SPITFIRE and RIP Graphics
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SPITFIRE AND RIP GRAPHICS
GENERAL INFORMATION
-------------------
RIP is a script based screen that is nothing more than an ASCII
text file. By reading the information files that are out concerning
the RIP protocol you can learn to build your screens with a plain text
editor. However, most Sysops will prefer to use such programs as Dead
Paint by Danny Leong and Barry Fong or Tombstone Artist by Jonathan and
Steven Lang. These are shareware programs which can be used to design
RIP graphic screens.
Because RIP is based on ASCII text it is HIGHLY SENSITIVE TO LINE
NOISE. Screens will appear to blow up, Icons will disappear, and
anything else you can imagine if as much as one character is garbled
in the transmission. The same screens will then work without error the
next time RIP is selected, totally confusing you as you attempt to
"fix" it. If you cannot duplicate the exact problem with a RIP screen
each time it is used the problem is with your modem or with line noise,
NOT SPITFIRE.
Popular terminal programs are just beginning to add support for
RIP graphics. Your callers cannot use RIP if their terminal program
won't support it. Sysops might want to recommend RIPterm to their
callers. It is a free program provided by TeleGraphix Communication,
Inc., who designed and introduced the RIP graphic format.
CONFIGURING SPITFIRE FOR RIP
----------------------------
The SPITFIRE Sysop must configure the BBS to support RIP graphics
if he/she chooses to make RIP graphics available to callers. This is
done from the Toggle SPITFIRE Switches window. Option <R> is used to
toggle whether or not the BBS will support SPITFIRE's RIP graphic
feature.
Sysops who choose to use the RIP graphic feature should know that
each display file which supports the ANSI graphic format (those using
the .CLR extension) MAY also be created using the RIP graphic format.
In SPITFIRE, display files that are created using RIP graphics should
use a .RIP extension. In addition, three display files are specific
to RIP graphics. These include MAINCTRL.RIP, FILECTRL.RIP and
MSGCTRL.RIP.
RIP SCREENS
-----------
For proper display, it is imperative that the RIP screens be
drawn (or created with a text editor) and saved properly. A RIP
screen will continue to display until another RIP screen comes
along and clears it. Therefore, unless you purposely intend to
overlay a RIP screen onto another RIP screen, you should start
your RIP screen with a CLS command. If the program you use to
build your screens does not provide this feature, an ASCII text
editor can be used to include the CLS command (!|1K|*|) at the
beginning of your screen. It is important to note, that RIP
screens cannot be cleared by ANSI or ASCII screens.
At the end of each RIP screen, a RIP No More command should be
included. The RIP No More command indicates that the RIP script
commands are complete. Once the RIP No More command is received by
the terminal program, it activates the mouse regions and will respond
to the caller's selections. Again, if the program you use to build
your screens does not support this feature, an ASCII text editor can
be used to include the RIP No More command (|#) at the end of your
screen. It is recommended that this command be sent three or more
times, in which case |#|#|# should appear at the end of your screen.
SPITFIRE RIP CONTROL SCREENS
----------------------------
By utilizing the RIP graphic features available within SPITFIRE,
it is possible for a caller to log on the BBS, perform all the
desired options and then log off without ever having to touch the
keyboard after selecting <R>ip graphics. In other words, SPITFIRE
can be designed to utilize RIP screens so that every possible option
is mouse driven.
In order to accomplish this, a control panel RIP screen would
need to be used as the WELCOME1.RIP display file. SPITFIRE provides
three new display files; MAINCTRL.RIP, MSGCTRL.RIP and FILECTRL.RIP.
These display files are used as the control panels in the respective
sections of the SPITFIRE BBS.
The control panel display screens primarily consist of three
parts:
1) A screen header. This usually contains such information as your
BBS name and the section of the BBS the caller is in.
2) A text window. SPITFIRE text and command prompts are displayed
within the text window. In addition, any ASCII/ANSI display
files that exist on the BBS which do not have a corresponding
RIP display file are displayed through the text window as well.
3) Mouse buttons. The mouse buttons should allow for any possible
input that is either required or an optional selection by the
caller while in that particular section of the BBS.
