Export Configuration

exec/exportcfg.js is a utility script that will export lists of items configured in SCFG (e.g. message areas, files areas, external program configurations) to the console or a file.

exportcfg.js may be invoked via JSexec (e.g. from an OS command prompt) or load()ed from another JavaScript module.

The command-line syntax (or load arguments) are detailed here:

usage: exportcfg.js <cfg-type>
	[[-grp=<msg_area.grp.name | file_area.lib.name | xtrn_area.sec.code>] [...]]
	[-<option>[=<value>] [...]]
	[[[property][=<printf-format> [-upper | -lower | -under]] [...]]
        [[-ex=<property>] [...]]

cfg-types (choose one):
	msg-grps
	msg-subs
	file-libs
	file-dirs
	xtrn-secs
	xtrn-progs
	xtrn-events
	xtrn-editors

options:
	<option>     <default>
	-hdr         =false
	-ini         =false
	-delim       ="\u0009"
	-term        =""
	-quote       =false
	-strip       =false
	-ascii       =false
	-quiet       =false
	-sort        =false
	-json        =false
	(tip: use -json=4 for pretty JSON output)
	(tip: use -ini='\t%s = %s\n' for pretty .ini output)

per-property options:
	<option>     <default>
	-upper       =false
	-lower       =false
	-under       =false

A configuration type (just one) must be specified on the command-line:

By default, exportcfg.js outputs all properties for all configured items of the chosen cfg-type.

To chose which groups (Message Groups, File Libraries, or External Program Sections) from which to output configured items, use the -grp option. You can use the -grp option multiple times to specify multiple groups from which to output items. The groups of items will be output in their configured order (unless the -sort option is used), regardless of the order of the groups specified on the command-line.

jsexec msg-subs -grp main

To chose which properties to include in the output, pass one or more property names on the command-line (without any dashes). The properties may be specified in any order and their values will be output in the order given.

jsexec msg-subs code name description

Alternatively, you can exclude specific properties from the output by specifying one or more property names with the -ex option.

jsexec msg-subs -ex=can_read -ex=can_post -ex=is_operator -ex=is_moderated -ex=scan_ptr -ex=scan_cfg -ex=last_read

exportcfg.js supports 3 primary flavors of text output:

• one line per record (the default)
• JSON
• .ini file format

Other output formats could be coaxed out of this script through creative use of the -delim and -term command-line options.

To modify the default output mode, use the following command-line options:

Configuration property values may be modified by included any of the following options on the command-line:

Configuration property values may be modified on a per-property basis by included any of the following options on the command-line following a property specification:

Configuration property values may be truncated, padded, or aligned using C printf style format strings by specifying a format string following a property specification, separated by an equal-sign (=) character:

name="%-30s "

JavaScript-escaped special characters may be included in the format string:

name="\t%30s "

The default output order of the configuration items is the order in which they appear in the configuration files and are represented in SCFG.

To alphabetically sort the output items, use the -sort command-line option.

By default, all output is printed on the console (e.g. sent to stdout or the BBS terminal user). To disable the console output use the -quiet command-line option. This quiet mode is useful when load()ing the module and capturing its output as the return value of load() (e.g. for writing to a file without requiring OS shell redirection).

Note:
By default, JSexec will change the current working directory to your Synchronet ctrl directory before executing the script, so the redirected output (stdout) of the example commands above would go into files created there. To write output files to a different directory, either specify the full path or use the jsexec -C command-line option to disable the change-directory function.

To export configured message areas (sub-boards) to a FidoNet-style areas.bbs file:

jsexec -C exportcfg msg-subs -grp fidonet code="%-16s" name="%-35s" -upper -under -term=" 1:103/705" > areas.bbs

or:

jsexec -C exportcfg msg-subs -grp fidonet code="%-16s" newsgroup="%-35s" -upper -under -term=" 1:103/705" > areas.bbs

See also: exec/echoareas.js.

To export configured file areas (directories) to a RAID/FILEBONE.NA/FILEGATE.ZXX format file:

jsexec -C exportcfg file-dirs code="Area %-16s 0 !" -upper description > filegate.zxx

To export configured external online programs (doors) to a comma-separated-value file suitable for loading into a spreadsheet application:

jsexec -C exportcfg xtrn-progs -delim=, -quote > xtrn-progs.csv

To export configured message areas (sub-boards) to a tab-delimited ASCII file (with column headings) suitable for loading into a spreadsheet application:

jsexec -C exportcfg msg-subs -strip -ascii -hdr > msg-subs.tab

To export configured file areas (directories) to a pretty-formatted JSON file:

jsexec -C exportcfg file-dirs -json=4 > file-dirs.json

To export configured external message editors to a pretty-formatted .ini file:

jsexec -C exportcfg xtrn-editors -ini="\t%s = %s\n" > xtrn-editors.ini

To load this module from another JavaScript module and capture the output (as an array of strings):

var output = load({}, "exportcfg.js", "file-dirs", "-quiet");

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