Running Standard DOS Applications as Doors Using PCBoard 14.5a and Doorway ------------------------------- Supported Applications: ----------------------- Standard DOS applications that produce monochrome or color text displays and are operated via keyboard. Bit mapped graphics (such as Windows) and mouse operation are not supported. Special Considerations: ----------------------- If the application being used as a PCBoard door requires the use of function keys, or other special keys such as 'Page Up' or the arrow keys to operate, or if it displays information on the bottom (25th) line of the screen, the communications program that the caller uses to call your bulletin board must support a 'Doorway' mode of operation. Normally, a communications program uses the bottom line of the screen as a 'status line', and intercepts many of the keys on the keyboard for its own functions. Doorway mode causes the communications program to not use the bottom line of the screen, and pass all keystrokes through to the door application running on the BBS machine. Many popular communications packages support Doorway mode; a partial listing is provided here for reference. This list is not complete, nor does the appearance of a program name here imply any endorsement upon the part of the author or Clark Development Co., Inc. Communications Programs with Doorway Mode: ------------------------------------------ Procomm V2.00 and higher (limited) 1st Reader All versions Robocomm All versions Pibterm V4.1 and higher K9X V8.00.3 and higher ZComm V17 and higher Telix V3.12 and higher Boyan V4.1 and higher GT Power V15.5 and higher Commo All versions JaxCom All versions DWComm All versions Com-And V2.38 and higher Qmodem V3.1a and higher Memory Considerations: ---------------------- When PCBoard runs your application program through Doorway, PCBoard is unloaded from memory first - then Doorway loads your program and remains resident. This means that your application will have less than the full 640K of memory to work in. You can determine how much memory your application will have available on your system by doing this: Run CHKDSK, and make a note of the memory available before loading PCBoard. Then subtract 80K from this figure - the balance is what your application will have available when running in a door. Display Considerations: ----------------------- Special considerations can arise when running DOS application programs remotely in regard to the display colors. The DOS application you are running will in most cases automatically sense the display type of the machine it's running on (the BBS) and display color or black and white as appropriate. Doorway and the remote communications program will display what is shown on the BBS machine's screen as is, so if the BBS machine is equipped with a monochrome display system and the person calling in has color, he'll see the application in black and white. Some DOS application programs have an option to select the display type; set it for color output if possible in this situation. Network / Multi-tasking operations: ----------------------------------- Both PCBoard and Doorway are fully capable of sharing files in a multi-user environment. If you are running a multi-node system and wish your DOS application to be used by more than one caller at a time, you'll need to make sure that the DOS application is 'network compatible' and capable of sharing its data files with other copies of the application running at the same time. Use of single-user application programs as multi-user doors will almost certainly result in a system crash when two or more people try to use that door at the same time. Installing Doorway for use with PCBoard: ---------------------------------------- The only required file from the Doorway distribution disk or shareware ZIP file is DOORWAY.EXE. This file should be copied into the same directory as your PCBoard system files; usually, this is C:\PCB. Setting Up Your Application as a Door: -------------------------------------- Let's examine the setup and configuration of a typical DOS application being used as a door on a PCBoard system. For this example, we're setting up a hypothetical database application called FOOBASE. Foobase has already been installed in accordance with its installation instructions, and is located in the C:\FBASE subdirectory. PCBoard has also already been installed in accordance with the installation instructions, and is located in the C:\PCB subdirectory. Also, there is a copy of DOORWAY.EXE located in this C:\PCB subdirectory. First Step - Create the Door Batch File: ---------------------------------------- Each PCBoard door is controlled by a batch file that is executed by PCBoard when the door is opened. The name of the door batch file is somewhat special; the name of the door is the same as the name of the batch file, and the batch file is saved WITHOUT the .BAT extension. We'll call our sample door FOOBASE, so that's the name of the batch file as well. Here's the batch file that will run our sample door: ECHO OFF DOORWAY COM1 /CD /H: /K:300 /V:D /P:C:\FBASE\FOOBASE.EXE CD \PCB BOARD Note the last two lines; this returns to the PCBoard home directory and restarts the board after the door program is finished. This is very important; make sure your door batch file ends this way. But the interesting part here is that big complicated command line that runs our FooBase application under Doorway. Let's examine that line in detail to see what all those parameters mean. DOORWAY The name of the Doorway program COM1 The com port that our system is using /CD Change to /FBASE directory to run our program /H: Prevent any shells to DOS from this application /K:300 Disconnect caller if no keys pressed for 5 min. /V:D Detect direct screen writes /P:C:\FBASE\FOOBASE.EXE The program that we're running In many cases, you can set your DOS application up using this sample file. Just substitute the proper COM port, path and program names and name the batch file as you desire. Remember, no .BAT extension, please! Your door batch file should be stored in the same location as your DOS application; in the example above, the FOOBASE door batch file would be located in the C:\FBASE subdirectory. Second Step; Install the door in PCBoard ---------------------------------------- Now let's install our hypothetical FOOBASE door into PCBoard. This is done by editing the DOORS.LST file using PCBSetup. Run PCBSetup, and either select the 'Main Board Configuration' screen or the 'Conferences' screen depending on whether you are installing the door into the main board or one of the conferences. On the conference / main board configuration screen, move the highlight bar to the 'Doors' 'Path/Name List File' field. Press the F2 key, and you will be in the 'Edit DOORS File' screen. Insert a line into this file by pressing and fill it in with the information for our door. The first entry is the door name; this is the same as the name of the door batch file, remember? So, put FOOBASE there. The next field is for an optional password that is needed to open this door; if you don't want to require a password to use this door, leave this field blank. Next is the 'Security' field; place the minimum security level required to open the door here. If you'd like everyone to be able to use the door, put a 0 (zero) here - otherwise, put the minumum security level needed to open the door here. Next is the 'Login' entry; if you put a Y here, the door will automatically open whenever someone logs in. For most purposes, you'll want to leave this set to N. The next two entries - 'USER.SYS and DOOR.SYS' are not applicable to DOS applications running under Doorway; leave these settings as N also. The 'Shell' field should also contain a N; this will provide the most free memory for your application. Last of all is the 'Path to Door Files' field; this field should contain the complete path to where the door batch file is located. For our sample, this would be C:\FBASE\. Now that all the fields for our new door are filled in properly, press the Esc key and answer Y to the 'save file' prompt. Exit PCBSetup and our door is now installed. The final touch would be to edit the DOORS menu file to include the name of the new door. All done! --------- The mythical FOOBASE door is now ready for use. When a caller logs into the bulletin board, they can just type FOOBASE at the command prompt and they'll be able to run the program from their remote location just as if they were sitting at the BBS machine. Of course, they should put their communications program into Doorway mode before running our door, so that they'll be able to use all the keys on their keyboard. Lots more options: ------------------ Doorway and PCBoard provide many more options for setting up doors than are discussed in this document. The simple sample setup described here is typical of most installations - but you may have a specific situation that requires a different setup. To find out more about the possibilities, please refer to the Doorway documentation for details on all of its features and functions - and the PCBoard documentation for additional information on doors and their setup.