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Date: January 15, 2016
Welcome to the Outpost
Scripting Resource Page. Here's what you will
find here.
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About Outpost Scripting
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Documentation
- List of Statements
and Commands
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Sample Scripts
(Tutorials, Examples)
About
Outpost Scripting
Introduction
Over the years, users have requested additional capabilities
with Outpost that just didn't make sense to add to the core Outpost
application. For instance, users requested things like:
- Automatically poll a series of BBSs, one after another
- Detecting a text file on the PC and send it as a message to a BBS
- Finding and doing something with a message that is received
by Outpost
It seemed that a different approach was needed that would let users take
advantage of the Outpost intrinsic capabilities without constraining the creative
ideas that our users definitely have!
With all of this in mind, the idea of developing a scripting facility and
associated language started to take form. The design goals would be to provide
capabilities that could...
- (i) dynamically reconfigure Outpost parameters
"on the fly",
- (ii) manipulate messages both inside and outside of
Outpost, and
- (iii) interact with the outside world (outside of Outpost, that
is).
What is Outpost Scripting?
Outpost Scripting is used by Outpost users who
want enhanced message and application automation. To make this happen, a new
program -- Opscripts.exe -- is used.
Outpost Scripting is made up of 4 key components:
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Outpost Scripting Language (OSL).
This language is made up of a series of statements and commands that let
the user develop his/her own messaging process flow based on their local
needs. Minimally, the OSL statements addresses all of the expressed
needs that I've heard of so far. Commands and statements are entered
into a script editing window, can be saved for later use, and compiled and
run. See the list of statements and
commands here.
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Outpost Script Compiler. The OSL
compiler reads the OSL script and produces a "virtual machine
language" output for subsequent processing. During the compilation
process, it performs
all error checking of the script to ensure that the syntax of the OSL
statements are entered correctly. Once complete, the results are
reported as either a Pass or a Fail.
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Outpost Virtual Machine (OVM). Once
the script is compiled, it can then be executed. The script is compiled
into a lower level virtual machine language that is interpreted at
runtime.
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Outpost Scripting Window. All
scripting capabilities - editing, compiling, and running - are managed
by the Outpost Scripts program called Opscripts.exe. Other than knowing
what you want to accomplish and how to develop the script, the rest is
nothing more than pushing the Run button to run your script!
Check out the links
above for more information about Outpost Scripts.
Documentation
The Final version of the Outpost Scripting User
Guide is now available and includes all the changes incorporated into the
current release.
To download, right mouse-click on the file, select "Save Target
As...", and choose or create your download directory.
File/Package |
Date |
Version |
Notes |
Opscripts330UG.pdf
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15-Apr-2019
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v3.3
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772Kb,
Outpost
Scripting, User Guide. Please see the user
guide before attempting to use the Outpost Scripting feature.
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Sample
Scripts
Naturally, with a scripting capability in hand, what can you do with
Opscripts? And what do the scripts look like? Here are several
samples that have been used either as part of the documentation, testing, or
just examples of what they could look like. As you develop your own
scripts and want to share them with other Outpost users, please send them
along and state its ok to share.
To view a script, click on a link below. To download a script,
either cut and paste out of an open script window (when viewing), or right mouse-click on the file, select "Save Target
As...", and choose or create your download directory.
File/Package |
Date |
Notes |
Tutorial Scripts
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The following scripts are the
scripts used in the tutorials from the User Guide. Use
these if you have problems getting yours loaded. All
scripts have been confirmed operational.
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Tutorial-01.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#1, Basic introduction to scripts. Shows the structure of
a script, and writes some output to the form.
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Tutorial-03.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#3, Playing with Strings; basic string manipulation of strings.
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Tutorial-03b.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#3, Playing with Strings; more complex; shows how to use the CRLF
(Carriage Return/Line Feed) variable and long lines manipulation
of strings.
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Tutorial-04.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#4, Arithmetic Operations; shows how to do simple math.
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Tutorial-05.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#5, Looping... forever! Shows how to set up a continuous
loop on a block of code.
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Tutorial-06.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#6, Conditional Looping; shows how to set up a loop on a block
of code as long as an arithmetic expression is true.
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Tutorial-06b.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#6, Conditional Looping; shows how to set up a loop on a block
of code as long a file exists.
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Tutorial-07.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#7, Conditional actions (If-Then-Endif); shows how to set up a
loop on a block of code as long a file exists.
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Tutorial-07b.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#7b, Conditional actions (If-Then-Else-Endif); expands on the
above example by including an Else condition.
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Tutorial-08.txt
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10-Oct-08 |
Tutorial
#8, Send/Receive Sessions; up one BBS, TNC, and the retrieve
options, and kicks off Outpost.
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Tutorial-08b.txt
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10-Oct-08 |
Tutorial
#8b, Send/Receive Sessions; loop on 2 BBSs, different retrieve
options.
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Tutorial-09.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#9, Create messages; this script creates two messages and
leaves it in the Outpost out tray.
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Tutorial-10.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#10, Working with Received Messages; this script looks for a
message in the In Tray and forwards it to a different user..
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Tutorial-11.txt
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18-Sep-08 |
Tutorial
#11, File Manipulation; this script looks for files that match a
certain name pattern, and creates Outpost messages from them.
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File/Package |
Date |
Notes |
Examples
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These are sample scripts that
further demonstrate some of the capabilities of Outpost
Scripting. Each script has been confirmed
operational. All users should ensure that Outpost is set
up with whatever BBS and TNC setups that the scripts may
call.
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BbsLoop-1.txt
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10-Oct-08 |
Easy -- Loops on 3 BBSs, 2 users;
straight-forward implementation.
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BbsLoop-2.txt
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10-Oct-08 |
Moderate -- Loops on 3 BBSs, 2 users;
essentially the same as BbsLoop-1, this script shows how multiple script lines
can be collapsed into fewer lines.
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BbsLoop-3.txt
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10-Oct-08 |
Hard -- Loops on 3 BBSs, 1 user; uses a
string of BBS names to drive single BBS processing. Same
effect as the above script, except for one user.
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Example-3.txt
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10-Oct-08 |
Moderate -- This script looks for files in a PC
directory that match a specific name pattern, creates a bulletin
message with the file's content, then sends it. This is
Example 3 from the Users Guide.
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Example-4.txt
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10-Oct-08 |
Moderate -- This script looks for incoming
packet messages with a specific phrase in the subject, and then
forwards it to my email address via Winlink. This is
Example 4 from the Users Guide.
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