File areas are used to setup and categorize your downloadable files. You can prevent groups of users from accessing certain file areas with the use of Access Levels and/or Access Flags. ProBoard uses an advanced file index to locate files as defined here in your file areas. Once you have configured your file areas, you MUST run PBUTIL FI (file index) to create the index in order for ProBoard to find the files for users to download.

A file area has the following fields:

Area Name

Name of this file area. Displayed to users on the BBS on the file selection list.

File Location

Directory where the files for this area are physically located. It is also possible to specify multiple directories per file area. To do this, enter the first file directory here, then create a file in your ProBoard system directory (usually C:\PB) called FA_<area>.CTL. Place each additional file directory (one directory per line) in this file to tell ProBoard where to find the additional directories for this file area.

Example: for file area #10 (Games), which has a total of 4 directories, place the first directory in the “File Location” slot in PROCFG, then create a file called FA_10.CTL. In this file, place the additional directories one per line like this:

 D:\DLOAD\GAMES2
 D:\DLOAD\GAMES3
 D:\DLOAD\GAMES4

Use an ascii editor like QEDIT, or the DOS editor to create this file.

Listing File

Full path & filename of the file in which the downloadable files are described. This files is often called FILES.BBS. Refer to Menu Function 31, in the chapter on Menus.

 Sample: C:\PB\DLOAD\FILES.BBS)

Access Flags

Flags needed to download files in this area. You can now specify flags that a user MUST NOT have to access this file area. These flags are displayed in reverse. To set a reverse flag - type the flag letter twice until you see it display in reverse. To clear a reverse flag type the flag letter again.

Access Level

Level needed to download files in this area.

Copy Local

Setting this option to “Yes” (use the <SPACEBAR> to toggle), tells ProBoard whether or not to use it's CD-ROM specific file listing formats. In addition, it tells ProBoard to copy the files in this file area to a different location, usually a local drive before a download of the file begins. This is ideal for CD-ROM or Network drives since it frees up these resources for other users to access them.

It's important to understand that ProBoard now determines the format of “FILES.BBS” itself. This will assist you in using CD-ROM's on your BBS that have different “FILES.BBS” formats.

The “FILES.BBS” can have any of the following formats:

 <filename> <description>
 <filename> <size> <date> <description>
 <filename> <date> <size> <description>
 <filename> <size> <description>
 <filename> <date> <description>

Any missing information ( <date> or <size> ) will be retrieved from the CD-ROM or Network drive by ProBoard. If only the <date> is specified in your “FILES.BBS”, ProBoard will need to retrieve the <size> of the file from the disk in order to display your file listing for this area to your users. If both the <date> and <size> are specified, (the preferred format for your “FILES.BBS”) ProBoard will not need to check the CD-ROM or Network drive for this information.

Hot Tip!

Use “FILES.BBS” listings that include <date> -and- <size> whenever possible, to prevent ProBoard from accessing your CD-ROM or Network drives. This will give your BBS optimum performance when users choose to list your files.

ProBoard will also copy files from CD-ROM or Network drives to a local drive when the “Copy Local” flag is set to “Yes”. Files will be copied to a directory called “CD_TEMP”, which will be created by ProBoard, off of the directory from which ProBoard was started from. You can specify your own directory by creating a DOS environment variable called CDTEMP containing the name of the drive -and- directory.

How to create your own “Copy Local” directory:

• Decide on and create the directory where you want the files from the CD-ROM or Network to be copied into. For example, C:\MYDIR\CDFILES
• Add the following line to your “AUTOEXEC.BAT” file:

 SET CDTEMP=C:\MYDIR\CDFILES

If ProBoard can not find the directory as specified it will attempt to create it, and if it can't will revert to using the CD_TEMP directory off of the directory the ProBoard was started from.

In TOPFILES

Determines whether or not this file area is included when TOPFILES.A?? is created. Refer to PBUTIL FC for more information.

Free Area

Specifies whether or not ALL files in this file area are FREE files. If this is set to 'Yes', any files a user downloads from this area will not be deducted from their download limits.

Group #1

The first group number this file area belongs to (1-255) if any.

Group #2

The second group number this file area belongs to (1-255) if any.

Group #3

The third group number this file area belongs to (1-255) if any.

Group #4

The fourth group number this file area belongs to (1-255) if any.

All Groups

Does this file area belong to all file groups? Press the <SpaceBar> to toggle between Yes/No.

Max. files

Maximum number of files that can be downloaded from this area per user per day (0 means unlimited).

Max. Kb

Maximum number of Kbytes that can be downloaded from this area per user per day (0 means unlimited).

FILES.BBS Date Format

The date format that is used in this area's FILES.BBS file. You have to change this if FILES.BBS contains dates in a different format than “MM/DD/YY” of “MM-DD-YY” (CD-ROMs from Europe for example). If you don't set this so it matches the date format in FILES.BBS, ProBoard will not be able to correctly read the dates listed in your file list.