would have to be.  

When you read a bulletin board file, the program finds each 
note a nd reply, and remembers where in the file each note 
is located.  The process should work for files as large as 
10MB, although this may best be determined by your memory 
setup, hard disk space, etc. 

When viewing notes, you can return to a parent note from a 
reply, but you will not be able to return to a previous note 
unless you choose "Read All Notes" from the Options window of 
the Read Notes/Replies screen.

The program relies upon the presence of the lines beginning 
with "^" or "=", in order to determine when topics and notes 
begin and end within the file.  Editing these lines out of 
the bulletin board exported file will make it impossible for 
the program to read the file, or to work properly with the file.

Since these lines exist only in files created using the PRODIGY 
service export tools, which were implemented on June 28, exported 
note files created before that time, or created since that time 
with another program or utility, cannot be read by this program. 
If any of the above conditions are present at the time is read, 
you will be notified by the program at the beginning of the 
read-file process that it cannot read the file.  

