COMMENT

ENS.ASP  by Joe Scholes (70715,643)

This script is designed to logon to CompuServe, enter the Executive News
Service, send all items in all folders to CompuServe Mail, delete all
items, and then log off.

Feel free to change this to suite your own needs, but please email me a copy
if you do so I can see what you did. I am unfamiliar with ASPECT and this
script took me most of a day to write. I have tested it under a variety of
circumstances and it works flawlessly, at least, on my ID and with my setup!

BACKGROUND

For those of you who have the Executive Option, you know that by using the
Executive News Service, you can "clip" stories of interest to you by setting
up a maximum of three clipping folders. ENS costs an additional $15 per hour
while you are in the service. The surcharge applies when you are setting up
folders, modifying folders, or just reading the clippings that have been
stored there.

With the advent of flat rate basic services on CompuServe that includes
reading unlimited mail, I wanted a means of sending all my news clippings from
ENS to CompuServe Mail as quickly as possible. There is a command in ENS where
you can do that. It is issued as follows: SEND 1-3 70715,643. You can send one
story, a selection of stories, or all stories. If you want to mix and match,
the command looks like this: SEND 1-3,5,15,18-20 70715,643. That command would
send stories 1 through 3, 5, 15, and 18 through 20 to your user ID. (My ID is
in the example, but you get my meaning.) Unfortunately, there is no SEND ALL
command. If there are 48 stories in a folder and you want to send them all,
the command must look like this: SEND 1-48 70715,643, and has to be issued on
the LAST screen of a SCA FOLDER (where "FOLDER" is the name of your folder)
command.

I have checked with CompuServe. Sending stories from within ENS does NOT count
against your total number of outgoing email letters permitted each month under
the flat rate plan. Their specific reply was that sending the stories via
email from within ENS was part of the premium service and covered by the ENS
surcharge.

So, I felt like I could save money by going into ENS, sending all news
clippings to myself as email, delete the news clippings in ENS, and then go
read them at my leisure in email where there is no surcharge. Naturally a
script file could do that much quicker than I could type in the commands.

HOW IT WORKS

Given the constraints of ENS, this script was difficult to write. First, it
tests the folders for contents and skips those that are empty. It sets a
variable with the exact number of stories in each folder so it can use the
proper SEND command. It issues the SCA FOLDER (where "FOLDER" is the name of
the folder) command for each folder created and "hits RETURN" until it gets to
the last page of listed stories. Then it issues the SEND command to send all
stories to your own logon ID. It deletes mailed stories before leaving the
folder.

TECHNICAL NOTES

I have my terminal emulation set to ANSI on CompuServe. That is convenient for
cursor positioning etc., but causes some problems when the script is scanning
incomming lines for a very specific series of characters, specifically, ^M^J!
(Carriage Return, Line Feed, and an exclamation point). In order to receive
these characters properly, the script issues a SET TTY DUMCTR command to
CompuServe as soon as it logs on. THIS SCRIPT WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT THAT
COMMAND! Rest assured, however, that the change is only valid for the current
session and will revert back to your defaults the next time you logon. Or, you
may add a line to the end of the script to change it back after the script has
finished its work.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO MAKE THIS SCRIPT WORK FOR YOU

Change the names of the three folders in the first STRING statement below to
match the names of your folders. If you don't have three folders, you can
delete ones you don't need from the script, but you will have to carfully
delete portions of the script below also.

You will also have to change the names of the variables throughout the script
to match your folder names, if you change the names in the first STRING
statement. It would be best if you used your favorite ASCII text editor and
did a Global change on PEOPLE, PLACES, and THINGS. Everything else should work
properly.

You also need to change your logon ID in the second STRING statement below. BE
SURE TO LEAVE IN THE LEADING SPACE! This variable is used later in
concatenation statements. Likewise, change the pasword in the third STRING
statement below.

Change the DIAL statement below to the entry in your Dialing Directory that is
set for CompuServe.

Change the LOG OPEN statement and put in the correct path and filename for
your log file, if you want one. You may delete this line if you wish.

Note: At the end of the script, it issues an OFF command to CompuServe. I do
this because it takes anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes for stories to show up in
my mailbox after sending from ENS, so I log off and then uses a different
script to get my mail later. If you want to stay logged on, you will have to
modify the last few commands to suit your needs.

DISCLAIMER

I know this is a very rough script compared to some I've seen (and used as
examples). I apologize for that. Ideally, a script uploaded for general use
should account for every possible variation. I'm not that good at writing
scripts yet, so you'll have to do your own "clean up" work if you find some of
the code sloppy.

Feel free to share this script with anyone. I release it to the public domain.
Any comments or suggestions can be sent to me at 70715,643. If you want to
test it without danger of losing stories in your folders, I suggest you remove
the DEL ALL commands that are sent after scanning each folder.

If all works well, this script will get you in ENS, transmit stories, delete
stories, and back out of ENS fairly quickly, keeping your surcharged time to a
minimum. I run this script every two weeks (the maximum time stories can be
kept in a folder without being deleted), then go in and scan or read my email
at leisure when it doesn't cost anything extra.

