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   Vote, Dangit!                           1.27   (c) Jim Davis   


  Contents:
    1  Introduction
    2  VD.CFG Setup
    3  Searchlight Door Setup
    4  `New Booth' Scan
    5  Known Problems
    6  Author's Address
    7  BOOTH.VD Format

  (  Something New)


 1  Introduction

        THIS IS FREEWARE.  Enjoy.  Send money if you want to, I won't
      argue.

        I wrote this because I couldn't find a Voting Door I liked--not 
      that the ones out there aren't good, they're just not to my taste.  
      So if you think of a feature you'd like that isn't in this, write 
      to me or find another Voting Door.  I'm afraid I can't *guarantee*
      that it will work--although I certainly hope it does, because it
      works on my system.

      Features:

         Security levels for creating booths, deleting your own booths,
          and deleting any booth.
         Users can change votes (SysOp defined)
         Users can vote more than once (SysOp defined)
         Users can add `other' options (SysOp defined)
         Searchlight Color Codes in questions and choices
         Searchlight-looking status bar
         Customizable prompt supports SL colors and `Time-Left' variable
         `New-Booth scan' switch
         The time on the status line updates even while no text
          is being entered
        Gives up time-slices to DesqView.


 2  VD.CFG Setup

        There needs to exist a VD.CFG file in the current directory
      (usually wherever VD.EXE is).  Semicolons as the FIRST CHARACTER
      in a line make the line into a comment.  There MUST be at LEAST
      seven uncommented lines in the file--and blank lines are NOT
      comments (they'll screw things up).  Basically, the seven lines
      are as follows:

Line  Description                                              Default
                                                               
  1   Prompt  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (...)
  2   One new booth found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (...)
  3   More than one new booth found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (...)
  4   `Create a Booth' access level . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
  5   `Delete your own Booth' access level  . . . . . . . . . .  10
  6   `Delete any Booth' access level . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
  7   Users can change their votes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   Y
  8   Users can set `Other' option  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   Y
  9   Users can vote more than once . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   N
 10   Users can view results of booths they haven't voted in  .   N
 11   Add new users on new scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   N
 12   Don't tell new users anything on new scan . . . . . . . .   Y

        The defaults listed are the ones found in the included VD.CFG
      file.

        You can edit VDMENU.ANS and VDMENU.TXT to reflect what options
      are available to the regular users.

        To create the USER.VD and BOOTH.VD files, use the /X parameter:

          VD /X

        That will *RECREATE* the USER.VD and BOOTH.VD files.  If those 
      files already exist, *IT WILL DELETE THEM*.  You should only need
      to execute that command once, when you install VD.

        The prompt (line 1) uses the SL color codes as well as `\%M' for
      Time Left This Call.


 3  Searchlight Door Setup

        The switches for VD:

      /X      RESET and CREATE USER.VD and BOOTH.VD
      /Us     s = Username, spaces replaced with underscores 
      /Mn     n = Time left in minutes this call
      /Tn     n = User Time limit in minutes
      /An     n = BBS access level
      /Fn     n = Files access level 
      /On     n = Node number
      /Gc     c = Graphics mode (C, M, N)
      /N      Used with /U, counts number of new booths for USER_NAME
      /?      Displays a short help screen.


        If no parameters are given, the defaults are:

                             User: SYSOP
                 BBS/Files Access: 255/255
           Time Left / Time Limit: 1440/1440
                         Graphics: Color
                             Node: 0
        
        The door should be run from Searchlight as type Standard or BIOS.  
      My menu screen for VD looks like this:

  Ŀ
    1. Command Name .................. Vote                             
    2. Command Key ................... V                                
    3. Description ................... Voting Dangit                    
    4. Access Levels & Graphics [...]                                   
    5. Door Command .................. vd.exe /u%U /a%A /f%F /m%M /t%T  
                                       /o%O /g%G                        
    6. Directory Path ................ D:\DOORS\VOTE                    
    7. Communications Support ........ BIOS                             
    8. Abort Method .................. Terminate                        
    9. Write Protection .............. No                               
   10. Parameter File ................ None                             
   11. Pause After Door .............. No                               
   12. Pass Username As .............. Real Name                        
  


 4  `New Booth' Scan

        Executing `VD /Uuser_name /N' will compare the booth tag-dates to
      the specified user's USER.VD record.  This doesn't count booths the
      user hasn't voted in, it counts booths that didn't exist the last
      time the user used the door.  For instance, if JOE_SCHMOE sees four
      new booths, goes into the door, and votes on one of them, he won't
      see any new booths until new ones are created.

        VD.CFG lines 11 and 12 determine what happens on a new-scan if the
      user isn't in the USER.VD file.  If line 11 is set to `Y', then the
      user's name is added to the file.  If line 12 is set to `Y', the user
      will see no notice of new booths.

        The notice format uses the Searchlight color-codes, as well as 
      using `\%B' for the number of booths.  Lines 2 and 3 of the config
      file demonstrate this.  In the sample VD.CFG, a user might see:

        There is 1 new voting booth.
      or
        There are 7 new voting booths.

        The idea behind this was to use it as an auto-door.  It requires
      the `BIOS' door type.


 5  Known Problems

        There are hard-coded maximums of 20 booths and 20 choices per
      booth.  These cause *slight* viewing problems when there are that
      many booths or choices.


 6  Author's Address

        Jim Davis                   Hippie Commune BBS
        PO Box 103                  (615) 528-1800
        Baxter, TN  38544           FidoNet: 1:3637/2 
                                      SLNet: 250:312/1005


 7  BOOTH.VD Format

        It's a simple text file.  If you screw yours up, it's your fault.


1                         Number of booths
774077205                 Booth `tag' (time_t) Ŀ
JOE SCHMOE                Creator                                        
What's yer                Question line 1                                
favorite drink?                    line 2                                
                                   line 3                                
4                         Number of choices                              
Coke                      Choice 1                                       
Pepsi                            2                                       
Bubba Cola                       3                                       
Sam's Choice                     4                                       
8                         Votes for choice 1                             
6                                          2                             
5                                          3                             
12                                         4                             
0                                                                        
1                         Flag: Users add `Other': 1 or 0 Ĵ
                                                                    
                                                                         
                                                   Repeat for each booth 

