After returning to the Startup menu, you should select MODULE EDITOR (MEDIT). The Module Editor is what you will use to define what messages boards are active, what file bases you want to implement, the bulletins you will display, as well as describing which online programs you will make available to the users. Starting Out -------- --- One of the most popular attractions on any board is the messaging sections. It is here that users can write electronic mail back and forth to each other. Because of its importance, lets configure this section first. Select MESSAGE BASES from the MEDIT main menu. When you do so, a new menu will pop on the screen: ENTER THE EDITOR, LOAD PREVIOUS SETUP, SAVE CURRENT ENTRIES, PRINT OUT ENTRIES, and RETURN TO MAIN MENU. Select ENTER THE EDITOR. Once you've selected to enter the editor, yet another screen will appear; a rectangular one filled with a list of information. These items are what define each message board you will be using. Select MESSAGE BASE NAME from the list. This will be the display name of the first message board. One thing to remember, whatever message board appears first in the list will be the first message board that will load while using the BBS. You will probably want to make the first board a public, no specific topic board in which everything can be discussed. Some possible names include: THE PUB, THE LOUNGE, CATCH-ALL, GENERAL MESSAGES, ROUNDTABLE, and so on. Choose one that suits your preference. Now you will want to define the security settings of this board. This will depend on two things. If you want ALL users to be able to read and write messages here, just leave the securities and FlagSets as they are. You probably won't want to do this, however, since this would allow new callers to write messages (some might be offensive). So, you will need to set these according to the information you entered in CEDIT for new user settings (those print-outs come in handy). After entering the security for this board, select MESSAGE TYPES from the menu. This allows you to decide what kinds of messages to allow. The possible types are: PUB ....... Public messages only. PRIV ...... Private messages only. Messages may only be read by the SysOp, moderators, or the sender/receiver of the message. BOTH ...... Allow both public and private messages ANON ...... Allow public or anonymous messages Choose the one which best fits your needs. You should now select MAXIMUM MESSAGES. If you are using floppy disk drives, messages can clog your drive very quickly. Or, if you're using a hard disk drive, you might want to automate the "clean up" cycle to rid your disk of outdated messages. To accomodate this, AppleNET message bases have an option called MAXIMUM MESSAGES. What it does is "cycles" messages once this maximum counter is reached. For instance, if you set the MAXIMUM MESSAGES to 20, there would only be, at most, 20 messages in this board at any given time. There can be less, but not more. What happens if someone tries to write message number 21? AppleNET will delete message number 1, then save message 21. The numbering will still go onward, but the lowest (and oldest) message will be deleted to save disk space. AppleNET will allow you to retain up to 999 messages in each message board, and with 45 message boards, it's possible to have 44,955 active messages (enough to keep ANYONE busy)! One nice feature about AppleNET is that it allows you to share the responsibility of running a BBS with other people. This removes some of the burden from you. To do this in the message boards, you simply assign up to two people as moderators for each board; MODERATOR ONE and MODERATOR TWO. To assign these people as moderators, just type in their name as one of the two possible moderators. The next item you will need to supply is the TAG NAME. The tag name is simply the ProDOS name you will give a directory. This name will be added to the message directory specified with CEDIT, so it will actually be a SUBdirectory off of the message directory. This directory will be used to store all messages dealing with this message board. EACH MESSAGE BOARD WILL NEED A DIFFERENT TAG NAME! Remember this, or else you'll run into some VERY strange results. Keep tag names simple. For instance, THE LOUNGE could be THE.LOUNGE, or LOUNGE. AppleNET uses tag names to identify where messages go for each particular message board. NOTE! If messages exist in a message board, do NOT change the tag name without using a disk utility program to change the name of the directory as well. Otherwise it will not be able to find the messages. Don't worry about creating the directories you are specifying with the tag name. There is a special program to do this for you (so you won't have to create 30-45 directories one-by-one). Once you have entered all of the information for this message board correctly, press {ESC}. Instead of being returned to the Editor menu, a large rectangle will appear, in which your newly-created message board will be listed. Below the box are a list of commands. These are Apple Commands. To use them, you hold down the Apple key or the Option key (only on the newer IIe's and the IIgs) and tap the letter you want. The commands are: APPLE-A ... Add a new item to the end of the list APPLE-C ... Copy the currently highlighted item to the end of the list APPLE-D ... Delete the currently highlighted item APPLE-I ... Insert a new item in front of the currently highlighted item APPLE-S ... Sort (alphabetize) all of the items in the list (must have at least 4 items to work) Before you try these, press {ESC}. You will now return to the Editor menu. If you want to return to the list of items, select ENTER THE EDITOR. As long as you have at least one item in the list, you will be presented with the item menu. If there are no items when you enter the editor, you will automatically be