How to get more out of Akiva's WebBoard version 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x with Rog's "E-mail me the login/password corresponding to my E-mail address" system. (version 1.1)

This describes freeware that I wrote which allows a WebBoard administrator to let users enter their e-mail addresses, and be e-mailed the first login name and password corresponding to the address.

In a nutshell: users forget their login names as well as their passwords, and very few of them are sophisticated enough to realize that they can login as a guest and search for their login name.  (And for basic authentication and/or closed boards, this option isn't available to them in any event.)

So they bother WebBoard admins and virtual board managers with annoying "I forgot my login and my password" requests.

This system extends WebBoard's built-in "e-mail me my password" page, by allowing the user to enter their e-mail address.

The first WebBoard user whose profile matches the e-mail address will be sent the standard e-mail me my password message, i.e. emailpass.txt.

This code is freeware.  You use it at your own risk.  No warrany of fitness for use or any other form of guarantee inheres.

You may use it and/or the source code in whole or in part for any otherwise legal purpose that you deem fit; however you may not claim legal ownership of same for legal purposes against anyone who's obtained it from an "independent source" (such as this web page).


1:  Requirements

2:  Install (1): Complete Install Zips

3:  Install (2): Standard Install

4:  Install (3): Rebuilding the source files, and/or making modifications

5:  Bug reports, comments, and change requests, etc.

6:  Other freeware products

7:  Version history information

8:  Acknowledgements


1:  Requirements

Unfortunately, the WB-BoardId cookie isn't set when the user first hits the login page, so a virtual board manager can't install this system: it must be installed in the root (/html) folder, not the folder for a given virtual board.  And since the cookie is sometimes set (if the user logs in again as a new user), none of the virtual boards should have forgot.html in their subfolders.

Open scripting should be enabled on your copy of WebBoard.  This is the case for the default installation, but if you have any doubts, please make sure that the following registry key exists:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\O'REILLY\WEBBOARD\3.0\SCRIPTING\JS
and has a value of JavaScript.

If the user has JavaScript turned off, they're warned that they can't use the extra feature (but also told that they can still get their password e-mailed to them if they recall their login name.

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2:  Install (1): Complete Install Zips

If you want this documentation, as well as all the included zip files, WebBoard 4 and 5 users can download emp4.zip instead.  WebBoard 6 users should download emp6.zip.

Once you download the complete zip file, you'll still have to follow the rest of the install instructions.

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3:  Install (2): Standard Install

For WebBoard 4 and 5 users, the install file is: emp_rel4.zip.

For WebBoard 6, use: emp_rel6.zip.

These files must be placed in the main WebBoard HTML folder, which is probably called C:\WebBoard\HTML.  You might want to make a backup copy of forgot.html before you do this.  Also make sure that none of your boards' subfolders contain forgot.html.

However, any board-specific (i.e. the one in the virtual board's subfolder) version of emailpass.txt (which is the text of the email message) will "fire" under all circumstances.  This is because the WB-BoardId cookie ends up getting set by the time the message is actually sent.


If you've customized any of the WebBoard pages that are in my install, you'll have to either propagate your customizations to my pages, or propagate my alterations to your customized pages.

Here's a list of each file, along with the role it plays in the various operations:

File name Purpose:
Forgot.html This is the standard page that comes up when the user clicks on the "forgot your password?" link on the login page (for boards that use cookie authentication), or on authfail.html (for boards that use basic authentication).
EmpEm.JS This is the tag script that does the lookup via e-mail address.  If you've changed the DB owner from the default of "sa" or the password from the default of blank, you'll need to modify this file: the comments make it clear what to do.

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4:  Install (3): Rebuilding the source files, and/or making modifications

If you want to modify the system, you'll need to download the source code.  For WebBoard 4 and 5 users, this is in: emp_src4.zip.  For WebBoard 6 users, this is in emp_src6.zip.

Note that these zip files are contained within the "complete" install download, as described in section 2.

You'll need to unzip these files into a new folder on your hard drive.

After you do so, you'll have to install my "JavaScript MakeFile" system onto that same folder: http://www.rs-freeware.org/jsm.

Within the JavaScript MakeFile system, I offer specific instructions for WebBoard users, at: http://www.rs-freeware.org/jsm/jsmdoc.htm#WebBoard_Regenerate.

In a nutshell: after installing the "JavaScript MakeFile" system, you'll have to modify the "make" file: emp.mak.

This is the line that you'll have to change:


DEST=f:\\w\\html\\emp

DEST should have the folder name of your main WebBoard HTML folder; probably: c:\\webboard\\html, if you're running it from the server.

Note that double backslashes are required to separate folder names.

For more information about folder names, please see my DOS primer.

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5:  Bug reports, comments, and change requests, etc.

You can e-mail me at rog@NOSPAM_rs-freeware.org if you encounter problems, or think that you've found a bug.

I can also be reached by telephone in the U.S. from about 9 AM U.S. central time to 5 PM U.S. central time at: 765-742-6705.  If you don't get an answer, you can use my numeric pager at: 765-417-0664 ... I'll try to call you back, if you're in the U.S, Canada, or Mexico.


Please supply me with as much information as you can about your server, your version of WebBoard, any browser or Operating System that was involved, including the WebBoard Server's Operating System  (9x, NT, 2K, XP?).  Also, please provide any configuration files, or customized WebBoard files that you were using.  Keep in mind that I might actually have to have the opportunity to try what you were doing, in order to diagnose the problem.


BTW, I don't gaurantee to answer all e-mail or fix all bugs, etc.  Please remember that this is freeware, and that my time and resources are limited.

That said, I've put a lot of work into designing, coding, testing, and documenting this product, and I'm probably going to be fairly interested in any comments anyone has, fixing any bugs, and/or extending the scope to applications that strike me as being potentially valuable to a large number of users.


Naturally, if you're willing to hire me to make changes for your special-purpose application, I'm certainly willing to consider your offer.  My standard rate is $75/hr., but I may charge less if the work is to be done for a small business (less than 25 employees), or a nonprofit organization (in the latter case, I might even do it on a gratis basis  :-)  I may also consider charging you nothing if you're suggesting an improvement that I feel is of value to a large number of other users.

You can find out more about me, including references, and a list of clients/projects at: http://www.rs-freeware.org/rog.

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6:  Other freeware products

WebBoard users will find lots of WebBoard freeware at: http://www.rs-freeware.org/freeware.htm.

Anyone who writes JavaScript  (regardless of whether this is written on the client or server side),  deals with SQL, or who happens to be interested in obtaining the full power available from DOS may wish to check out http://www.rs-freeware.org/free2.htm

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7:  Version history information

This is version 1.1, released on Nov. 1, 2002.

Nov 1, 2002: added support for WebBoard 6.

This documentation was generated by Rog's FAQHack: a DOS/Windows-based freeware program that handles simple macro preprocessing with special support for FAQs and other structured HTML documents.

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8:  Acknowledgements

A number of users on the WebBoard 4 Support Board requested this enhancement.

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