
This file contains documentation for Searchlight 3.5's RIP Graphics
Features, as well as notes on last-minute changes. To read the main
manual, press F10.


INTRODUCTION TO RIP GRAPHICS
----------------------------
Searchlight supports RIP Graphics, a new kind of terminal protocol that
allows your BBS to take advantage of features like high resolution
graphics, mouse support, fonts, icons, and more. RIP graphics are generated
by a special language called RIPscrip.


What is RIPscrip?

One way to think of RIP graphics and RIPscrip is as an alternative to ANSI
graphics. Most bulletin boards use some kind of ANSI graphics today;
Searchlight, in particular, takes advantage of ANSI screen controls to a
great extent. ANSI is what allows Searchlight to do full screen interfaces,
menubars, colors, and cursor positioning on a remote terminal with ANSI
support. You can also make your own colorful ANSI files using products like
THEDraw or Laughing Dog.

Like ANSI, RIP is a terminal protocol; that is, it's a special language
that Searchlight can use to communicate with a remote terminal. While RIP
is compatible with ANSI, it offers far more functions than ANSI alone
provides. Among them are:

  o  Full screen graphical primitives (Box, Circle, Line, etc.)
  o  Specialized fill patterns
  o  Full color manipulation
  o  Multiple scalable fonts
  o  Simultaneous text and graphics windows on the screen at once
  o  Full mouse support for point and click operation
  o  Remotely stored bitmap icons for detailed, high-speed graphics
  o  Full clipboard copy and paste ability
  o  Custom line-styles for technical drawings, etc.

Using RIPscrip graphics on your Searchlight BBS, you can show visually
stunning graphics, offer full point and click access to your system, and in
many cases, speed up throughput of your user's on-line connect times. In
other words, RIPscrip graphics can often be transmitted faster than ANSI
graphics.

Most of Searchlight's RIP features are only available during an online
sessionthat is, when you or your caller dials into your BBS from a
terminal program that supports the RIPscrip protocol. You won't see RIP
features during a local login, although you can see "Previews" of your RIP
menus locally. You can also use a null modem connection between two
computers to create a RIP session without actually making a telephone call.

No special commands are necessary to "enable" RIP graphics; Searchlight
automatically detects whether a caller has RIP capability when a connection
is established, and goes into "RIP mode" whenever possible. In the event
that the initial RIP detection fails, or if you do want to manually turn
RIP mode on and off during a session, you can use the ANSI command on
Searchlight's main menu to do so.


How Searchlight Supports RIP

Searchlight's RIP graphics support can be roughly divided into three main
categories:

  o  Built-in RIP features. These are features like pop-up dialog boxes,
     scroll bars, etc. that are built in to Searchlight BBS, and are
     displayed automatically in RIP mode. You can change the colors and
     certain other aspects of these features, but you can't change the
     buttons or commands that appear.

  o  RIP menus. Searchlight lets you build your own RIP menus, using our
     menu editor system in conjunction with a set of "RIP Styles". Your RIP
     menus can contain any command buttons you choose, and can appear in a
     variety of colors, font styles, and layouts.

  o  External RIP support. Searchlight can display external files created
     with a RIP graphics program, such as RIPdraw or RIPaint. These files
     can simply be pictures, or they can be menus with buttons and mouse
     areas. You can also use externally generated RIP files as backdrops
     for built-in menus.

In a moment, we'll look at each of these categories in more detail. First,
though, let's look at Searchlight's RIP General Setup and RIP Styles Setup
menus, located in the CONFIG program.


RIP GENERAL SETUP

The RIP General Setup menu controls overall aspects of Searchlight's RIP
features. The options are:

 1. Enable RIP Graphics ...... Yes
 2. RIP on All Help Levels ... Yes
 3. ANSI Menus in RIP Mode ... No
 4. RIP Dialog Box Style ..... Aqua
 5. RIP Popup Box Style ...... Aqua
 6. RIP Text Editor Style .... RedGrey
 7. RIP Subboard List Style .. Aqua
 8. RIP Text Quote Style ..... Aqua
 9. RIP Bulletins Style ...... RedGrey


1 Enable RIP Graphics

This is a "master switch" that you can use to enable or disable RIP
graphics for your entire system. If you do not desire any RIP features to
be available in your BBS, turn this switch to No.


