With virtually any filename that PCBoard displays to the caller, you can send different versions of the file based on:

• the security level of the user
• the current language
• the graphics mode (if any) being used

Before you can understand how this works, you must know what PCBoard calls a base filename. The base filename is what you enter for the filename in a PCBSetup location. Look at the following example:

Name/Loc of Conference Join Menu  : C:\PCB\GEN\CNFN

In this example, the filename is CNFN and hence it is the base filename.

By creating new files which have special characters added to the filename, you can make special versions of the display files for a restricted group of users. These special characters are described below:

To make a display file for a particular language make the filename extension equal to the filename extension of the language as listed in your PCBML.DAT (PCBSetup | File Locations | Configuration Files).

                         BASE.LAN
                          |    |
         base filename----+    +-------language extension

Remember, that the default language does not have a file extension.
Therefore, you would use the base filename with no file extension specified.

If you want to make a file only viewable by a particular security level, you may do so by adding the security level to the base filename. For example, if you wanted to create a BRDM file that is only displayed to users with a security level of 40, create a new file called BRDM40.

                    BASE###
                     |   |
     base filename---+   +----- Security level

PCBoard supports two different graphics specific files – ANSI and RIPscrip.
To make separate files for the users that are currently using graphics mode on your system is very easy. Simply add a G to the base filename for ANSI specific files and an R to the base filename for RIPscrip files.

For example, if you wanted to create a version of the BRDM for those users who have graphics mode enabled, create a file called BRDMG.

                      BASEG
                       |  |
      base filename----+  +---- specifies file is for
                                graphics mode only

Likewise, if you want to create a file that would be viewed by those in RIPscrip mode, you would create a file called BRDMR.

                     BASER
                      |  |
     base filename----+  +---- specifies file is for
                               RIPscrip mode only

If the user is in RIPscrip mode, but a RIPscrip version of the file does not exist, PCBoard will attempt to find an ANSI specific version of the file (because RIPscript also supports ANSI). If no ANSI file is found, the base filename is used.

You are not limited to using one specific method. For example, you can make graphics and non-graphic versions of security specific files. Look at the following figure:

                     BASE###G
                      |   | |
     base filename----+   | +---- specifies this file
                       security   is for graphics only

Taking this one step further, you could even make this file language specific as illustrated in the following example:

                      security
                          |     +--- language
                          |     |
                     BASE###G.LAN
                      |     |
     base filename ---+     |
                        graphics specific

In order to properly use language, security, and graphic specific files, you need to understand the process that PCBoard goes through in case the specific file does not exist.

PCBoard will use the most specific file that it can find. For example, you may have the following specific versions of your NEWS file:

• NEWS
• NEWS10
• NEWS20
• NEWS20G
• NEWS.SPA

For this first example a user logs into the system selecting the default language, and the user also selects graphics mode. This particular user has been assigned a security level of 20. When the NEWS file is displayed to the caller, PCBoard checks to see what language the user selected. In this case, the user selected the default language so no language specific files will be looked for.

Now, PCBoard checks to see if there is a security specific version of the file. Upon searching, security specific files are found for levels 10 and 20. Because this user has a security level of 20, PCBoard must display either the NEWS20 or NEWS20G file. Of course the final check is for the graphics mode of the caller. If you recall, this user selected graphics mode so the NEWS20G file will be shown.

The caller hangs up and calls back again. This time, the caller selects language which happens to have an extension of SPA defined in the PCBML.DAT file. The news file is displayed to the caller only this time, the user has selected a language other than the default. PCBoard begins by checking to see if there are any language specific files. In our list of NEWS files, there was a file called NEWS.SPA. This was the only file with the SPA extension. Therefore, PCBoard will stop there since there are no security or graphic specific versions of the NEWS file with an SPA extension. This means that the caller will be shown the NEWS.SPA file.

For the final example, another user calls into your system. This caller selects the default language and chooses to enable graphics mode. This caller has been assigned a security level of 25 on your system. When the NEWS file is displayed to the caller, PCBoard does not check for language specific files because the caller choose the default language. Next, PCBoard searches for security specific files but only security specific files for levels 10 and 20 are found.
Since there were no language or security specific matches, PCBoard will check for a graphics specific file (NEWSG). However, that file does not exist, so the NEWS file will be displayed instead.

The following examples will help better illustrate the various files that you can create to make specific files based on language, security level, and graphics mode.

If PCBoard is going to display the following text file:

C:\PCB\GEN\BRDM

You can create the following language, security, and graphics specific versions of that same file:

• BRDM
• BRDMG
• BRDMR
• BRDM###
• BRDM###G
• BRDM###R
• BRDM.LAN
• BRDMG.LAN
• BRDMR.LAN
• BRDM###.LAN
• BRDM###G.LAN
• BRDM###R.LAN

Remember, the ### in each of these examples represents a security level.
Therefore, you could conceivably have 255 different security specific files if you have defined all 255 security levels. In addition, the .LAN represents the language extension. You can define multiple languages in your PCBML.DAT file so you would replace the .LAN with whatever language you want to make the display file for.