Joe Scholes
April 26, 1992

ENDCOMMENT
;
PROC MAIN
STRING PEOPLE,PLACES,THINGS     ; Change to match your folders. See above!
STRING IDSTRING=" xxxxx,xxx"    ; Substitute your ID. Leave in leading space!
STRING PWSTRING="\*********^M"  ; Substitute your PW in place of asterisks.
STRING PEO1,PLA1,THI1
STRING SENDONE="SEND 1",SENDMANY="SEND 1-"
STRING PEOPLESEND,PLACESSEND,THINGSSEND
STRING LOGONSTRING
STRCPY LOGONSTRING IDSTRING
STRCAT LOGONSTRING PWSTRING
WHEN 0 "MORE !" TRANSMIT "^M"
SET MODEM WAITCNCT 45
SET ATIME 0
SET ENQ OFF                      ; Eliminates accidental "line noise" dl's
SET TRANSLATE STRIP
IF NOT CONNECTED
DIAL "1"
PAUSE 1
TRANSMIT "^C"
WAITFOR "User ID:"
TRANSMIT LOGONSTRING
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER
ENDIF
LOG CLOSE
LOG OPEN "c:\pcplus\xfer\ens.log"; Change to match your log file
TRANSMIT "set tty dumcrt^M"      ; MUST BE LEFT ALONE FOR THIS TO WORK!
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER
TRANSMIT "g ens^M"
WAITFOR "4 Create" FOREVER
WAITFOR "^M"
WAITFOR "^M"
RGET PEOPLE                     ; These should be renamed. See comments
RGET PLACES                     ; above.
RGET THINGS                     ;
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER
SUBSTR PEO1 PEOPLE 27 2         ; Gets count of stories in folder #1.
SUBSTR PLA1 PLACES 27 2         ; Gets count of stories in folder #2.
SUBSTR THI1 THINGS 27 2         ; Gets count of stories in folder #3.
STRCMP PEO1 "0 "                ; Tests folder #1 for empty contents.
IF SUCCESS
GOTO SKIPPEOPLE
ENDIF
STRCMP PEO1 "1 "                ; Tests folder #1 for only one story.
IF SUCCESS
STRCAT SENDONE IDSTRING         ; Creating SEND command to match # of stories
STRCPY PEOPLESEND SENDONE       ;
STRCAT PEOPLESEND "^M"          ;
GOTO SENDPEOPLE
ENDIF
STRCAT SENDMANY PEO1            ; Creating SEND command to match # of stories
STRCAT SENDMANY IDSTRING        ;
STRCPY PEOPLESEND SENDMANY      ;
STRCAT PEOPLESEND "^M"          ;
SENDPEOPLE:
TRANSMIT "sca people^M"         ; Issues SCAN command, waits for last screen
WAITFOR "^M^J!"                 ; to appear.
TRANSMIT PEOPLESEND             ; Issues SEND command.
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER		; Wait for prompt.
TRANSMIT "del all^M"            ; Deletes stories sent to e-mail.
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER		; Wait for prompt.
ASSIGN SENDONE "SEND 1"         ; Resets variable
ASSIGN SENDMANY "SEND 1-"       ; Resets variable
SKIPPEOPLE:
STRCMP PLA1 "0 "                ; Repeat of above, for different folder
IF SUCCESS
GOTO SKIPPLACES
ENDIF
STRCMP PLA1 "1 "
IF SUCCESS
STRCAT SENDONE IDSTRING
STRCPY PLACESSEND SENDONE
STRCAT PLACESSEND "^M"
GOTO SENDPLACES
ENDIF
STRCAT SENDMANY PLA1
STRCAT SENDMANY IDSTRING
STRCPY PLACESSEND SENDMANY
STRCAT PLACESSEND "^M"
SENDPLACES:
TRANSMIT "sca places^M"
WAITFOR "^M^J!"
TRANSMIT PLACESSEND
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER
TRANSMIT "del all^M"
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER
ASSIGN SENDONE "SEND 1"
ASSIGN SENDMANY "SEND 1-"
SKIPPLACES:                     ; Repeat of above, for different folder
STRCMP THI1 "0 "
IF SUCCESS
GOTO WRAPUP
ENDIF
STRCMP THI1 "1 "
IF SUCCESS
STRCAT SENDONE IDSTRING
STRCPY THINGSSEND SENDONE
STRCAT THINGSSEND "^M"
GOTO SENDTHINGS
ENDIF
STRCAT SENDMANY THI1
STRCAT SENDMANY IDSTRING
STRCPY THINGSSEND SENDMANY
STRCAT THINGSSEND "^M"
SENDTHINGS:
TRANSMIT "sca things^M"
WAITFOR "^M^J!"
TRANSMIT THINGSSEND
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER
TRANSMIT "del all^M"
WAITFOR "!" FOREVER
WRAPUP:
TRANSMIT "off^M"                ; Logs off after sending/deleting stories
WAITFOR "NO CARRIER" FOREVER    ; Waits for a "graceful" exit
LOG CLOSE                       ; Closes log file
QUIT                            ; Stops execution and exits PCPLUS
ENDPROC