prompted to create a new item. If you wish, you may continue adding message boards to the list, giving each one new information. Up to 45 items may be active at any particular time. Once you have created all of the items you want, return to the Editor menu and select SAVE CURRENT ENTRIES. This will store all of your information in a file called MEDIT.DATA. If you would like a printout of all the items in the list, select PRINT OUT ENTRIES from the menu. Now that everything has been saved, you can move on to each other module in the editor: FILE DIRECTORIES, ONLINE PROGRAMS, and BULLETINS/ARTICLES. Pressing {ESC} from the Editor menu will not return you to the main menu. This is to prevent you from backing out before saving any information you might want saved. To return to the main menu, select RETURN TO MAIN MENU. Editing each other module's data works in exactly the same manner that the message board editor worked, only you will be supplying appropriate information with each. If you ever want to load a setup that you have already created, select the module to work on from the main menu, then select LOAD PREVIOUS SETUP. This will load all pertinent information about this module into the editor and allow you to alter it. To put those changes into effect, you will need to re-save it, otherwise the old setup will not be changed. Set-by-step instructions will not be given on editing the information in the modules other than the message boards. Instead, a list is provided explaining what each set of information does, how to use it, and what to expect from it. SPECIAL NOTICE: If you do not wish to implement a section, such as file directories or bulletins, simply delete any entries (using the item editor) and then save the module information with no items in the list. This will inform your users that the section is inactive. You should follow this procedure with EVERY module you do not wish to implement, or else there is potential danger that the board will malfunction. In other words, it's a good idea to select SAVE CURRENT ENTRIES from each module FIRST, before entering new items. This will ensure that the program will recover properly. File Directories ---- ----------- File directories are, simply stated, places on your disk in which you store files. These files are available for users to receive over the phone line using a protocol called Xmodem. The file directories are also used to store any files sent by the user TO your computer. You have complete control, via security settings, over who can send or receive files from each directory. FILE BASE NAME is the name of the file base. This will be displayed to the user. UPLOAD SECURITY is the level needed in order to send a file to this file base. UPLOAD FLAGSET is the FlagSet settings needed in order to send a file to this file base. DOWNLOAD SECURITY is the level needed in order to receive a file from this directory. DOWNLOAD FLAGSET is the FlagSet settings needed in order to receive a file from this directory. MODERATOR ONE \ > Not implemented MODERATOR TWO / STORAGE DIRECTORY is the COMPLETE ProDOS pathname in which to store files for this file base. Unlike the message board tag name, you will be required to enter the FULL path. Online Programs ------ -------- Online programs are BASIC programs which are located in the external files directory (specified in CEDIT). If you are planning on adding online programs, you should see the appendage on setting them up properly. PROGRAM NAME is the name of the program which is displayed to the user. ACCESS SECURITY is the level needed to run this program. ACCESS FLAGSET is the FlagSet settings needed to run this program. PRODOS NAME is the actual ProDOS name of the file as it appears in the external files directory. Do not enter a full ProDOS path. Enter the file name only. Bulletins and Articles --------- --- -------- Bulletins and articles are text files which the user has the option of reading. Bulletins can range from price lists to tutorials to event listings to just about anything you want the user to be made aware of. All bulletins should be stored in the bulletin directory (specified using CEDIT). BULLETIN NAME is the name of the bulletin or article as it is to be displayed to the user. READ SECURITY is the level needed to read this bulletin. READ FLAGSET is the FlagSet settings needed to read this bulletin. PRODOS NAME is the actual name of the file as it appears in the bulletin directory. Enter the name of the file only. Do not enter a full ProDOS path. Once you have correctly set up the different module information for your board, you are almost ready to go "online", or accept calls! To continue, you should return to the Startup program by selecting QUIT THIS PROGRAM from the MEDIT main menu. Once you have done so, select APPLESOFT BASIC from the Startup menu. This will allow you to run another program. At the Applesoft prompt (]) type "PREFIX" to make sure you are in the correct directory (the destination directory you made when first installing AppleNET). Then type: ]-DIR.CREATOR This will run a program called, obviously, DIR.CREATOR. What this program does is reads the information you entered using CEDIT and MEDIT. More specifically, it reads all of the directory information you provided. Once it does so, it will attempt to create every directory you will need (besides file directories) to run the BBS. These include the all message board directories (if any), the bulletin, external files, and file enclosure directories, and so on. If, at any time, the program is unable to create a specific directory, it will alarm you of this and the program will stop. If the program displays UNABLE TO CREATE, you will need to enter: ]-STARTUP And then return to the configuration or module editors to correct the directory information. If the program ends without displaying the UNABLE TO CREATE