"/" commands

At any menu prompt a caller can press / and type a whole word instead of a single key.

/chat   Enter       open the Inter-BBS Chat menu
/tel    Enter       runs /telegram while the shortened word is unique
/?      Enter       list the commands this caller may use

A bare / followed by Enter does the same as /?. Every one-key hot key works exactly as before; only / waits for a word. It works at every menu, including menus reached by typing (the “;” line mode) and for callers who have hot keys off. A caller sees and can use only the commands their level and access rules allow.

Two messages can appear: Unknown command. Type /? for a list. and More than one command starts with /xx: /xxa /xxb.

Every command is an ordinary menu item. There is no separate list. A sysop who does not want a command simply does not have the item.

• An item in a menu's own .PBM file gives the command to that menu only.
• An item in GLOBAL.PBM gives it to every menu. A new installation's GLOBAL.PBM holds the standard set.
• When a menu and GLOBAL.PBM have the same word, the menu's own item is used.
• A menu with no command item (its own or from GLOBAL.PBM) does not use the / key at all.
• To switch the commands off everywhere, delete the command items from GLOBAL.PBM and from any menu with its own.

Each is hidden from the menu display and open to everybody (level 0).

The inter-BBS commands need IMSG.P3X and Configs\PBIMSG.CFG. /mrc and /irc need MRCChat.P3X and PBirc.P3X. /chat needs a CHAT menu (CHAT.PBM in MENUS, CHAT.ANS or CHAT.ASC in TXTFILES).

A fresh install already has the commands. On a system you upgraded:

1. In PBConfig open the Menu Editor, open GLOBAL from the list on the right and click Load.
2. Click Add / Commands, answer Yes, and click Save.

It adds every standard command whose word is not already in that menu, so it is safe to click twice, and tells you how many it added. The button works on any menu you have open.

1. In the Menu Editor open an item, or choose Insert Item, and set its Hotkey to /. The Command box under Data becomes usable.
2. Type the word: up to 20 letters, digits, - or _.
3. Pick the Function and Data as for any item, set the access rules, and save.

Typing /word runs the item exactly as pressing its hot key would: same function, data, password and access rules. To limit a command to higher levels, set the item's level. Leave the Text as ; so the item is not drawn on the menu, or give it real text if you want it on the menu too. To remove a command, Delete Item. To rename one, change its Command box. The menu list shows the word next to the “/” in the Hotkey column.

Examples:

• bulletins: function 2 (go to a menu and come back), data BULLETIN.
• door: function 77 (run a door), data MYDOOR.
• A sysop-only command: any function, with the item's minimum level set to 255.

A / item without a command word keeps its old meaning, a plain / hot key, and switches the word commands off for that menu.

If two items in one menu have the same word, the first one wins.

Status: the command-word editor field and the move of the list into GLOBAL.PBM are new and have not yet been verified on a running board.