2 RIP On All Help Levels

If set to Yes (the default), Searchlight displays full RIP menus regardless
of whether a user's help preference is set to Novice, Intermediate or
Expert. This is the recommended behavior, because RIP menus generally need
to be displayed in full each time they are used in order for mouse areas to
be available.

If you set this switch to No, then Expert and Intermediate users may get
abbreviated ANSI menus rather than RIP menus on some screens.


3 ANSI Menus in RIP Mode

This switch tells Searchlight what to do if it encounters an external ANSI
file attached to a menu, but no external RIP file. If set to No (the
default), Searchlight displays its own internally generated RIP menu rather
than the ANSI file. If set to Yes, then Searchlight displays the ANSI file
rather than its internal RIP menu.

Since ANSI files do not have mouse areas, it is recommended to leave this
switch set to No. If you'd like to display your ANSI files to RIP callers,
however, then set this switch to Yes.

o Notice that if an external RIP file is available, it is displayed in  RIP
mode regardless of this switch setting.  This switch only controls  whether
Searchlight's internal RIP menus get precedence over external ANSI files.


4 RIP Dialog Box Style

This selectionand the selections following it define the "RIP Style" used
to generate dialog boxes, popup menus, the full screen text editor, and
other features listed when in RIP mode. The options available here
correspond to the named RIP styles you have created in RIP Styles Setupas
described in more detail below.

o Note that many of Searchlight's internal  features use defaults for font
sizes and  other  features that  will  override the  style  settings.  This
behavior is  necessary in  order to  ensure  that information  is  properly
formatted on screen.


RIP STYLES

Searchlight uses a concept called RIP Styles as the primary means of
customizing the look of its RIP menus and other RIP features. A RIP style
is really a collection of colors, font sizes, and other options. Since
there are so many different options associated with each RIP element, RIP
styles give you a convenient way to assign options to multiple RIP features
without having to manually key in a long list of colors and other settings
for each feature on your system.

o RIP Styles are used to customize the  way Searchlight looks in RIP mode.
If you're not interested in customizing Searchlight, or if you prefer to do
this step later,  you can skip  this section and  use Searchlight with  the
default settings that are provided.

Searchlight divides each RIP element into three sections: Windows, Titles,
and Buttons. A "Window" is a rectangular area of the screen which contains
a particular RIP element, like a menu or a subboard listing. A "Title" is
an area at the top of the window -- typically one line -- that contains a
title or heading for that window. "Buttons" are controls (mouse areas) that
appear inside the window and let you perform functions. Here's a typical
RIP display, showing all three elements:


Here, the "Window" is the entire area; the "Title" is the box that contains
the text "Electronic Mail"; and the buttons are the various controls,
"Read", "Send", etc. You can customize not only the colors of these
features, but also font and font size, "beveling" and other special
effects, and in some cases screen position. You can also disable the title
or the window itself.

To view or modify the RIP styles, select "RIP Styles Setup", which can be
found under "General Configuration" in the Searchlight CONFIG program. A
listing such as this appears:


     Searchlight BBS RIP Styles Setup

     A. Aqua       Blue-Green Window
     B. Steel      Grey/Black
     C. RedGrey    Steel w/Red Letters
     D. <unassigned>

Up to 16 styles can be entered. Each style is given a one to eight letter
name, which is used to apply the style to menus and other features later; a
description; and various settings. To view a style, select one of the
existing styles and press Enter. The following listing appears:


Searchlight BBS RIP Styles Setup Menu

 1. Style Name .................... Aqua
 2. Style Description ............. Blue-Green
 3. Window Attributes [...]
 4. Title Attributes  [...]
 5. Button Attributes [...]


Enter the name and description for the style in lines 1 and 2. As
mentioned, the style name is what you'll use later to apply the style, so
choose a name that you'll remember. The descripion is only displayed here.

Each style has further submenus for the window, title and button
attributes, as shown. Start by selecting "Window Attributes" (place the
cursor on this line, then press Enter or double-click with your mouse).


