skWare's HTML User Finder

Introduction

skWare's User Finder (skUserFinder) is an Web based user search engine for a Wildcat Interactive Net Server (WINS) based BBS. The user of skUserFinder can specify either part of the users First name or part of their Last Name. If the user searching for another user is logged into the system skUserFinder will return a HTML page that allows them to send email to one or more users found on the system. return a HTML page that either shows them the users that could be sent email if they were logged on or allows them to send an email depending on how the program is configured. All HTML template files used can be customized by the system administrator.
Usage of this software is covered by skWare's Software License which you should read at some stage and you should also check out skWare's Software Warranty. You may also want to check out the Trademarks page at some stage.
You should definitely read the Change Log page.
You can also check out skWare Online for the latest information on this program and also the others written by skWare.

Security Considerations

skWare's User Finder can be setup to allow non registered users to access your user database. This means that, if you want, anyone on the internet can obtain e-mail addresses of all user's on your system and send e-mail to them from a public web site. This of course has ramifications for users and good old e-mail spam.
The are three things to consider.
If you have AllowPublicAccess set to "y" a public user can see what users are on the system. As skUserFinder logs on as "system" all user's are exposed. While they can only see basic details of users they can stil see e-mail addresses and a determined spammer may collect them manually. You should also be aware that while you may not provide a link to skUserFinder on any of your public pages a public user is able to enter the URL manually. The only way to stop this is to set AllowPublicAccess to "N".
If you have set AllowPublicMailTo set to "y" a public user will be given an e-mail link enabling them to send a user on your system from a public page. You may or may not want to allow this.
There are serveral other flags that determine what information is displayed on the web page. There are flags for both the public and normal side. The flags are described in the configuration section and are set to 'n' by default.

Installation/Upgrading

skUserFinder is shipped with a GUI Installer. All you need to do is unzip the file in some temporary directory and start the install.exe program. This will install skUserFinder on your system.
The installation process creates a backup directory in the WINS default directory called skware-backup-yyyymmddhhttss where:-
yyyy = Current year
mm = Current month
dd = Current date
hh = Current hour
tt = Current minute
ss = Current secound
The backup directory is only populated with files if the installer finds an old copy of a file that it is going to replace. This has been done so that you use the backed up files as an aid is customizing such things as the HTML templates.

Important Upgrade Notes

  1. You will need to integrate any changes that you have made to the html templates. You will find a copy of your old template files in the backup directory.

ConfigurationFile

The operation of the program is controlled by the configuration file. This configuration file is called skware.cfg and must be in your WildCat data directory (d:\wc5\data). The installation process automatically creates this file if it does not exist and adds default entries as required. If the file already exists then only new configurations items will be added.
The file skware.cfg is an 'ini' type file the contents for the [skuserfinder] section are described in the following table.

Parameter Description
[skuserfinder] This is the section header and is used to separate parameters from other programs.
RegCode Once registered this parameter should contain your registration code as supplied by skWare. In the shareware version this should contain the word "SHAREWARE" without the quotes.
AllowPublicAccess If set to "Y" skUserFinder can be used from a public page which allows any user on the internet to use skUserFinder without having to log onto the BBS.
AllowPublicMailto If set to "Y" public users will be given a mailto link so that they can send an email to the users that find. If set to "N" skUserFinder will just display the users name and not create a mail to link.
HitsPerPage This setting allows you to alter the number of hits (search results) displayed on the results page.
PublicHomePageLink This link is used when a public user hits the Home button.
PublicBackPageLink This link is used when a public user hits the Back button.
PublicShowTelNr If set to "Y" the results shown to a public user will include the phone number recorded in the user record.
PublicShowAddr1 If set to "Y" the results shown to a public user will include the address 1 recorded in the user record.
PublicShowAddr2 If set to "Y" the results shown to a public user will include the address 2 recorded in the user record.
NormalHomePageLink This link is used when a normal user hits the Home button.
NormalBackPageLink This link is used when a normal user hits the Back button.
NormalShowTelNr If set to "Y" the results shown to a normal user will include the phone number recorded in the user record.
NormalShowAddr1 If set to "Y" the results shown to a normal user will include the address 1 recorded in the user record.
NormalShowAddr2 If set to "Y" the results shown to a normal user will include the address 2 recorded in the user record.

HTML File Customization

The HTML interface uses WINS templates and can be totally customized by the system admninistrator. To do this you should modify the supplied templates to suit your needs. There are templates in http\public\skware\template\userf which are used if you have allowed public access to skUserFinder and http\skware\template\userf for normal users. The templates supplied are discussed in the following table:-

Template File Used By
http\public..\..\userf\help.htm This template is used when a public user clicks on the help button.
http\public..\..\userf\query.htm This template is used as the query template for a public user.
http\public..\..\userf\result.htm This template is used as the result template for a public user.
http\..\userf\help.htm This template is used when a normal user clicks on the help button.
http\..\userf\query.htm This template is used as the query template for a normal user.
http\..\userf\result.htm This template is used as the result template for a normal user.

Registration

There are several ways to register skUserFinder. These are:-
With credit card registration handled directly by skWare you will be charged in New Zealand Dollars (NZD) as skWare is based in New Zealand and the archaic banking rules prevent use from doing otherwise. If you use the SRU Shopping Mall to register you will be charged in US Dollars (USD). At present 1 USD is approximately $2NZD.

Copyright © 1997-2001 skWare, All Rights Reserved
Last Update 03 January 2001