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 FAQ

2:  Using a "bridge board"

3:  Install: (0) "Rog, you install it!"

4:  Install (1): Complete Install Zips

5:  Install (2): Standard Install

6:  Install: (3) configuring the files

7:  Install: (4) multiple HelpLine boards

8:  Install (5): Rebuilding the source files, and/or making modifications

9:  Maintaining the list of conferences

10:  Problem: WebBoard won't recognize staff

11:  Problem: WebBoard 6 modern layout causes problems and/or GIFs on the post reading pages don't show up

12:  Maintaining the list of staffers

13:  Staff info: what staffers need to know

14:  Installing FormMail.pl: a suggestion

15:  Cookie names and values

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

17:  Other freeware products

18:  Version history information

19:  Acknowledgement

1:  Requirements FAQ

Here are the answers to some basic questions about requirements.

• Will this work for WebBoard versions other than 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x

  Absolutely not, nor do I know of any way to "port" the design to other versions of WebBoard.

• Can a manager of just one board do this by themselves?

  The answer is yes, but the virtual board manager does need to have access to another board, for two reasons.

  First, if there are to be other staff on the HelpLine board, they have to be designated as moderators for all conferences (unless they're WebBoard administrators).  The only way to create a user profile for them is to have them access another virtual board.

  Also, a second virtual board is required, because WebBoard won't recognize a user on a "no authorization" board as an adminstrator, manager, or moderator unless that person can "come in" via another board.

  It's important to remember that this software makes the login process "transparent" if you use what I refer to as a "bridge" board (see section 2).

  The "bridge" board can be used for other purposes, so if the virtual board manager knows another virtual board manager who's willing to provide just a small bit of assistance, this will suffice.

  The "bridge" board manager doesn't need to provide the HelpLine board manager (or other staff) with any special privileges on the "bridge" board--just one small modification is needed to the intro.html file on the bridge board.  The HelpLine board need not be "visible" under the bridge board's more options/list boards menu.

  Under this scenario, the WebBoard administrator need not play any special role whatsoever, other than the required effort (about 30 seconds) needed to set up a "no authorization" board.

• What additional software or resources are required to use this product, other than WebBoard 4.x and a virtual board?

  You need to have the right to access the standard Perl script called formmail.pl, and to put four small web pages on the same server with it.

  Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have made this free script available to their customers, as a way of minimizing the need to write specialized CGI for forms processing.

  If your ISP doesn't offer this script, it can be obtained for free from Matt's Script Archive, Inc.

  This script has performed reliably for hundreds of millions of Internet users and/or developers over the years, and presents no "security risk" to an ISP.

  There is also a freeware NT version, (and it's legal to distribute the zip file freely) at:
  http://rs-freeware.org/h/form2mail.zip

• Does one need to be a programmer or have excellent computer skills to install this software?

  Not really.

  During the initial configuration, it helps to have someone who knows any programming language (or HTML), because JavaScript is very "picky" about syntax.

  Nevertheless, a computer novice could do the job, provided that s/he exercised care in following the examples.

  Once the system has been initially configured, only two lines of "code" need to be changed for each staff member who arrives or departs.

  You do need to be able to use FTP or have some other way of moving files into the WebBoard HTML folder for the virtual board.

• What does the general public need to access this software?

  It's enough if they can figure out how to post and read posts.  You can make their life a lot easier by providing a link to post in one of the conferences on the intro.html page, e.g. a link of the form:
  /post?#
  where # is the conference number.

  This is because the main thing that confuses people who are new to WebBoard is the requirement that a conference must be "selected" before they can post to it.

  Any web browser that works with WebBoard can be used by members of the public, including Netscape 2.0, Unix Lynx, or WebTV.

  For best results, members of the public should have e-mail software that makes URLs within e-mail messages "hot."  These days, almost everyone (including AOHell members) use such e-mailers.

• What do the staff (i.e. the "experts" who answer questions) need?

  Your staff members have to be using MS Internet Explorer 4.72 or higher, or Netscape/Communicator 3.02 or higher.  (Lower versions of MSIE might very well work).

  They also need to be on a system that supports (session) "cookies," i.e. cookies that survive only as long as the current browser "process" is open.

  Obviously the browser must be configured to allow "session cookies" (AKA: temporary cookies), and JavaScript.

  Your staff members must have their WebBoard user profile set up to use frames  (It's one of the checkboxes near the bottom.)

