Paul Walker on 24 Apr 99 in NET_DEV

Hello Paul

 PW> [fidoconfig]
 SA>> Not seen that. It makes sense though, since much of the sysops
 SA>> time is spent re-entering system details in various utils where a
 SA>> common pool would be much nicer. Any chance of a look-see?
 PW> Will attach, or you can download from http://www.tichy.de/
 PW> Knowing the frequency with which you use the internet, though, I'll
 PW> attach it ;)

Heh, thanks. Look forwards to it.

 PW>>> Spaghetti is easier to work with than the JAM api; extracting a
 PW>>> usable set of structures and explanations of what the elements
 PW>>> do is another matter entirely.
 SA>> BTDTGTTS. Still not got a /reliable/ routine to read JAMbases.
 SA>> (Can write fine!)
 PW> Odd, I found it much harder the other way around.

I use WriteJam.c :) Sure, I'm lazy, but it works and I don't have to get
my hands dirty. That would be a good point to understanding how to write your
own jamwrite function.

WRITEJAM.ZIP   49K 0005  The write-to-jam C function, Dec 1993
                         An example of a function to write to the
                         JAM(mbp) (the message base format by Joaquim
                         Homrighausen, Andrew Milner, Mats Birch, and
                         Mats Wallin).  This message base is in use
                         with many BBS's and this sample code is meant
                         primarily for door authors needing a hand in
                         writing JAM messages. Includes JAM library
                         for MSC & Borland C compilers. By Michael
                         Lecuyer Fidonet 1:2600/140, Internet
                         mjl{at}acm.org

 PW>>> If anyone has the equivalent of the JAM API for Squish handy, by
 PW>>> the way, the email address is below... ;)
 SA>> SMAPI - didn't I say that already?
 PW> Yes, but you missed the point completely. :-) I'm not going to use any
 PW>  squish API. I want structures. The JAM api comes with structures
 PW> reasonably well documented, in jam.doc.

Ahh, with you now. Yes, I understand your problem.

 PW> The Squish one doesn't - you use one of the APIs, or hack through the
 PW> code to find it. I refuse to do 1, and 2 doesn't appeal, so I don't
 PW> implement Squish at the moment.

What advantages has it over JAM? I don't use it any more, as Fastecho had
a few problems with it AIR. Got one or two echos left in Hudson, but every-
thing else is in JAM, including secondary netmail areas.

 PW>>> Still haven't done those. What's the format for echolist.na?
 SA>> Something like: (And anyone feel free to correct me)
 SA>> B5_UK                UK chat about Babylon 5
 PW> Aha. Easy enough.

Yah. Are you importing as well? If so, the varieties might need consideration.
Namely, some introduce a space before the echotag.

I did a stand-alone areafix widget, the source of which you're welcome to,
which parses them Ok. Not a big deal though, it's basically:

char *ptr;
char oneline[200];
FILE *in;

while(fgets(oneline,200,in))
        {
        ptr=oneline;
        while(isspace(*ptr))    ptr++;

        // strtok() the next space and copy the string as areatag.
        // skip remaining whitespace until non-ws.
        // read rest of line (trim NL/CR) as the desc.
        }

--
Simon

--- Digital Dilemma