GG> I've drawn my ANSI screens, compiled them. Went fine.
 GG> But how can I get in the files-menu and in the messages menu the
 GG> actual area on a specific line? Say on line 4 of the screen.
 GG> How can I get some other information, f.i. the actual time, in my
 GG> own ANSI screens on a specific place there?
okay, i'll go through this step-by-step..
1. Make your ansi screen. (we'll call it MAIN.ANS). Put any codes you want in 
it wherver you want them.. see the little chart below.
2. Run "ANS2MEC.EXE MAIN". This compiles the .ANS file to a .MEC file.
3. Edit the new .MEC file with a text editor. Find any "[["'s that 
ANS2MEC.EXE put in front of the MECCA codes, and change them to a single "[". 
(Double "[["'s are displayed as a "[", and single "["'s are telling maximus 
that the following is a mecca code)
4. Run "MECCA.EXE MAIN". This will compile the .MEC file into a .BBS file. 
Maximus displays the .BBS file, and you can also view it by running 
"ORACLE.EXE MAIN".
*Some* MECCA codes (see the maximus documentation for all of them):
Token           Description
--------------- ---------------------------------------------------
[time]          Displays the current Time
[date]          Displays the current date
[remain]        Time left online for this session
[file_carea]    Current file area
[file_cname]    Current file area description
[msg_cmsg]      Current message number in current area
[msg_nummsg]    Total number of messages in current area
[msg_carea]     Current message area
[msg_cname]     Current message area description
Some exameples: (without color, just so it doesn't get confusing)
[[ [msg_cmsg]/[msg_nummsg] ] [msg_carea]: [msg_cname]
 -> "[ 0/100 ] MUFFIN: Maximus Support Echo"
[time] [date] - Mins left: [remain] - Select:
 -> "12:41 03-28-97 - Mins left: 53 - Select:"
 GG> My fileareas and messageareas are ordered in groups.
 GG> What command-string do I have to use to let my users first choose
 GG> a group? I mean an option with an own hotkey.
You're thinking R-R-RemoteAccess (scream! sorry, i said the naughy word)
Maximus only uses the Change Area command, there is no "change Group" like 
that stupid software.. ;) 
You can group areas (both file and message) with Divisions. 
The format is:
FileDivisionBegin    
 (file areas go here)
FileDivisionEnd
(replacing "File" with "Msg" if it's in MSGAREA.CTL)
 is the name users type to select that area.
 is the access needed to access that area
 is the MECCA file to display for that area, or a "." to use the canned 
max menus
 is the, ah, well, description =)
Here's a small example:
FileDivisionBegin DOS Twit . DIVISION: DOS and Windows areas
  FileArea WIN
  [..]
  End MsgArea
  FileArea DOS
  [..]
  End FileArea
FileDivisionEnd
FileDivisionBegin OS2 Twit . DIVISION: Os/2 Areas
  FileArea APPS
  [..]
  End FileArea
  
  FileArea UTILS
  [..]
  End FileArea
FileDivisionEnd
This would display a menu like the following:
-- File Areas
DOS         ... DIVISION: DOS and Windows areas
OS2         ... DIVISION: Os/2 areas
Select: DOS
-- File Areas
DOS.WIN     ... Windows Programs
DOS.DOS     ... Dos Programs
Select: DOS.WIN -or just- WIN
current area is now DOS.WIN.
or we can go back..
Select: /
-- File Areas
DOS         ... DIVISION: DOS and Windows areas
OS2         ... DIVISION: Os/2 areas
Select: OS2
-- File Areas
OS2.APPS    ... Os/2 Applications
OS2.UTILS   ... Os/2 Utilities
Select: UTILS
Current area is now OS2.UTILS
Note you can also put divisions inside divisions if you want..
Some good ideas would be if you have some cd's, make your top-level divisions 
"HDD", "CD1", "CD2" etc.. then below each of those put the actual areas on 
the hard drive / cd .. 
 GG> A second hotkey should be used to select an area within the choosen
 GG> group.
 GG>    Please don't tell me, I have to write my own MEX. I'm not a
 GG>    programmer and do not understand Maximus' own programming language.
 
Actually, if you really want to change it so it mimmicks RA (for whatever 
reason... beats me why you'd want to make a good bbs seem bad), then you'd 
have to write a SERIOUS mex program.. it would take a long time anyways.. ;)
I really hope this helps you out, if not, just ask about anything that's not 
clear and i'll explain it further..
ttyl, greg
--- Maximus/2 3.01
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