| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
|---|
anyone who writes (or wants to write) inane software with limited scope of usage is A-OK in my book. when i was a wee BBS'ing lad i wrote a small program that basically picked a random tagline out of a tagline file and gave it to Fred Brucker's {COMMO} (the best damn term program EVER,) so that you could throw it down after your WWIV message. a simple application, i don't remember how many lines of code it was. i do remember that the doc file that i distributed with it was longer than the source code. which is proppah. as mc hammer would put it. i wonder if i can find that doc file. maybe then you all could KNOW. K N O W .... |
PO BOX 5771 PETALUMA, CA 95955 - 5771 Presents: +-----------------------------+ | SOCtag V2.¬ | | | | By the Nefarious MRPNKK | | 2@2 BUSHnet | +-----------------------------+ A Random Tagline Generator [NOTES FOR UPGRADE FROM V1.25 -> V2.¬] There are some new features, like closer to true pseudo-randomness (ie... you don't get the same color 7 times in a row when using random colors...) (Ooops... nevermind about random colors... I made that part up.) You can disregard part of the information about the /R switch, I made some changes so that it works. Or doesn't work. I'm not going to tell you which part to disregard. Other than that, it just works better now. So, uh, there. [INTRODUCTION] I'm not much for introductions. [INSTALLATION] Uhm, pretty much just unzip the distribution zip file. I use {COMMO} as my communications software, so that's what I'm going to use as a base for my description of how to get SOCtag up and working. If you are a {COMMO} user, you will probably find it most beneficial to have the SOCTAG.EXE executable in your main {COMMO} directory, be it C:\COMMO\ or D:\C\ or Z:\COMMUN\WITH\THE\DEVIL\ or whatever. Your main {COMMO} directory is probably the best place to put your tagline file(s), too. Which leads me directly into... [THE TAGLINE FILE] This is the file where SOCtag gets the taglines from. Your tagline file can be anything, really. The maximum line length that will be read in is 255 characters (the standard DOS screen is 80 characters wide, in case you didn't know and was curious.) SOCtag determines a line to be either 255 characters in length, or anything less than that terminated with a linefeed/carrige return. If you have lines that are longer than 255 characters in length, SOCtag is going to start the second line at character 256 of first line. If this concerns you, keep your taglines shorter than 255 characters and I won't have to come out to your house and boot your head in. If it doesn't concern you (ie.. You're just interested in spewing forth random crap online), just use some .JPG of buttnaked people doing strange things as your tagline file and don't worry about it. But do be sure to put a quarter under your doormat, so that when I come to your house to boot your head in I can instead call my therapist from a payphone. (No more nickels with a note that says "Use your redbox", you bad, bad dirty phreaks.) Anyway... I think I've lost some of you... [THE OUTPUT FILE] This is the file where the tagline goes. Creation of the output file is handled completely by SOCtag. All you have to do is arrange to have the file uploaded (probably ASCII uploaded) into your message. This will be detailed later for {COMMO} users. If you use some other software, you might want to look through the rest of this file for tips on how to do it. It might take some ingenuity, and from my experience with people who've paid me to consult them, I firmly believe that ingenuity and the average computer user are fair strangers. But to guide you along, I give you... [HOW THINGS WORK] This is the bare basics of SOCtag operation. The first step is to have a tagline file created. It can be called anything, but I'm going to call it "TAGLINES.TXT". Most people would put the typical array of pseudo-witty, quasisensical oneliners and Star Trek quotes in a tagline file, looking something like this: "I'm getting you up as fast as I can" -Scotty This space for rent. Steal this tagline. Etc, etc... usualy ad nausium. Now, in typical operation, SOCtag would be executed. When SOCtag is executed it opens up your tagline file, picks out a random line, and puts it in an output file. The default output filename is "OUT.TXT", but you can specifiy whatever you want. The next step from here is to simply