• Can the guests use "no frames" mode?

  WebBoard's default for guests is to use frames.

  If you're a WebBoard administrator, you can verify that this default is correctly set by using RegEdit to examine:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/O'REILLY/WEBBOARD/3.0/GUEST/LAYOUT

  This value should be 1 (0 is the value to not use frames).

  If you're a virtual board manager, ask your administrator.

  Or just log into a board as a guest.  If frames mode is on, then you're okay.

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2:  Using a "bridge board"

A "bridge board" is an additional virtual board that serves as the "staff gateway board" for one or more boards that use HelpLine software.  (Theoretically, you could have 253 virtual boards that use the HelpLine software, one bridge board for all of them, and one admin board.)

You don't have to have a "bridge board," but the system will operate much more effectively if you do.

The bridge board needs to be a board that uses "cookie authentication".

I added just a few lines of code to the bridge board's intro.html page in order to do the trick.

This code will look for the WB_Dest session cookie which contains a URL.  If the cookie is set, the URL will be used to redirect the user to that page.

This extra code creates no "security issues" for the bridge board.  The amount of additional traffic will be negligible (it's entirely acounted for by staff logins.)

If you don't have a "bridge board," then you and your staff will have to first login to another virtual board and then go to the HelpLine board.

Note that the "bridge" board manager doesn't need to provide the HelpLine board manager (or other staff) with any special privileges on the "bridge" board--just one small modification is needed to the intro.html file on the bridge board.  The HelpLine board need not be "visible" under the bridge board's more options/list boards menu.

It's sufficient to simply store the "staff login URL", (which is of the form:
http://yourdomain.com/~boardname/login) as a "favorite" or "bookmark".

Since this URL won't sit there for very long, some of your more "computerphobic" staff members may need some assistance when it comes to editing the URLs in their favorites or bookmarks.  Anyone who has a minimal amount of experience with a given browser should be able to assist, if necessary.

The "staff login URL" must be used regardless of whether theres a "bridge board."

The only difference between the two cases is this: if there's no bridge board, the staffer must first login to another virtual board that supports cookie authentication.

After that, the staffer can select the "staff login URL" from their bookmarks/favorites and enter.

Note that if there is a bridge board, then the staffer will be prompted for a login and password when they enter the HelpLine board, so the staffer need not even know that the "bridge board" exists (or what its URL is, etc.).

The password protection uses the underlying features of WebBoard itself: it's impossible to "masquerade" as a staffer unless you actually know or guess the staffer's WebBoard password.

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3:  Install: (0) "Rog, you install it!"

My basic rate is $75/hour.

If you aleady have access to formmail.pl, you can give me FTP access to the servers, and you haven't extensively customized any of the WebBoard files I need to use, then it's more than likely that the install will cost no more than two hours (i.e. $150).

If you decide to install it yourself, I may also be willing to answer your questions on a gratis basis (time permitting), if you contact me.

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4:  Install (1): Complete Install Zips

If you want this documentation, as well as all the included zip files, WebBoard 4/5 users can download h4.zip instead.  WebBoard 6 users should download h6.zip.

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

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5:  Install (2): Standard Install

For WebBoard 4 and 5 users, the install file is: h_rel4.zip.

For WebBoard 6, use: h_rel6.zip.

There are three subfolders in the install.

The H folder contains the HelpLine files for your HelpLine board(s).

If you wish to have a "bridge" board - and I strongly recommend that you do - then the HBridge folder contains the modified version of intro.html for your bridge board  (see section 2, for more information about bridge boards).

Finally, there are four files that you have to put on a web site: these are contained in the HWeb folder ... there's more information about these files in section 6.

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6:  Install: (3) configuring the files

There are five files that have to be changed.

Although there are comments in front of each value that has to be modified, I recommend that you keep a backup copy of my versions of these files, so you can see what worked for me (just in case there's any doubt about what the variable value truly represents).

If you aren't a programmer, please be very careful when modifying these files.

Double quotes should not be part of any value.

These files should be edited with a standard text editor, such as Windows Notepad.  If you use anything else, you need to save the file as "MS-DOS Text."

If you're a Macintosh user or on a Unix machine, what's required here is often known as an ASCII plain text format.

• Vars.Txt

  This file has nothing in it, other than five variables which you must set.