For example:
<Screen Header>
▐▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▌
▐ ─╥─╖ ─╥─╖ ╓─╖ ╥─╖ ╓─╖ ╓╥╖ ╓─╖ ─╥─╖ ─╥─╖ ╓─╖ ╓─╖ ╥─╖ ╓─╖ ╓─╖ ▌
▐ ╟─╢ ╟─╢ ╙─╖ ║ ║ ╟─╢ ║╨║ ╟─ - ╟─╢ ╟─╢ ╙─╖ ╟─╢ ╟╥╜ ╟─ ╟─╢ ▌
▐ ─╨─╜ ─╨─╜ ╙─╜ ╨ ╨ ╨ ╨ ╨ ╨ ╙─╜ ─╨─╜ ─╨─╜ ╙─╜ ╨ ╨ ╨╨ ╙─╜ ╨ ╨ ▌
▐▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▌
| |
| |
| < Text Window > |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐ ┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐
│ 1 ││ 2 ││ 3 ││ 5 ││ 6 ││ 7 ││ 8 ││ 9 ││ 0 ││ - ││ = │ │ 7 ││ 8 ││ 9 ││ │
└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘ └───┘└───┘└───┘│ │
┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐ ┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐│ + │
│ Q ││ W ││ E ││ R ││ T ││ Y ││ U ││ I ││ O ││ P ││ │ │ 4 ││ 5 ││ 6 ││ │
└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘│ │ └───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘
┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┘ │ ┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐┌───┐
│ A ││ S ││ D ││ F ││ G ││ H ││ J ││ K ││ L ││ ENTER │ │ 1 ││ 2 ││ 3 ││ E │
└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───────┘ └───┘└───┘└───┘│ N │
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌────────┐┌───┐│ T │
│ SPACE BAR │ │ 0 ││ . ││ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘ └────────┘└───┘└───┘
< Mouse Buttons >
Now, admittedly, this ASCII representation of a RIP control screen
is not exactly flattering, but hopefully it helps to illustrate the
design of the control panel display files.
As previously mentioned, in order for the SPITFIRE BBS to be
completely mouse driven, the WELCOME1.RIP display file must be used as
a full control panel, allowing the caller to enter their name and
password, opt to view messages, tag new files and/or read bulletins by
using the mouse buttons on the WELCOME1.RIP control panel. Every
feature within SPITFIRE that is encountered between the time the caller
selects <R>ip graphics and the time the Main Menu is reached should be
a mouseable function within the WELCOME1.RIP.
It should be noted, using WELCOME1.RIP as a control panel is
optional. This is simply a means which allows the caller to use an
available control panel for making selections and provide the
capability of making a SPITFIRE BBS mouse driven from the time the
caller logs on. If you simply want your callers to type in their name,
password, etc. do not create a control panel RIP display file as your
WELCOME1.RIP.
Other tips which not only apply to the WELCOME1.RIP (if used as
a control panel) but to the other RIP control panel display files used
by SPITFIRE include:
1) The text window should be the last thing to be added to the
screen when creating a control panel display file.
2) When creating the text window, it should be resized. The 7x8 font
is recommended. For proper display, the text window should have a
length of at least 25 lines.
3) The text window should use Wordwrap so that if a line is longer
than the text window, it will be displayed on the following line
rather than "chopped" off.
To better understand when the Main, Message and File control screens
will display, each menu option which will display the control panel, if
found in the SPITFIRE display directory, when it is selected is listed
below. In other words, when any of these options are selected from the
menu, the respective RIP control panel will display, if it is found in
the SPITFIRE display directory.
Main Menu (MAINCTRL.RIP)
>>>>>>>>> MAIN MENU <<<<<<<<<
<C>......... Comment To Sysop <#>....... List Active Callers
<L>.......... Locate A Caller *<W>............ Welcome Screen
<Q>....... Questionnaire Menu <T>........ This System's Info
<N>...... SPITFIRE Newsletter <P>............ Page The Sysop
<G>........ Goodbye & Log Off <X>......... Xpert Mode Toggle
<Y>.......... Your Statistics <O>..... Other Bulletin Boards
<A>......... Add BBS Name & # <?>........ HELP With Commands
*<W> for a single node BBS this is Welcome Screen, for multi-node
systems this is Who's On/Node Chat.
