Message Header Customization
BBS Operation - Message Header Customization
The [R]Read Public Messages routine allows you to customize the message headers. When the caller activates the Read Messages command, the program will load one of two files into memory. If the caller is currently using 40 columns, then "√headers" is used. If the caller is currently using 80 columns, then "√headers80" is used. Here is the format of the file:
- Line 1: The message header top. This may be a line that divides off the message header, or it may be left blank.
- Line 2: The FROM information line.
- Line 3: The DATE information line.
- Line 4: The SUBJ information line.
- Line 5: The NODE information line (only printed for network messages).
- Line 6: The CITY information line (only printed for network messages and only if city was supplied)
- Line 7: The message header bottom. This will be the last thing printed after the header information.
In each of the header lines, you may designate where the actual variable information (such as the subject of the message) will be printed with the following Variable MCI: £[i$]. This prints the contents of i$, which will hold the variable information for each line as it is printed.
If you wish the line to be followed by a Carriage Return (as usual), then each line must end in a CTRL/Y. CTRL/Y, as explained in the Programming instructions, is a substitute for the RETURN character, but it won't end a line in the message editor (you will still need to do a new line in the message editor for the next information line). This allows you to add a Carriage Return to the end of each line and have the Public Message routine read it in from the file as part of the line. If you don't include a CTRL/Y character on a line, then the next line of the header will be printed on the same line.
40-Column Example:
(CTRL-Y) means to press CTRL and Y Key for a carriage return.
(RET) means to press the return key
1: -----------------------------------------------(CTRL-Y)(RET) 2: From User £[i$] (CTRL-Y)(RET) 3: on £[i$] (CTRL-Y)(RET) 4: Subj: £[i$] (CTRL-Y)(RET) 5: From Node: £[i$] (CTRL-Y)(RET) 6: in £[i$] (CTRL-Y)(RET) 7: ------------------------------------------------(CTRL-Y)(RET)
Save…..
80-Column Example:
1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (CTRL-Y)(RET) 2: From User £[i$] on (RET) 3: £[i$] (CTRL-Y)(RET) 4: Subj: £[i$] (CTRL-Y)(RET) 5: From Node: £[i$] in (RET) 6: £[i$] (CTRL-Y)(RET) 7: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (CTRL-Y)(RET)
Save…..
In the 80-column example above, lines 2-3 and 5-6 are merged when displayed by omitting the “(CTRL-Y)” key combination in lines 2 and 5.
If the program fails to find a file on disk, it will revert to what was previously used, or if you don't use these custom files at all, then the default message headers will be used (see table below).
| Customized (40 Column) Example | Default without Customization |
|---|---|
 Header used for above:  |
 |
When the header information (the actual public message header) is read in, it is stripped of all graphics control characters. This is used in conjunction with the two 'width' parameters in SETUP to limit the width of the information. This makes the use of the MCI Tab command effective in creating a border around the message header (again, see the included files for an example of this).
Next Section: User Settings