Window Attributes

The options that appear here are:

 1. Make Window Visible ...... Yes
 2. Window Position .......... Center
 3. User Defined Top Left X ..      0
 4. User Defined Top Left Y ..      0
 5. User Defined Bottom Right X               0
 6. User Defined Bottom Right Y               0
 7. Foreground Color ......... White
 8. Background Color ......... Blue
 9. Bright Color ............. Lt Cyan
10. Dark Color ............... Blue
11. Surface Color ............ Cyan
12. Corner Color ............. Cyan
13. Bevel Size ...............      5
14. Font Style ............... Default
15. Font Size ................      1
16. Window Style Switches [...]

Here's a description of each item:


1 Make Window Visible

This option determines whether the window itself -- the square, usually
beveled area that acts as the outline for the entire area -- appears. This
is normally set to Yes. If set to No, the effect is to have the window's
title and buttons "floating" above whatever is already on the screen. You
can use this effect to add buttons to existing RIP pictures ("Wallpaper",
as described later in this section).


2 Window Position

This field defines where on the screen this window will appear. There are a
number of options that can be selected here: Center, Top-Left, Top-Right,
Top-Center, etc. There is also a "User Defined" setting that allows you to
describe exactly where you'd like the window to appear on your screen. If
"User Defined" is selected, use lines 3 through 6 to define the upper-left
and lower-right hand corners of the window. These coordinates are given
over a 640x350 pixel range.

o Use the  "User Defined"  setting to  place a  Searchlight genrated  menu
within an existing background, such as a picture created with RIPaint. When
using this setting, you should be  careful to make the window large  enough
to hold the title and buttons intended to fit within it, otherwise some  of
these elements may be omitted or may overlap the window border.


7 Foreground Color
8 Background Color

These fields control the color of the text that appears on the face of the
window. The "Background Color" is used only for text "boxes" that appear
inside a window (such as in a subboard listing). For regular menu windows,
the background color is always the same as the window's surface color.


11 Surface Color

This is the color of the surface of the button. For example, in the
traditional "Steel" look, the surface color is grey.


12 Corner Color

This is the color used to generate a "3-D" look or shadowed look on the
corner of the button.


13 Bevel Size

This is the size, in pixels, of the "beveling" effect created around the
surface of the window, if beveling is enabled. (Beveling makes the window
appear to be a raised button rather than a flat feature).


14 Font Style
15 Font Size

Use these fields to set a font style and size for the window text. Various
fonts are available, as defined in the RIP protocol.


16 Window Style Switches

This option leads to an additional screen of yes/no settings:

 1. Chiseled ................. No
 2. Recessed ................. No
 3. Beveled .................. Yes
 4. Sunken ................... No

These are various special effects that make a window appear chiseled,
recessed, beveled or sunken when selected.


Title Attributes

The next major portion of a RIP style is the Title Attributes. Options are:

 1. Make Title Visible ....... Yes
 2. Title Postion ............ Top Center
 3. Foreground Color ......... Yellow
 4. Background Color ......... Black
 5. Bright Color ............. Black
 6. Dark Color ............... Black
 7. Surface Color ............ Green
 8. Corner Color ............. Black
 9. Bevel Size ...............      1
10. Font Style ............... Default
11. Font Size ................      1
12. Title Style Switches [...]


Most of the items shown here perform similar functions to the same items
listed under Window Attributes, except they apply to the title section of
the window, rather than to the window as a whole. Below, we'll list the
differences that apply:


1 Make Title Visible

If set to Yes, the title portion of the window appears; if No, then the
title is omitted. You can omit the title for menus that don't require it.


12 Title Style Switches

These switches are similar to the Window Style switches, except that they
apply to the titlebar, and several new options are available:

 1. Chiseled ................. No
 2. Recessed ................. No
 3. Drop Shadow .............. Yes
 4. Beveled .................. No
 5. Adjust Vertical Center ... Yes
 6. Sunken ................... No
 7. Left Justify Label ....... No
 8. Right Justify Label ...... No


Button Attributes

These attributes apply to the buttons created within a menu:

 1. Foreground Color ......... Blue
 2. Background Color ......... Black
 3. Bright Color ............. Lt Cyan
 4. Dark Color ............... Blue
 5. Surface Color ............ Cyan
 6. Corner Color ............. Cyan
 7. Underline Color .......... Red
 8. Bevel Size ...............      3
 9. Font Style ............... Default
10. Font Size ................      1
11. Orientation .............. Center
12. Width ....................     80
13. Height ...................     25
14. Spacing ..................     25
15. Button Style Switches [...]


