BL> Can you send me a sample of the format? 

 PE> See below.

  Got it

 BL> But I need other info for TIC anyway, like passwords and
 BL> that....

 PE> That is separate from the files list. You posted a
 PE> configuration file recently for that, which was fine. 

  That included the directories too. 

  I've got it working and it goes quite well. He, he, he! I'm always
amazed when it works.

 BL> The headers are the darling part... why dispense with them?

 PE> If they're too hard to produce, which they are, then dispense
 PE> with them (for now). Or just create a function "fancy_header",
 PE> which just does a simple printf() for now, but can be expanded
 PE> later. 

  I was going to write a thingie that actually wrote them from scratch
(I really need to learn a bit about DOS graphics) but it was too much
of a drag.

  I can't see your objection to using the actual FILES.TXT as a
template. I read it line-by-line, crop each line to 80 characters (in
case you stuff it up), and leave the "Available:" and
"Newest"" lines
as a full line I can overwrite later with the updated info. All you
have to do is split up FILES.TXT (once) into separate files FILES.nn
for each section. It then copies the headers from those files, writes
the descriptions onto whatever files names are in the actual directory
that corresponds to that number(nn), and combines the whole lot into a
new FILES.TXT. What could be easier?  

  If you want to add a new section (FILES.89, say), you add a new
number in the DAT file with a directory name (89,c:\windows\sux,COOKS)
and it'll create a new FILES.89 file with the files in c:\windows\sux.
If you want a nice header, you'll have to edit FILES.89. If you want
to delete section 89, just remove the line from the DAT file. If you
want to delete all the files, delete c:\windows\sux (or remove it from
the DAT file). If you delete or add a file in c:\windows\sux then that
line is deleted or added from FILES.TXT the next time through.

  How else would you do it? Is this too easy for you? 

 BL> I don't care about files.bbs and I can't read C code, but I can

 PE> You don't need to read patmat, just call it.

  Here PATMAT! Good boy!

... FX: kicks the shit out of PATMAT

  Let that be a lesson to you. Donlt make things more complex than
they have to be. And I don't like your name, either. Next time I'll
call you willie.

 BL> I prefer to ignore files.bbs and possible errors, and use the
 BL> source itself: the directory with the actual files.

 PE> Yes, you have to use that. But you can't ignore files.bbs,
 PE> that's where I put all the descriptions in, normally using
 PE> wildcards. 

  In that case you are shit outa luck! ROFL!

  I'm writing an add-on, and I'm not adding it onto something I don't
control.

  And besides, it's already finished. All I have to do is make it
dickhead-proof. I figure if *I* can use it, it ought to be alright.

Regards,
Bob

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
@EOT:

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