Us and Them.  After all we're only ordinary men


The magic file name stuff in Allfix was probably the most confusing
thing about the whole AllFix setup.  I knew about the magic file names 
that can be used to FREQ files from a board and while that is part of 
what the magic file name system in AllFix does, it is by no means all 
that it does.  The hardest part is to figure out what it wants when
Asetup asks for information concerning Magic File names.

As you know, when you get files from a FDN, each file is accompanied by 
a *.TIC file.  in that TIC file (which is just a simple text file) is a 
line that will tell your file tosser, be it AllFix or TICK or DWTIC or 
whatever, what to update the magic file name to.  This Magic name is the
is the one that is used to FREQ.  In most cases you don't need it
changed,  after all that is the hole idea behind the magic file name...
a name that stays the same, but will get you the most recent version of
the file.  

Most SysOps set up their mailer to allow someone to get the most current
nodelist by FREQing NODELIST or the most recent Nodediff by FREQing
NODEDIFF, etc.  

But if, for some reason you need to have the Magic filename updated then
you can set ALLFIX to do it by entering ASETUP | Fileecho system | 
Fileecho manager, scrollling to the screen of the echo that you want 
ALLFIX to update the magic filename and toggle the Update Magic line to 
Y.  Simple as that.

The other part of the magic file name system in AllFix deals with 
having allfix do something to a file when it comes into your system.

The most common thing (and in my opinion the most useful) is to have 
AllFix (via the magic file name) update and recompile the nodelist when 
it is recieved.  This means that you'll never have to mess with your 
nodelist again.  It comes in via the Fidonet Nodediff FDN, allfix moves 
it to a directory that you tell it to (like your nodelist directory), 
updates the nodelist with the new nodediff and then recompiles the 
updated nodelist.  I use this instead of QFront's nodelist update and
recompile feature mainly because I never could get Qfront's
updater/recompiler to work.

As a hub, I keep a copy of the most recent nodelist and copies of the 
last 2 or 3 nodediffs in a directory so that new SysOps or SysOps that 
aren't connected to the Nodediff FDN can download them.  I also use 
Qfront as a front end and it's nodelist processor is a little differnt 
than PCBFido's but here is how I do that with the magic filenames in 
ALLFIX.

Here's a rundown of what happens when I get the new nodediff in....

1.  QFront imports the nodediff.* into my inbound directory

2.  After QFront has tossed the new mail, AllFix runs.  If it finds a
    new nodediff in the inbound directory, it tosses it into C:\PCB\DL06
    which is the FidoNet Utilities Directory on my BBS and adds the
    description of the file to my C:\PCB\GEN\DIR6 file and generates an
    announcement into the NWTNet SysOps echo (NWTNET is out local
    fidonet domain).

3.  The Magic Filenames system kicks in and runs a batch file that
    runs QFront's Nodelist compiler (QNList) which updates and
    re-compiles the nodelist.

4.  The batch file then deletes the old NODELIST.ZIP file in C:\PCB\DL06
    and zips the newly updated nodelist into C:\PCB\DL06.  Since the
    name is the same and the description is pretty generic (i.e. Current
    FidoNet nodelist) then that is all that has to be done.

5.  The batchfile ends, Allfix completes its run and returns to the
    Call Waiting Screen and I have a newly compiled nodelist and a new
    NodeList. ZIP and I haven't hit a single key.  As a matter of fact,
    this usually all takes place while I'm still in bed!

Here's how I set this up.

1. create C:\ALLFIX\NEWDIFF.BAT with lines similar to these...(substitute
   PCBFido's nodelist compiler's commands for QFront's) etc.

----------------------NEWDIFF.BAT-----------------------

@echo off
CD \QFRONT
QNList /CC:\QFRONT\NODE1 /COMPILENEW
cd \pcb\dl06
del nodelist.zip
pkzip nodelist.zip c:\pcb\fido\nodelist\nodelist.*

--------------------------------------------------------

2.  Now enter ASETUP | Fileechos sytem | Magic File Names
and you'll see a screen like this:

 Adding new entry 1/1 AdoptFile͸
                                                                    
 Type      AdoptFile                                                
 File mask                                                          
 From area                                                          
 To area                                                            
                                                                    
;

3. Press enter and you'll be at this screen:

 Select type 
               
 AdoptFile     
 CopyFile      
 DeleteFile    
 ExecCommand      <---
 ForwardTo           |
 HatchNew            |
 KeepNum             |
 MoveToArea          |
 NoForward           |
 OtherPath           |
 PassThruFile        |
 PickUpFile          |
 UnpackFile          |
 UpdateAlias         |
                     |
;      |
                       ---Scroll down to this command and hit enter and
                          the screen will now look like this:

 1/1  Magic filenames 
                                                                 
 Type      ExecCommand                                           
 File mask                                                       
 From area                                                       
 Command                                                         
                                                                 
;

4.  Edit it to look like this:

 1/1  Magic filenames 
                                                                 
 Type      ExecCommand                                           
 File mask Nodediff.*                                            
 From area Nodediff                                              
 Command   c:\allfix\newdiff.bat                                 
                                                                 
;

Later,
Mark

...With, without.  After all, it's what the fighting's all about.