message, you're all set to go! You are just minutes away from going online! All that are required now are two things. First, if you are supporting file directories, you will need to create each directory individually. There is no program to automate this process, since directories can exist on any drive, and may be "buried" into several other ProDOS directories. You may either do so from the Applesoft prompt, or you may load up your favorite disk utility program and create them. The second thing you will need to do is to copy any pertinent bulletins or online programs to the bulletin and external files directories (assuming you defined some in the module editor). Use your disk utility program to do this. You probably won't have the bulletins pre-made at this time; nor will you have online programs. You should load up a word-processor and create them. Online programs deserve a special section all their own, since they require a small amount of modification to allow them to work properly. Refer to the appendage dealing with online programs for more information. Make sure, if you are using an external modem, that it is turned on and (if using floppy disk drives) that all needed disks are in their proper drives. Now select APPLENET BBS from the Startup menu. Now is the time when you find out if everything works (and it is also the time at which you "cross your fingers"). Assuming everything is in place, a screen should appear signifying that the modem is being initialized. If not, an appropriate message will appear on the screen and the program will stop. If you get an error message, you should go back and carefully see that you have placed all files where they belong and make sure that you have properly configured your BBS. Once the initialization process has finished, another segment of AppleNET will appear. This is called the "wait-for-call sequence". This is where AppleNET will be while waiting for a call. You aren't limited to just waiting for calls, however. In the middle of the screen are several options: LOCAL LOGON, SYSTEM STATISTICS, CALLER LOG, PAGE BELL TOGGLE, CALLER ALARM TOGGLE, and QUIT THIS PROGRAM. The current date and time are displayed in the upper-left and upper-right corners of the screen. Near the bottom of the screen is the system status registers: STATUS, PAGE BELL, and CALLER ALARM. Try selecting SYSTEM STATISTICS. A screen full of information should appear. This set of information is for your own reference. It lets you know everything that has been going on with your BBS. You can find out how many accounts have been created, who last called, file transfer counters, and much more. After viewing the list, press {RETURN} to go back to the wait-for-call screen. Now select PAGE BELL TOGGLE or CALLER ALARM TOGGLE. You will not be presented with a new screen. Instead, the status line on the bottom of the screen will change. The page bell is the beeping noise heard when a user attempts to page you, or chat (type back and force) with you. The caller alarm, if on, will produce a telephone-like ring whenever the system receives a call. Note, however, if the system is rebooted or re-loaded, these options will both be set back to their default settings (page bell on, caller alarm off). Turning the page off will allow you to be uninterrupted by the page bell. If you chose to keep a caller log (when using the configuration editor), the CALLER LOG option will become available. If you're just starting out, the caller log will be empty, since you have received no calls. The caller log allows you to see who was on your system and when, as well as how long they stayed online. Selecting CALLER LOG will give you two options: READ and CLEAR. If you enter "R", it will attempt to display the caller log. If you enter "C", it will erase any current caller log and start a fresh one. This is useful to unclutter the log. Press {RETURN} alone in order to return to the wait-for-call screen. If you ever wish to go back to the Startup program, you may select QUIT THIS PROGRAM. It will automatically load the beginning program. Try selecting LOCAL LOGON from the wait-for-call screen. This has the same effect as a phone ring would. You will enter the BBS. Immediately, the WELCOME file will be displayed and you will be prompted for your full name. You will need to enter the name you specified as your system name (in the user editor) in order to logon (use) as the system operator. When prompted, enter your password. Note, however, that the letters you type will not be displayed on the screen. Instead, as asterisk will appear for every key. This will happen to any caller as well. It is done for security reasons so that anyone standing behind the user's back cannot see what the password is. As soon as you enter the password, you are now in the system! A short dialogue will appear telling you such things as the amount of time left, the last caller, and so on, after which the file NEWS will be displayed. You are now able to actually use the BBS! Congratulations! To manuever around the BBS, simply press the letter corresponding to the items listed in the menu. You may actually press a key while a menu is being displayed and AppleNET will interpret the keypress properly. This feature is called "hot-keys". Neither you nor any caller will be required to wait for a menu to be completely shown in order to access a particular section of the BBS. The keys presented in the main menu are: Key Action --- -------------------------------------------------- M Access the messaging section of AppleNET F Access the file transfer section of AppleNET B Access the bulletin display section of AppleNET O Access the online program section of AppleNET T Display the caller's time statistics U Online utilities (password change and user list) H Help with the main menu commands G Initiate the logoff routine ? Re-display the menu