7 Underline Color

Buttons that are commands feature an underline under the command's keyboard
equivalent, where such an equivalent exists. This setting defines the color
of the underline.


11 Orientation

This setting describes how the text label is presented within the button:
Centered, left, right, etc.


12 Width
13 Height
14 Spacing

These fields define the width and height of buttons, and the spacing
between buttons, in pixels. When changing these values, bear in mind that
the dimensions of the entire screen are 640 (width) by 350 (height). You
must ensure that the buttons are large enough to hold the intended
commands; otherwise, the commands may overflow the buttons.


15 Button Style Switches

The largest number of special visual effects are available for buttons.
They include:


 1. Chiseled ................. No
 2. Recessed ................. Yes
 3. Drop Shadow .............. No
 4. Beveled .................. Yes
 5. Underline Hotkey ......... No
 6. Adjust Vertical Center ... No
 7. Sunken ................... No
 8. Highlight Hotkey ......... Yes
 9. Explode .................. No
10. Left Justify Label ....... No
11. Right Justify Label ...... No


Using RIP Styles

The RIP styles you create apply to two major areas of Searchlight: menus
(which are created and maintained in the menu editor portion of the CONFIG
program), and built in RIP features. To apply styles to built-in features,
use the RIP General Setup menu shown above. For more information about
applying styles to user-defined menus, including a "preview" function that
lets you see what your styles actually look like, see "Searchlight Menu
Editor".


INTERNAL RIP FEATURES

Searchlight provides a host of internal RIP features that are automatically
engaged when a caller connects to Searchlight with a RIP compatible
terminal. In most cases, the RIP version of a feature contains the same
commands as the ANSI version (i.e. the version seen locally or displayed to
non-RIP callers), but the screen presentation is enhanced with features
like mouse buttons and menus. For example, Searchlight's message editor in
RIP mode looks like this:


Notice the differences between this display and the ANSI representation.
These differences can be summarized into the following categories:

  o  Scroll Bars. The scroll bar to the right of the display allows you to
     navigate through a long message with your mouse, and also indicates
     the current cursor position and relative size of the message (by the
     size of the scroller element). To move the cursor, you can click
     anywhere on the scrollbar. Below the bar itself are additional
     controls for page up and down.

  o  Buttons. Functions such as save, quote-text, and abort can be entered
     by clicking the buttons with your mouse, instead of giving keyboard
     commands (but the keyboard commands are still available in case you
     don't have a mouse).

  o  Pop ups and dialog boxes. In many cases, when you're using a full
     screen display, additional menus or messages "pop up" over the
     display, as shown here. Select an item from these menus with the mouse
     or cursor keys. When an item is selected, the pop-up feature
     disappears and restores the display beneath it.

Searchlight uses full screen RIP displays for many internal features,
including the message editor, the message browser, subboard listings, and
bulletins. Although these features are functionally the same as their text
equivalents, the graphics representations are more attractive and often
more functional, thanks to the mouse support and scroll bars.


Customizing Internal Features

You can't change the basic look of Searchlight's internal features or add
commands to the displays, but you can change the colors in which these
features appear, and to some degree the appearance of the text and menus,
by assigning a RIP style to each feature under RIP General Setup (as
described earlier in this chapter). Note that some changes you may make to
a style used for an internal feature -- most notably, font changes -- are
overridden by the feature's defaults. This is necessary to maintain correct
display formatting.


RIP MENUS

Perhaps the most important RIP feature in Searchlight BBS is its ability to
generate RIP representations of user-defined menus created with our menu
editing system. In other words, Searchlight takes the menu choices placed
on menus by you, and generates its own graphical RIP representation of the
menu, complete with a window, mouse buttons, and a title. You can control
the colors, fonts, layout and screen position of the menu through RIP
styles and menu options.

