Announcing a largely overdue batch of new Demonic Productions releases for November, 2023.
Starting with the latest and working our way backwards, XQTR hits us up with another innovative release, the Inter BBS Database mod for Mystic. This Mystic Python-based mod allows users to browse a lightbar driven database of other connected BBSes, categorizing them by echo networks, BBS software, OSes, location, and more, but more interestingly, it gathers all of this information dynamically based on echomail origin lines as well as special “ping” packets it can send across echomail networks that support data exchange echos. Very cool, and it should be even cooler once more people install it and start exchanging data!
Also released in November, I’ve (Jack Phlash) released another update to my REF scripting engine door, REFDoor. Previously REFDoor was released without any sort of group affiliation, and while nothing else has changed, I’m now considering REFDoor a Demonic release.
REFDoor 1.3 mostly contains a small selection of new feature ideas I had and fixes to bugs I found when working on REF scripts for my new Instinct BBS. Most of them center around ANSI parsing and other output issues, including a new “NOCODE” parameter to several commands to allow script authors to disable parsing of codes when outputting files using DISPLAY, DISPLAYFILE, and SHOW SCROLL. Other notable changes include bumping the number of available string variables up from 10 to 20, and the addition of the “READFILE
v1.3.0 - Released 11/1/23 --- ! Fixed a bug in "DISPLAY" in which label/header names are case sensitive. This has likely been there since the beginning but was never caught since the typical "style" for defining and calling labels is to write them in all uppercase. + Changed behavior of the way "DISPLAY" handles labels/headers - previously REFDoor would only match the first word of the label and output any text found after it on the same line (though it always assumed there wouldn't be any.) Now "DISPLAY" matches the entire line, which means any comments or extra text after a label definition will cause the label not to be found. While less flexible, this brings REFDoor's behavior more inline with RTReader's, as well as the behavior of normal labels/headers and "DO GOTO". ! Fixed a longstanding bug in REFDoor's ANSI parser's handling of of SethCodes which could rarely cause some parsing issues, most notably parsing a SethCode at the very end of a file resulting in a missing final CR. These changes would directly impact "SHOWFILE" and "SHOWLIBFILE" but of course parsing output is fundentmental to REFDoor, so fingers crossed that no new bugs were introduced. ! Fixed minor asthethic bug where "DO READYESNO" would display a black block after the yes/no string, which would look pretty bad when displayed against a background color other than black. This was originally done to hide the blinking cursor in certain terminals. I've left it in, but now the colors are dynamically based on the current background color. + Added "READFILEIN
With some of these fixes in mind, I’ve also released updates to my two previous Demonic-released REF scripts to fix bugs I found when originally developing them. Neither of these new releases has any major functional changes, they simply remove the weird workarounds I used in lieu of the originally intended implementations, which I felt was worthwhile since these scripts are largely intended as examples for would-be REF script authors. Instinct Rumors v2.1 and TCEGraff/2.1. Both of these releases were completed in late July.
I’ve also released a new REFDoor script, BBS Pimp 1.0. While working on my new BBS, The Cursed Earth, I decided I wanted to display a random BBS ad screen at logoff. Since I’ve done most of the ASCII artwork on TCE myself, and I’ve drawn a lot of art for other boards over the years, I decided to compile all of the art I’ve done for BBSes that are still around as a basis for these ads. Wanting to avoid having to manually manage a bunch of random display files, I then decided to make it a more easily managed setup using REFDoor. It’s a fairly simple script, but I hope will serve as another good practical example of how REFDoor can be used. This was completed in late July and further tweaked right before this post to add some additional variables for easily adjusting output.
Last but definitely not least, way back in May, XQTR completed BBS Mail Demon. Quite an interesting release, this Python 3 script allows you to interact with your BBS via email. You can do things such as see your last callers, your oneliners, list message areas, and even post messages to those areas all via simple email messages with a syntax similar to AreaFix requests. The intention is to allow SysOps to have some ability to interact with their systems when direct access is otherwise difficult, such as when working in a heavily locked down corporate environment or a location with poor Internet connectivity. I know I would have personally loved something like this when working out of IBM’s tech support cubicle farms back in the 90s. This mod was largely developed for Mystic BBS, but also has support for Enigma½, and future releases may see expanded support for other BBS software as well.
Stay tuned for another Demonic Newsletter in the (relative) not too distant future!