  U_Bridge_Board_URL is the URL to reach the "bridge board" if you have one, otherwise it's n (the letter 'n', lower case).  For more information on bridge boards, please see section 2.

  U_Notify_URL is the full URL of the place where H_Notify.htm resides (i.e. on your web server, which also has formmail.pl in its CGI directory).

  U_Forward_URL is the full URL of the place where H_Fwd.htm resides (i.e. on your web server, which also has formmail.pl in its CGI directory).

  U_Board_Descrip is the description of the HelpLine board.  Its only purpose is to identify the HelpLine board in all e-mail messages.

  U_Board_MEmail is the e-mail address of the HelpLine board's manager.  Its only purpose is to provide an e-mail address for complaints about "spam" or abuse from recipients of the e-mail messages.

• Preview.html

  Due to a WebBoard bug, the variable U_Notify_URL must be set in this file (it's near the end).

  The value should be the same as the one you supplied in Vars.txt (above).

  To find it, go all the way to the end of the file, or use the search option in your text editor.

  (This modification would've been unnecessary, had O'Reilly permitted tag scripts or include files in preview.html.)

• H_Fwd.Htm

  Look for the phrase "Change #" in this file.

  Change #1 requires you to provide the full URL of H_Sent1.htm (on your web server, which also has formmail.pl in its CGI directory).

  Change #3 requires you to provide the full URL of formmail.pl.

  Change #4 requires you to list the e-mail addresses and names of all your staff.  This isn't absolutely mandatory, but it will make life easy for staff members who wish to forward posts to other staff, by allowing them to select the e-mail addresses from a "drop-down option list."

• H_Notify.Htm

  Use your text editor to search for the phrase "Change #" in this file.

  Change #1 requires you to provide the full URL of H_Sent1.htm (on your web server.

  Change #3 requires you to provide the full URL of formmail.pl (on your web server (it's almost certainly in a cgi directory.

• Staff.txt

  This entire file consists of the list of staff members' logins, names, and e-mail addresses.

  If this information isn't correct, then a staff member might have to enter more than is needed when posting messages.

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7:  Install: (4) multiple HelpLine boards

This system has been specifically designed so that you can have as many HelpLine boards as you wish.

Only the files that go on the HelpLine board's HTML directory need to be changed.

Specifically, the four files that go on your web server along with formmail.pl are "board independent" and can serve any HelpLine board on any WebBoard server.

These files are: H_Fwd.htm, H_Notify.htm, H_Sent1.htm, and H_Sent0.htm.

The only other file in the system that doesn't go in the HelpLine board's HTML directory is hbridge/intro.html, which is actually intro.html on the "bridge board" (if any).

One bridge board can "serve" any number of HelpLine boards on the same WebBoard server.  Viz., Once you've set up intro.html on the bridge board, no further changes are needed as you add or remove HelpLine boards.

So if you already have a HelpLine board running on a given WebBoard server, the only files you need to change are staff.txt (the staff list), vars.txt (configurable variables) and preview.html.

There's only one small disadvantage to this strategy, and that's that H_Fwd.htm (post forwarding) will either have to include all e-mail addresses of all staff on all HelpLine boards . . . or it might include none of them.

In the latter case, staffers who forward posts would simply paste in the appropriate recipient's e-mail address, perhaps from a "distribution list" that was coded in a file on the staffer's computer.

The main issues here are minor inconvenience and a small training requirement (i.e.: learning how to cut-and-paste).

Better: use one copy of H_Fwd.htm for each HelpLine board on the web server.

But if you wish, the file can simply be renamed for each board or even placed on a different folder, as long as the new name is properly declared in each HelpLine board's vars.txt.

Do you want to use just one version of H_Fwd.htm, or multiple versions?  The answer to this Q may depend on how often forwarding occurs, how patient and/or "computerphobic" the board staff were, and whether you want to give each HelpLine board manager the ability to modify files on the web server.

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8:  Install (5): 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 4/5 users, this is in: h_src4.zip.  For WebBoard 6 users, this is in h_src6.zip.

Note that these zip files are contained within the "complete" install download, as described in section 4.

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: h.mak.

The three lines that you'll have to change are these:

DEST=f:\\w\\html\\h
DESTB=f:\\w\\html\\hbridge
DESTW=f:\\w\\html\\hweb

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9:  Maintaining the list of conferences

All staff members must be moderators of all conferences, except (perhaps) read-only conferences.