Notice that Searchlight makes RIP menus "on the fly" -- that is, it
generates these menus as it executes, which means that menus can have
different commands based on user access levels and attributes. And when you
add or change commands on a menu, the RIP screens are automatically
updated. Since there are no external RIP files, you don't need to manually
update a file every time you change a menu.


Creating RIP Menus

As discussed, Searchlight creates RIP menus automatically, and there isn't
much else you need to do to have Searchlight create a RIP menu except to
create menus as described in our Menu Editing section (see p.  for more
information). Three fields associated with each menu control how that menu
will appear in RIP mode. The are:

15. RIP Display Style ........ Steel
16. RIP Menu Columns (Novice)             2
17. RIP Menu Columns (Expert)             2


RIP Display Style controls how the menu will look -- what colors will be
used to draw it, what special effects (like beveling) will be used, and
where the menu will appear on screen. Lines 16 and 17 control the number of
columns that will be used to generate the menu in Novice or Expert mode
(Intermediate mode follows the Novice setting).

It's easy to describe all the different style settings that are available,
but when it comes to actually laying out a menu, you really need to see
what the menu will look like. Fortunately, Searchlight provides a RIP
preview function that enables you to do so. In fact, you can actually edit
your menu and your RIP styles from within the preview mode, making it much
easier to actually put a visual representation to all of the different RIP
colors and settings.

To enter RIP preview mode, go to the Menu Editor main screen, place the
cursor next to the desired menu, and press F6. A graphics screen similar to
this one will appear:


You must  be running  a system  with  at least  EGA graphics  capabilities
preferably with a color  CRTin order to use  this preview mode.  Also, you
cannot use the  preview mode if  running the CONFIG  program from a  remote
location.

What your screen shows here is a mock-up of what the menu will look like
when displayed online to a RIP-compatible caller. You can use this display
to judge the general appearance of the menu, colors, and placement of
commands and text.

Notice that the menu is first displayed in "Novice" mode. To see what it
looks like in "Expert" mode, click on the word "Novice" on the status line
beneath the menu.

If you want to change any aspect of the RIP Style used in the menu, you can
do so by clicking on the status line or pressing the following keys:

F1: Change Window Attributes
F2: Change Window Style Switches
F3: Change Title Attributes
F4: Change Title Style Switches
F5: Change Button Attributes
F6: Change Button Style Switches

Bear in mind that when you change any of these settings, you're changing
the style associated with the menu, not the menu itself. In other words,
any other menus or features that use this style are also affected by the
changes. (See the discussion of RIP styles earlier in this chapter for more
information about style editing).

Finally, if you want to access the menu's own settings (to change the
column placement or style), click on the menu's name in the lower left hand
corner of the screen.

Searchlight provides a great deal of flexibility in creation of RIP  styles
and menus. At the same time, it  is possible to create settings that  don't
make sense, either because the text  of your selections overflows the  size
of the menu or buttons or because your menu is too large to fit within  the
space given. The preview mode will help you make adjustments to your  menus
visually so that you can design graphics  that look and work well for  your
own needs.



EXTERNAL RIP FILES

External RIP files provide the ultimate in design flexibility: they allow
you to take any RIP scene or menu that you can create with an external
drawing program and use it in your system, typically as a replacement for
the built-in menus. External menus are more flexible because they can
contain illustrations and layouts beyond what can be created with our
internal RIP styles, but they are also somewhat more difficult to create
and maintain since you need to use an external RIP painting program.

When RIP mode is enabled, Searchlight searches for text files ending in
.RIP instead of .ANS or .TXT. You can make .RIP files for menus, include
files, your login and logoff screens, and anywhere else that Searchlight
displays a TXT or ANS file. In fact, since RIPscrip is plain text, you can
even load RIP graphics into messages. If no RIP file is available for a
particular menu or display screen, your existing ANS or TXT file is used
instead.

RIP graphics screens are displayed properly only on a remote RIP  terminal.
Your local screen will show only  the RIP command sequences.  Consequently,
your BBS  can  support high  resolution  RIP  screens even  if  your  local
terminal does not support graphics.


How can I create RIP files?