Message Menu (MSGCTRL.RIP)
>>>>>>>> MESSAGE MENU <<<<<<<<
<L>.... LAKOTA QWK Mail System <C>..... Change Msg Conference
<R>............. Read Messages <B>........... Browse Messages
<S>...Specific Caller Messages <E>........... Enter A Message
<Y>............. Your Messages <A>.... Alter Conference Queue
<T>............... Text Search <F>.............. File Section
<P>............ Page The Sysop <Q>......... Quit To Main Menu
<G>......... Goodbye & Log Off <X>......... Xpert Mode Toggle
<K>.... Message Menu Extension <?>........ HELP With Commands
File Menu (FILECTRL.RIP)
>>>>>>>>> FILE MENU <<<<<<<<<
<C>......... Change File Area <L>.. List Files In This Area
<E>............. Erase A File <G>........ Goodbye & Log Off
<D>.......... Download A File <U>............ Upload A File
<H>.. Help On Upload/Download <P>........... Page The Sysop
<S>............ Shuffle Files <N>................ New Files
<T>.. Text Search Description <F>.............. Find A File
<X>........ Xpert Mode Toggle <?>....... HELP With Commands
<V>...... View A File Archive <R>......... Read A Text File
When selecting the Main, File, Message, Door, Bulletin or Sysop
menu or when selecting the any of Sysop configurable command option,
the control panels do not display to the caller. Instead, the
MAIN<x>.RIP, MSG<x>.RIP, FILE<x>.RIP, BULLETIN.RIP, SFDR<x>.RIP,
and the SOP<x>.RIP should be created with mouseable menu options
which allow the caller to select all the features available from
the respective menu for their security (<x> would equal the
security of the caller).
Buffalo Creek Software's MKSFMENU is a SPITFIRE companion utility
has been updated so that it will create RIP screens by security level
for MAIN<x>.RIP, MSG<x>.RIP, FILE<x>.RIP, SFDR<x>.RIP and SOP<x>.RIP.
MKSFMENU.ZIP is available for download from Buffalo Creek's BBS
(515) 225-8496 as well as a number of other SPITFIRE Support BBS
systems.
RIP MOUSE SUPPORT
-----------------
The are two methods of constructing a RIP screen so it will
allow the caller to make a selection simply by clicking a mouse.
The first is mouse regions and the second is mouse buttons.
Mouse regions can be placed anywhere within the context of a
RIP screen. When creating a mouse region, you define the area for
the region and the command which will be transmitted to the BBS when
this region is clicked on. Within the context of your screen you
should indicate to the caller what action will result when they click
their mouse on this region.
Mouse buttons, though similar to mouse regions, actually appear
within the context of the RIP screen in a pre-defined button shape.
Some programs provide the ability to allow you to define specific
options and sizes that are used to shape the button. Unlike the
mouse region, a mouse button defines how the button will be labeled
so the caller knows what action will occur when the mouse is clicked
on the mouse button. In addition, mouse buttons will allow hot-keys
to be assigned to the button. When a mouse button is clicked, a
command character or sequence of characters is transmitted and
received by the BBS as user input.
ICONS
-----
RIP graphics also provides support for Icons. It is important
to note that the caller must have the Icon on his/her drive before
it will be displayed. The use of icons is what allows such seemingly
large and complicated screens to display so quickly in RIP. In fact
all that is transmitted from the BBS are the base or background
portion of your screens. The icons pop up from the users drive based
on requests built into the screens. It is for this reason, that it is
recommended the use of Icons should be limited to those most widely
available or, you should make the Icons used in your RIP screens
available for download to your callers.
CREATING SCREENS
----------------
In conclusion, don't be afraid to experiment in order to develop
some proficiency at creating RIP screens. It took most of us some
time to master ANSI screens and the same is true with RIP. If you
are using a RIP drawing program, read the documentation included.
In addition, there are sample RIP screens included in the SPITFIRE
distribution package. These can be used to gain some insight into
the various RIP graphic features, as well as being used as BBS screens.
These RIP screens can also serve as a foundation and be expanded upon
to create individualized screens for your BBS!