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Table of Contents

Text File Sections

A Text File Section is a sysop-curated collection of text files made available to users for reading. Common uses are bulletins, ANSI art galleries, BBS information, news archives, and similar non-credit-bearing reading material. Text File Sections are distinct from the file transfer section — files in a text section are read in-line through the BBS terminal interface, not downloaded, and are not subject to credit/transfer access controls.

Text File Sections are configured in SCFG → Text File Sections.

Section List

╔═══════════════════════════════════════════╗
║             Text File Sections            ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ │Information                              ║
║ │ANSI Artwork                             ║
║ │ANSI Music Files                         ║
║ │PETSCII Artwork                          ║
║ │RIP Art                                  ║
║ │UTF-8 Tests                              ║
║ │Operator                                 ║
║ │PCBoard Display Files                    ║
║ │Wildcat! Display Files                   ║
║ │VT100 art                                ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════╝
  • Ins or + — add a new section
  • Del or - — delete a section
  • F5 / Ctrl-C, F6 / Ctrl-V — copy / paste a section
  • Press Enter on a section to edit it.

When adding a section, SCFG prompts for a Name and an Internal Code. The internal code becomes the on-disk identifier for the section (and the name of the data subdirectory).

Per-Section Options

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║                        Information                       ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ │Name                       Information                  ║
║ │Internal Code              INFO                         ║
║ │Access Requirements                                     ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Option Name Description
Name Display name shown to users in the section list.
Internal Code Up to 8 valid filename characters; uniquely identifies this section in storage. The lowercased code is also used as the on-disk subdirectory name.
Access Requirements An ARS expression — users not matching the requirements cannot see or access the section. Blank = open to all.

File Storage

Each section's text files live in:

  • data/text/<code>/ — text files for the section (any text format: ASCII, ANSI, UTF-8, etc.). Created automatically by SCFG when the section is saved.
  • data/text/<code>.ini — optional per-section metadata file used by the renderer (display order, friendly titles, per-file display mode).

The configuration itself (the [text:CODE] blocks) is persisted to ctrl/file.ini.

Adding Files to a Section

There are two ways to populate a Text File Section:

Via the BBS (sysop)

Log into the BBS, enter the Text option of the main menu, choose the section, and use the Add command. The sysop is prompted for the title and the path/filename. If no path is given, the file is read from the section's data directory.

Directly on the filesystem

Drop files into data/text/<code>/. Optionally edit data/text/<code>.ini to set display order and friendly titles.

Renderer (Loadable Module)

The module that presents Text File Sections to users is configured in SCFG → System → Loadable Modules → Text Section. The default is text_sec (i.e. exec/text_sec.js). Sysops wanting a custom navigation experience can replace this with their own JavaScript module.

A reasonable baseline:

  • Information (INFO) — general BBS info; consider including text/sbbs.msg
  • Operator (OPERATOR, ars=SYSOP) — sysop-only system notes / change logs
  • ANSI Artwork (ANSI) — and sibling sections (PETSCII, RIP, VT100ART, UTF8) for systems catering to retro terminals

It is requested that sysops make at least the text/sbbs.msg file available somewhere reachable for users.

See Also

, ,

Trace: • Text File Sections