RIP graphics files are created with special programs such as RIPaint and
RIPdraw, available from TeleGrafix Inc. They produce text files ending in
.RIP, which you can load into your BBS. Searchlight displays the .RIP files
instead of text or ANS files when searching for an external text file. Note
that you can only use files created with a RIP specific drawing program;
you can't use files created with other kinds of drawing programs.

If you would  like more  information about  software to  create custom  RIP
graphics screens, or  if you  are a  developer and  would like  information
about adding RIP graphics  support to your  online product, please  contact
Searchlight Software at our technical support number.


RIPscrip Guidelines

RIPscrip contains a rich set of commands that can make a RIP terminal
display graphics, fonts, change screen sizes, relocate screen windows, and
more. Since Searchlight operates in text mode when it is not displaying a
RIP file, RIP files should, in general, avoid using commands that would
render Searchlight's text unreadable (unless that effect is desired).
In order to ensure that its text is readable, Searchlight always resets the
RIP terminal's text window and font size whenever it clears the screen.

RIPscrip files can contain mouse areas and mouse controls in addition to
high resolution graphics, icons and other features. Typically, you will use
mouse areas in menu display files, and have the mouse areas return a
keystroke to Searchlight indicating the correct menu choice. For example,
if F is the key to press to enter the files system on your main menu, you
could generate a RIPscrip menu with a mouse button for files access; the
mouse button would type the letter 'F' when pressed.

Note that your RIP menus should always send a single character in response
to a mouse press. Even when you use the "Word" style menus in Searchlight,
it isn't necessary to return an Enter keystroke after the command letter,
since Searchlight only requires a single key when displaying a RIP menu.

o RIP buttons contain an option that allows  the act of pushing the button
to clear the screen. Don't use this option in your RIP menus with  commands
that generate  pop-up  RIP features  (like  Searchlight's Time  or  Version
command). Since Searchlight  expects the screen  to remain unchanged  after
these kinds of commands execute, it doesn't redraw the menu below; clearing
the screen will thus destroy the "pop-up" effect.

Since Searchlight provides its own mouse support with built in menubar
menus, and may support other RIP features internally, a special command is
included in the menu setup screen to disable Searchlight from producing
mouse areas for its internal menus:

14. Use RIP Mouse Areas ...... Yes

Set this option to "No" if you are using RIPscrip files to generate your
own menus with mouse areas. Otherwise, leave it set to "Yes". The "No"
setting prevents Searchlight from interfering with mouse areas that may
have been created by your external RIPscrip file.


RIP "Wallpaper" Files

Searchlight contains a unique feature that lets you combine the built-in
RIP menu feature with external files -- we call it the "wallpaper" feature.
What it allows you to do is take an external RIP file that contains
drawings, but no mouse buttons, and use it as a background image over which
Searchlight will display one of its built-in RIP menu representations. The
wallpaper feature gives you the best of both worlds: you can design any
kind of illustration with a RIP painting program, but still have
Searchlight control the actual commands and mouse areas. Since Searchlight
controls the commands, the actual menu can dynamically adapt itself to
changes in access levels and attributes or changes in the Searchlight menu
file itself.

To use the wallpaper feature, create (or obtain) a RIP file that you'd like
to use as background material, and place in the "Text" file directory in
your system. Next, edit the menu in question. In the field marked "Display
Filename (Optional)", enter the name of the wallpaper file using this
syntax:

 4. Display Filename (Optional)          @!MYFILE

Notice the special "@!" syntax: this tells Searchlight that the file is a
wallpaper file (otherwise, Searchlight would assume the file was a complete
menu, and would not generate its own RIP menu). Searchlight displays the
wallpaper file first, then draws its "default" menu on top.

You may wish to disable the RIP window and title when using the wallpaper
feature (you can disable them by editing the style associated with the
menu). Without a window and title, Searchlight simply draws buttons over
the wallpaper -- which can make the buttons look more like an integral part
of the picture.

