Click above to get retro games delivered to your door ever month!

       Type          : 7
       Name          : Run an external program in a shell
       Optional Data : <Command Line> [Control Codes]

       This  command  will run an external program (a "door") in  a
       shell while the user is on-line. Examples are on-line games,
       mail-checking facilities and so on. (Refer also to type 15 -
       Exit  to  DOS  for an alternative way  of  running  external
       programs). The FULL name of the program must be specified if
       it is an .EXE or .COM file.  To run one of these two  simply
       put  the name of the program in the optional data field.  If
       you  wish  to  call a batch file,  this  must  be  done  via
       COMMAND.COM,  the memory-resident command-line processor. So
       to  run  your TradeWars batch file,  the command line  could
       read:

                   C:\COMMAND.COM /C \BBS\DOORS\TW2.BAT

       Many programs require extra information to be passed on  the
       command line, so the following control codes may be used. In
       each case, the code is replaced by it's value:

            *A : Write the user's handle (if any) in DORINFO.DEF
                 instead of the user's real name.

            *B : User's baud rate, or 0 if local.

            *C : Full path and name to COMMAND.COM.

            *D : Automatically generate the Doorway DOOR.SYS
                 parameter file.

            *F : User's first name.

            *G : ANSI graphics, 0=Off/1=On.

            *H : Normally  the  FOSSIL  is  de-initialised   before
                 running an external program to avoid any possible
                 conflicts  between  the  FOSSIL and  the  program.
                 Specifying this parameter leaves the FOSSIL  "hot"
                 or active.

            *L : User's last name.

            *M : Activate MemorySwap feature. RemoteAccess attempts
                 to  swap itself and all the memory it occupies  to
                 EMS  (if  installed) and  disk,  leaving  only  2k
                 resident.    Great   for   running   memory-hungry
                 programs,  but  it  takes a few seconds to do  the
                 swap.  If  it  can't do the swap,  it will  try  a
                 normal shell.  NOTE :  Some programs are notorious
                 for  "fragmenting" memory,  and will not work with
                 MemorySwap.  Programs compiled in QuickBASIC, such
                 as TradeWars 1000 exhibit this problem.

            *N : Line number,  as specified  by the -N command line
                 parameter.

         *Oxxx : Override the baudrate value passed on to the
                 called program with xxx.

            *P : Communications port being used (1-4).

            *R : User's record number in the user file.

       *S<filename.ext> :
              Generates a  custom exitfile using a template file
              with the extension .RAT in the system directory
              which contains any valid textfile macros. See the
              "Textfile  Control Codes"  section  of  the
              reference chapter for a full  list of available
              text macros.

              The 'filename'  is the  base  filename  of  the  .RAT
              template file.  RA will process the file  and  create
              filename.ext where  the EXITINFO.BBS file is stored.

            *T : Time remaining for current call.

            *! : Freeze  the  system timer  for the duration of the
                 shell.  Useful for running external utilities like
                 full-screen chat programs etc.

            *# : Turn off the "Wants Chat" indicator on return from
                 the   shell.  This  is  to  facilitate  the proper
                 installation of external chat utilities.

            *0 : The full path to the currently selected file
                 template area.

            *1 : The number of the currently selected template
                 message area.


       In  addition  to this command line information that  can  be
       passed,  RemoteAccess also creates two data files before the
       shell.  DORINFO1.DEF,  which is a RBBS-compatible file,  and
       EXITINFO.BBS,  which  contains  an  extremely  comprehensive
       amount of system and user information. The structure of this
       file  can be found in the RemoteAccess structures  document,
       RASTRUCT.  It should also be noted that ALL system files are
       written  to  and closed off before the shell  is  activated,
       then  reopened  and scanned upon  return.  This  means  that
       programs  that  modify system files (eg.  USERS.BBS) can  be
       safely run in a type 7 shell.

       RemoteAccess also supports Doorway's DOOR.SYS parameter file
       directly; including  a *D on  the command  line enables  the
       generation of this file.

       Note  that the external program must do it's own time  limit
       and  carrier watchdogging,  in the event that the user  does
       not exit from the program correctly.