(This requirement naturally doesn't apply to the HelpLine board managers or the WebBoard administrators, who automatically have moderator powers under WebBoard.

No conference can have an associated e-mail list or news group . . . otherwise members of the public could "masquerade" as staff and reply to posts.

Always create conferences to allow file attachments . . . if you want to disallow file attachments, then set the "byte size" to 1.

Always to allow spell checking.  You can always remove the checked from the preview/spell check box in postmsg-f.html.

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10:  Problem: WebBoard won't recognize staff

On some browsers, WebBoard takes two or three tries to "recognize" a staff member in the sense that it will let them edit posts, delete posts, or see the appropriate link on the more options page.

There's only one solution to this that I know of, and that's for the staffer to repeatedly invoke the new "show again" link in the More menu (if there's a "bridge board"), or to repeatedly try to re-enter through another board.

Generally speaking, this isn't a problem unless your staffers frequently need to delete or edit posts. pages

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11:  Problem: WebBoard 6 modern layout causes problems and/or GIFs on the post reading pages don't show up

The WebBoard 6 "modern layout" isn't supported.  If you wish to support it, you'll need to copy read.html to read2.html, and readfull.html to readfull2.html.  After doing this, you'll have to move the code that displays the links, so that it appears after the post body.

You can contact me, if you want me to do this for you.

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12:  Maintaining the list of staffers

There are two files that you need to change to add or remove staff, or to change a staffer's name, login, or e-mail address.

Remember these files must be edited with Windows Notepad, or an editor that can save MS-DOS text, AKA plain ASCII text format.

• Staff.txt

  This entire file consists of the list of staff members' logins, names, and e-mail addresses.

  If this information isn't correct, then a staff member might have to enter more than is needed when posting messages.

  Note that if a staffer is included on this list, but not declared to WebBoard as an administrator, a moderator of all conferences in the HelpLine board, or one of the virtual board managers of the HelpLine board . . . then the staffer won't actually get "staff" privileges.

• H_Fwd.Htm

  Change #4 requires you to list the e-mail addresses and names of all your staff.  This isn't absolutely mandatory, but it will make life easy for staff members who wish to forward posts to other staff, by allowing them to select the e-mail addresses from a "drop-down option list."

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13:  Staff info: what staffers need to know

Staff members should understand the basic rules of the HelpLine system, i.e.. who can post what and when (see the introduction at the beginning of this documentation).

If there is no "Bridge Board" a staff member must first login to any other board that uses cookie authentication, before attempting to use his or her "staff gateway URL:"

http://yourdomain.com/~boardname/login

(For more information about "bridge boards," see section 2.)

Otherwise, if there is a "Bridge Board", the staffer can use the above URL syntax "directly", i.e. without going to another board first.

If the "staff gateway URL" isn't used, the staff member may not be recognized as staff by the system.

If a staff member is recognized, the URL will change to:

http://yourdomain.com/~boardname/staff

Staff members should reply to only one post at a time, i.e. that they make sure that a reply is fully posted before starting the next post.

(In practice, the rule isn't that harsh; what's mainly required is that two reply posts can't be previewed at the same time, but the guideline above should eliminate all chances of errors.)

Note that a new window will open up whenever e-mail notification is being sent to the original poster.

Staff members must stop posting if they notice anything unusual about the new e-mail notification window.  This is because the files that do this reside on the web server, and notifications won't be sent if that server is down, or otherwise unable to operate correctly.

In the event that an e-mail notification hasn't gone "through," the only way to "recover" is to edit the reply post, save the text of the post, and then delete that post after posting a second reply.

If a staff member wishes to change his or her login name, or the name used in posts, then the virtual board manager should edit Staff.txt as described in section 12.

If a staff member wishes to change his or her e-mail address the virtual board manager should edit both Staff.txt and H_Fwd.htm as described in section 12.

Note that neither the e-mail address nor the first and last names in WebBoard's user profile have any relevance to what's used on the HelpLine board: only the contents of Staff.txt matter.  However the staffer's login name and password (as defined in WebBoard's user profile) are relevant.  A staff member can change their password at any time without affecting their access to the HelpLine board.

A staff member's user profile must be configured to use frames.  Under no circumstances should a staff member have a login name that contains double quotes.