One final note: you can add a wallpaper file to a menu without destroying
an existing ANSI or ASCII text screen. Just place the @!FILE after the
existing ANSI filename on line 4, separated by a space:


 4. Display Filename (Optional)          @ANSI @!RIP




Additional Features
-------------------
A number of last minute features were added to Searchlight 3.5 after the 
manual was created. The following documents these added features: 


High Ascii Chars
----------------
A new "Allow High Ascii Chars" setting is available in the CONFIG program 
(General Setup #2). The default is No. When set to Yes, Searchlight allows 
high ASCII characters (in the range 128-255) to be entered into user names 
and most other inputs in the program. Non-english speaking users can take 
advantage of this setting to allow additional characters to be used.  


Filename Display
----------------
The display of filenames/descriptions is handled in a slightly different 
way. Searchlight clears the screen and displays the heading after each page 
of files, rather than scrolling the header up the screen. Additionally, 
files and descriptions are displayed together on the same page whenever 
possible. For example, if the cursor is on line 22 and the next file has a 
10 line description, Searchlight will immediately generate the next "more" 
prompt, then clear the screen and display the file with its complete 
description. (The old version would have displayed the first 2 lines of the 
file description, then generated a "more" prompt followed by the remaining 
eight lines). For file descriptions longer than 24 lines, the screen clears 
between each page of the description, but the file can still be tagged.  

This version doesn't display blank lines in extended file descriptions. The 
change was made for two reasons: to make the file list neater, and to allow 
a text file created from the file list to be re-importable with the Import 
facilities (if there were blank lines in the descriptions, Searchlight would 
not be able to import the descriptions correctly).  


File Importing
--------------
This version of the CONFIG program contains an updated Directory Import 
feature that will allow importing of text style directories much more 
efficiently than previous methods, without the need to pre-process import 
files. CD-ROM users can import directly from CD-ROM disks without copying 
the import file to a hard disk directory first. Multiline file descriptions 
are also supported.  

To import files using the new CONFIG program:

  (1) Run CONFIG and select option C, "File Directory Maintenance".

  (2) Place the cursor next to the desired directory, then press F3
      to access the Directory Utilities menu.

  (3) Select option B to import filenames.

  (4) The CONFIG program checks the directory containing the files for the
      current area and attempts to find the correct file for importing. If
      the correct filename appears, press Enter to accept it. Otherwise,
      enter the name of the file you want to use for importing.

  (5) Answer Yes or No to the Update Existing Files question.

  (6) The import procedure begins. The new import procedure takes place in
      several phases. Press Enter when importing is complete.

The CONFIG program uses several steps to import files, including the 
creation of a temporary file on your hard drive (which is deleted after 
importing is complete). The new procedure ensures that the Searchlight 
directory file is built and indexed optimally, regardless of the order in 
which files are listed in the text file. Therefore, there is no need to 
manually sort or otherwise pre-process the text file before importing it.  


Default Search Strings
----------------------
The Files command (internal command 300) and Zippy command (internal 305) 
may be provided with a default filename or wildcard (for command #300) or 
default search string (for command #305) by placing the desired text on the 
parameter line below the command in the menu structure. For example: 

 11. Command Number (1) ............    305
 12. Command Parameters (1) ........ JONES

This command would perform a Zippy search using the search key "JONES". The 
user is not prompted to enter a search key in this case.  

The files command (#300) can also be provided with a parameter which is 
either a filename or a wildcard. A filename with no wildcard characters 
provides a list of the current directory from that filename onward. A 
wildcard provides a list of filenames which match the wildcard (ie. *.ZIP or 
ABF??.TXT).  


Default File List Format
------------------------
Internal commands 300 and 305 can be made to skip the "Display Long File 
Descriptions?" prompt by adding a parameter to the command which defines the 
desired behavior: 

    /L   Forces long file descriptions
    /S   Forces short file descriptions
    /P   Forces the Yes/No prompt to appear

Using /L, /S or /P overrides the user's default setting.

Example:

 11. Command Number (1) ............    305
 12. Command Parameters (1) ........ JONES /L

This command does a Zippy scan using the search key "JONES" and always
displays long file descriptions.