do whatever you are going to do with the tagline (often by uploading the contents of OUT.TXT to your message.) It's really that simple. Follow? [COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS] There are several command line arguements that are essential. If you ever forget any of this, typing SOCTAG /? at the command line with give you a brief explanation of the necessary command line arguments. /T [TAGLINE FILE] [TAGLINE FILE] represents the name of your tagline file. It should be no longer than 12 characters long (ie.. 8 character filename + 3 character exstension + 1 period = 12 characters. /L [LINES] [LINES] represents the number of lines in your taglien file. It should be some number from 1 to whatever. /O [OUTPUT FILE] (optional) [OUTPUT FILE] represents the name you want your output file to have. Again, no longer than 12 characters. The default is OUT.TXT. /R [NUMBER] This is documented here only. Use it only on WWIV BBSes. [NUMBER] represents a number from 0 to 10. Changed my mind. Don't use it. It doesn't do anything. There are more... but... [EXAMPLES OF COMMAND LINES] Imagine for a momement that your tagline file is called TAGLINES.TXT, and it has 1000 lines in it. Your command line should be: SOCTAG /T TAGLINES.TXT /L 1000 If the last 500 lines suck, you can exclude them like this: SOCTAG /T TAGLINES.TXT /L 500 If you want the output to go to a file called OUTPUT, instead of the default OUT.TXT, you would type: SOCTAG /T TAGLINES.TXT /L 1000 /O OUTPUT Simple enough, I hope. [{COMMO} RULES] No, this section is not rules for {COMMO} users. It is a statement... Fred Brucker is GOD. I haven't put much thought into this, and I'm not all that familiar with {COMMO}'s macro language. If what I am about to write looks sloppy to you, quietly improve upon it and e-mail it to me, 2@2 BUSHnet. Or send it to the SOC PO BOX. This is the way I've gotten SOCtag to work with my {COMMO} setup: In COMMO.MAC I added these lines: {:af2} {exec SOCTAG /L 1555 /T GRAIL.DOC /O OUTPUT} {ascii %socdir\OUTPUT} {} Description: The first set of {} sets this macro for the keystroke ALT-F2. You can change this to anything you like. The second set of {} contains the executing command line. My tagline file, GRAIL.DOC, contains 1555 lines and SOCtag puts the chosen tagline in OUTPUT. The third set of {} sets up an ASCII upload of the file OUTPUT. The %socdir is a token that represents the socdir varible which is assigned the value of my start up directory. This is done in the COMMO.SET file, thusly: {set socdir,d:\c\ul} The d:\c\ul is simply MY path, your path will probably be different. Unless you are using my machine, in which case it will be exactly the same. Unless you have installed another copy of {COMMO} on the E: drive or something, which would really piss me off. Anyway, from here you just run {COMMO}, and everything should be hunkydory. Pressing ALT-F2 (in this case) will upload some random tagline into your online message. NOTE: For people who "trick" DSZ/GSZ by starting up {COMMO} in your download directory so that Chuck's disabled directory redirection in unregistered versions of DSZ/GSZ has no effect-- You should have socdir set to whatever you download directory is (ie.. {set socdir,C:\COMMO\DLOADS}) There's probably other ways to set up SOCtag for {COMMO}, but this is the way that works for me. [HOW TO PAY ME] You don't have to. But if you REALLY, REALLY ache to send me your money, you can send it to the address at the top of this .DOC. The SOC will forward to me any surface mail it recieves at that drop box. If you make your check out to MRPNKK, I won't be able to cash it, but I will definately tape it to my wall. I dig that stuff. Alternatives to sending me money, is to send the SOC $1. For your $1 they'll send you a copy of their pretty damn swank magazine. If you tell them that MRPNKK told you to send the duccat, they'll pat me on the head and call me a good boy, which will make me happy. Another alternative is to send something neat. Anything. I like neat stuff. Enjoy. [MRPNKK] |
|
HE USED HIS KNOWLEDGE OF COMPUTERS TO FIND OUT WHERE I WORK. AND HE MADE CERTAIN I KNEW HE HAD THAT KNOWLEDGE IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS OFFERING TO MAKE A SORABJI COMPATIBLE KILLFILE PROGRAM. THAT IS STALKING THAT IS WRONG EVEN IF YOU'RE A WHITE MALE, IT'S WRONG EVEN IF THE PERSON YOU'RE STALKING WAS RUDE TO YOU, IT'S WRONG. DOES ANYONE DISAGREE WITH ME? |