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14:  Installing FormMail.pl: a suggestion

I've worked with two different sysadmins install FormMail.pl, one on a Unix (Linux) system and the other on an NT server.

If you're cooperating with your sysadmin to get FormMail up and running, you may wish to use H_Fwd.htm for testing, and change these two lines during the testing:

Change:
F.redirect.value = G_RD;
to:
/* F.redirect.value = G_RD;*/

And:
<INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME="redirect" VALUE="">
to:
<! INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME="redirect" VALUE="">

As you can see, what I'm suggesting is that you comment out FormMail's "redirection" feature.

This will ensure that you get the "default" response page after an e-mail message has (ostensibly) been sent.

Some Perl or SMTP configuration issues may not be apparent unless you make these changes.

I.e.: everything will appear "normal," but no e-mail message will go out.

On both the installations that I witnessed, these simple alterations helped us get close to the heart of the problem in very little time.

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15:  Cookie names and values

(This section is provided only for programmers who are interested in modifying the code themselves.)

• WB_Dest

  This cookie is set whenever the "bridge board" is being used to facilitate staffer logins.  (For more information on "bridge" boards see section 2.)

  The value is the URL which the user should be sent to.

  This cookie can also have a value of NONE, which means the obvious.

• WB_More

  This cookie is set to 1 whenever the Show Again link is used on the more options page (because WebBoard has "forgotten" about the status of a staffer.)

  When the staffer has been brought back to the HelpLine board, with a URL containing '/more' at the end, intro.html will bring up the more options page only if this cookie is 1 and will (in that case) reset it to 0.

  This makes it possible for people to put posting links on intro.html and bring it up (the WB call is: /empty) instead of post when the user clicks on the post button in the toolbar.

  This makes it less confusing for newcomers, because you can have post?conf# links on the intro page, and this will reduce the number of people who are baffled by WebBoard's "you must first select a conference" message.

• WB_Notify

  This cookie is set by postmsg-f.html from its URL, and contains all the information needed to process e-mail notifications.

  That information is passed through the URL by read.html and readfull.html.

  This cookie is only used when preview mode is on, because there's no other way to pass that data to preview.html.

  WB_Notify is set to NONE after the e-mail notification request is processed (or more precisely: after h_notify.htm is invoked in a new window.)

• WB_Staff

  This cookie is set by intro.html in the HelpLine board using WebBoard's <admin> ... </admin>, <manager> ... </manager>, and <moderator> ... </moderator> tags.

  The value is 3 for WebBoard administrators, 2 for the managers of the HelpLine board, and 3 for the conference moderators of the HelpLine board.

  If the user is none of the above, the cookie is set to 0.

  read.html and readfull.html use the value of this cookie to see whether they should build the special staff links--only staff may reply and only the HelpLine board managers and WebBoard administrators may move posts.

  This cookie is also used by more.html to see whether it should supply the additional Show again link which is used to "simulate" a login from the bridge board, in the event that WebBoard has "forgotten" about the status of a staffer.

• WB_StaffName

  This cookie is set by intro.html on the HelpLine board by comparing the value of WebBoard's own WB-User with the list of staffers in staff.txt.

  It's used by postmsg-f.html to fill in the poster's name when messages are posted.

• WB_StaffEmail

  Similar to WB_StaffName, but for the staffer's e-mail address.

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16:  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.

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17:  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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18:  Version history information

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

August 15, 2000: Fixed bug in assignments of G_Spell and G_Attach (initial assignments should've been 0, not 1) in postmsg-f.html.  This bug only affected conferences with either spell checking disabled, or attachments disabled.  Also added form2mail zip of formmail freeware for NT machines.

Oct 10, 2000: added the model ("fast") install.

July 16, 2001: fixed miscoding of the "hide JavaScript" markers that follow the <SCRIPT ... > and preceed the </SCRIPT> statements in PostMsgF.Txt.  These caused JS errors (and hence no posting) under Netscape 4.6x and 4.7x.

On Nov 1, 2002, I totally revised the system to create version 1.1: new features include the source code, as well as separate support for both WebBoard 4/5 and 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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19:  Acknowledgement

I'd like to thank Sheryl McKenna, the Information Services Department manager at the Academy of General Dentistry in Chicago, IL (USA) for her cooperation in testing and developing this product.

I'd also like to thank a person who shall remain nameless (at their request) for turning me on to form2mail.

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