09 Jul 15 12:50, you wrote to me:

 DS> Mark,

 ML>> you need to be more specific about this... we have no problems running
 ML>> doors over here that look in the node directories for the drop files...
 ML>> there's no real special majic to it... maybe some .bat file variables
 ML>> being used but generally speaking, the doors that are worth running have
 ML>> no problems with a multinode environment or being told where to find the
 ML>> drop files...

 DS>   Apparently, with the directory (Adopt A Door, in this case) having
 DS> something like ADOPT.CFG, as well as ADOPT1.CFG, ADOPT2.CFG, etc. SBBS
 DS> apparently didn't like that.

that still doesn't make sense... SBBS shouldn't care one iota... however, we're
running the latest development version (3.16a i think) so there may be some
changes from what you ran when you ran it...

for example, assuming
  the path to the drop file is specified on the command line,
  the door config file to use is specified on the command line,
  that xyzzy1.cfg is for node 1 and xyzzy2.cfg is for node 2,
  we're using a .bat file for execution

  my_door.bat %f %#

  ===== snip my_door.bat =====
  @echo off
  cd mydoordir
  mydoor.exe /dropfile=%1 /config=xyzzy%2.cfg
  ===== snip my_door.bat =====

OR without a .bat file

  c:\my_door\mydoor.exe /dropfile=%f /config=c:\my_door\xyzzy%#.cfg


%f in the sbbs settings command line is %1 in the .bat file because it is
listed first after the bat file's name... %f is the path to the drop file (eg:
C:\SBBS\NODE1\DOOR.SYS)...

%# in the sbbs settings command line is %2 in the .bat file because it is
listed second after the bat file's name... %# is the current bbs node number
(eg: 1)...

another important setting is which drop file to create for the door...

there's also a setting for where to create the drop file but it is highly
recommended to leave this setting blank so the drop file is created in the bbs
node directory... then you just ensure that you point the door to the proper
place... if the door is really dumb, use a .bat file to check for or create an
in-use semaphore file before copying the drop file from the node directory...
you'll still need the %f and/or maybe the %#...

 DS> So, I think what I'm going to do for the single user doors is use just
 DS> one configuration file, and put the dropfile in the door directory.
 DS> For the multi-node doors, I'd put it in the node directory.

it really depends on the door... some are fairly intelligent and allow you to
tell it where to look... dumb ones probably aren't worth the trouble any
more... especially this day in time...

 ML>> you can easily dress up the sbbs web interface... there's a few other
 ML>> themes available as well as much of the interface stuff can be changed
 ML>> via javascript...

 DS>   While I'd be curious to see those other themes, my HTML knowledge is
 DS> very basic. I don't know the first thing about items like cascading
 DS> style sheets, etc. To me, Javascript is instructions on how to make
 DS> coffee. 

you don't need to know css to get started... just learn html and javascript...
it isn't any different than learning how to write fancy .bat files... later on
you can learn about css and adjust things to start using it... the reason you
have to do javascript is to pull the info out of sbbs that you need... that
because sbbs has a javascript accessible interface so you don't need to know
the structure of the data files... you only need to know the javascript
function name for the data you are after...

 ML>> of all the options, likes, wants and desires you listed, SBBS comes
 ML>> the clos

 DS> I likely will go with SBBS, since I've set it up before. But, with
 DS> other things outside the BBS, it's going to take longer than expected
 DS> to get all the work done.

it would be a good thing if you have a compile environment where you could pull
the latest code from the repository and compile it for your system... that way
you could get bug fixes and new features faster than having to wait for a new
release... 3.16 is not yet out the door but i think there's a release candidate
available...

)\/(ark

... Dementia has set in: You must immediately increase your squid intake.
---