In some of your display files you may want to display information that is specific to the caller currently viewing the file (e.g., name, connect speed, node number, etc.). Another possibility is that you may want to control the display of some of your files so that they pause at a particular point.
PCBoard uses @ macros to help you accomplish these tasks. These macros are special codes that you can enter in text files to make PCBoard display certain information or perform a particular action. All macros must begin and end with the @ character with the text between being in uppercase.

The following groups the macros into sections. Following the brief summary is a list of all @ macros in alphabetical order for easy reference.

With the exception of the Action Related @ Macros, you can apply the following formatting to any macro:

The total number of characters used to display the macro. This is commonly referred to as the maximum field length.

Whether the text should be center, right, or left justified when a maximum field length is specified.

To specify a maximum field length for a macro, enter a colon followed by the field length before the last @ of the macro. For example, if you wanted to display the user's name in a 30 character field, enter the following macro:

@USER:30@

Text is normally left justified in a field. If you want the text to be right or center justified, add a special character after the field length. To make the text in the field right justified, add an R to the field length. To make the text center justified, add a C to the field length. For example, to make the user's name in the previous example center justified, enter the following instead:

@USER:30C@

To make the same display right justified, enter:

@USER:30R@

The following table lists all of the @ macros that PCBoard will allow you to use. The list is arranged in alphabetical order for easy access.

Example output:

(#)   Status                  User
---   ---------------------   -----------------------------
 1   No Caller this Node
 2   Unavailable for CHAT    GREGORY GLENN (CHARLTON, ID)   
 3   Available for CHAT      BRIAN LARSEN (FREEDOM, LA)   
 4   No Caller this Node   
 5   No Caller this Node   
 6   No Caller this Node   
 7   Entering a Message      MILTA BARBOSA (ARMINE, NY)   
 8   Entering a Message      HUGH MCDEVITT (ARROYO, CA)   
 9   Available for CHAT      JACOB VANRIJ (OAKGROVE, ME)  
10   No Caller this Node 

In addition to supporting ANSI display files, you can choose to use PCBoard's @X color codes to colorize your display file and PCBTEXT prompts. If you choose to use ANSI to colorize your display files, you will need to create an graphics specific version of each display file in addition to the regular file.

The @X codes are eventually translated to ANSI so the caller can view the color screens. Before this occurs, however, PCBoard will check to see if the caller is capable of ANSI. If they are, PCBoard will translate the color codes into ANSI. If they are not, PCBoard will bypass the color codes so the user does not end up seeing what appears to be garbage on their screen. Because PCBoard is smart enough to determine if the caller is capable of ANSI or not, you can create one single display file for both your ANSI and non-ANSI callers. This saves you time when creating and updating your display files.

Included with your PCBoard package is a program called PCBEdit. This program should be used to create screens that are colorized with @X codes. You should also be aware that there are several other programs available as shareware which you can use to create screens in the PCBoard @X color code format.

If you want to enter @X codes in message or if you manually create your display files, you will need to know the proper format for the @X codes. The format is as follows:

@X[background value][foreground value]

After you enter @X, you need to enter a background value, followed by a foreground value. If you look at the table which follows this paragraph, you will notice that it is broken down into two halves. One half shows the values for the background colors and the other half shows the values for the foreground value. Notice also that the background and foreground sections are also divided. Background colors can be set to be blinking or not, and foreground values can be set to be bright or normal (dull) versions of the color that is shown in the left column of the table.

Using the color code table you can quickly determine that by entering @X1F, you will be setting the current color to bright white text on a blue background. To help illustrate the color selection scheme, the following are sample @X color codes:

There are primarily three places in PCBoard where you can use @ macros and @X codes. They are:

• Display files
• Most PCBTEXT entries (some does not support @ macros or @X codes).
• Inside of messages left on the BBS. ===

To use the macros or codes, simply enter them into the display file, PCBTEXT entry, or message editor in the proper format. If you do, the code or macro will be properly substituted.

To help illustrate how to use macros and codes, this example is going to show you how to enter an @ macro and then to colorize the text that is displayed by the @ macro.

Begin by logging into PCBoard as the SysOp and getting to the conference command prompt.

Shell to DOS by pressing F5. You should now be at a DOS prompt. If you are not, you have disabled local shell to DOS in PCBSetup > Configuration Options > System Control.

Using a text editor of your choice, edit a file called TUTOR in the current directory. In this file, enter @USER@ and save the file and exit your text editor.

When you are back at the DOS prompt, type EXIT to return back to PCBoard.
Now, type 6 TUTOR at the conference command prompt. You are using the 6 SysOp command which enables you to view any file on disk.

Once the command is entered, you should see one line which prints your user name on the screen. Since you are the SysOp, it will print SYSOP instead of your user name. You will notice that if you log in as a different user, the user's name will be displayed on the screen.

Next, we will colorize the name to help provide emphasis. Shell to DOS again, and edit your TUTOR file.

In front of the @USER@, enter @X1F. After the @USER@, enter a space followed by @X07is the current user. Save the file, exit your text editor and type EXIT to return to PCBoard.

View the TUTOR file using the 6 SysOp command. This time, you should see your user name in white text on a blue background. After your user name, the text changes back to gray on black and the is the current user is printed.

Even though this example showed you only one of the places you can use @X codes and @ macros, you can apply the principles learned in this example to the other two places where you can use these flexible tools.