Default Directory Search
------------------------
The "Search All Directories?" question can be eliminated from internal 
commands 300 and 305 by using the following parameters: 

    /A   Search all directories
    /N   Do not search all directories (search current directory only)

Example:

 11. Command Number (1) ............    305
 12. Command Parameters (1) ........ JONES /L /N

This command does a Zippy search on the keyword "JONES", always displays 
long descriptions, and searches only the current directory. All three user 
prompts (search key, display long descriptions, search all directories) are 
eliminated; therefore the listing appears immediately when this command is 
executed.  

The "Default Directory Search" and "Default File List Format" switches (used 
with commands 300 & 305) now also work with the New Files command (command 
number 303).  


Elimination of Default Greeting
-------------------------------
The default login greeting message, showing the BBS name and last caller 
name, may be eliminated by setting a switch on CONFIG General Setup Menu #2: 

  16. Default Login Greeting ........ Off

In the "On" position, the standard greeting message is displayed. In the 
"Off" position, no greeting is displayed. Also, in the Off position, you may 
provide an alternate greeting by placing a text file named GREETING.TXT, 
GREETING.ANS and/or GREETING.RIP into your Text file directory.  

When the default greeting is disabled, Searchlight will still:

(a) Display the "Visible Login?" prompt for Sysop logins;
(b) Display the "Do you wish to be available for chatting?" prompt if the
    user has chatting capabilities (to remove chatting capability and
    eliminate this prompt, set chatting security attributes on the Function
    Attrib menu in CONFIG).
(c) Display the amount of time permitted in the current session for non-
    Sysop logins.


Guest Account
-------------
Multiuser systems now allow multiple GUEST account logins on the same 
system.  


Binary File Attachment
----------------------
Searchlight allows you to "attach", or associate, a binary file (i.e., a 
file of any type) with a message. The attached file can be downloaded at the 
time the message is read. File attachment is a convenient way to send files 
privately through email, and can also be used with public messages.  

To attach a file to a message, press F2 (or ^U) in the message editor when 
entering (or editing) the message. Searchlight prompts you with:  

Enter Name of File to attach to message: 
> 

There are two ways to respond to this prompt. If you're using Searchlight as 
a normal user (not the Sysop) and logged in from a remote terminal, enter 
the desired filename here.  Searchlight then prompts you to upload the file, 
first selecting one of the internal file protocols. Assuming the file is 
uploaded successfully, it is stored in the "File Attach Path" as defined in 
your CONFIG file, and "attached" to the message.   


If you're logged on as the Sysop, you can also specify the complete path to 
a file that exists on your local hard drive here. For example:  

C:\SLBBS\SYSOP\MYFILE.ZIP

Instead of initiating a file transfer, Searchlight copies this file into 
the attach directory.  Note that each file that's attached to a message 
must have a unique filename. If you try to attach a file with the same 
filename as another file attachment, Searchlight will inform you that the 
file already exists.  You need to choose another name for the file.  


Downloading Attached Files

Whenever you read a message that has a file attachment (whether in your
mailbox, or a public message or bulletin) Searchlight will inform you of
the file attachment, and ask if you'd like to download the file. If you do
want to download it, you'll be prompted to choose a protocol, and the
transfer begins.

Note that there is no upload ratio associated with attached files; they're
treated as part of a message, and anyone who has permission to read a
message that has a file attachment can also download the file. However,
time limits are enforced; if you don't have enough time to download the
attached file, the download is disallowed.

If you have a multiuser system, it is important that each node in your
system has the same file attach path. Otherwise, files attached to a
message in one node won't be accessible from another node.


Maintaining Attached Files

All file attachments are stored in the "File Attach Path" defined in your
CONFIG program (see "File Pathnames Setup" in this manual for details).
These files remain on your disk until the message to which they are
attached is deleted (or, if the message is carbon-copied to a number of
users, until the last copy of the message is deleted).

You can manually maintain attach files in several ways. First, if you edit 
a message that contains an attached file, you can remove or replace the 
file attachment by pressing F2 to attach another file. The new file 
replaces the old one. You can also delete files from the attach directory 
directly from the DOS prompt, even if you do not know to what message the 
file is attached. If that message is later read, Searchlight simply 
displays a message to the effect that the attached file is no longer 
available for download. You may wish to perform this kind of maintenance 
periodically in case a large number of file attachments build up in your 
system and aren't deleted.  

