Bulletin MPL program

[Dennis Katsonis]

As part of the prelogin for Mystic, we execute the MPL program "Bulletin" as
such
bulletin bulletin bullet check

The problem I have with the latest, Mystic 1.12 Alpha 47 on Raspberry Pi is the
check for new bulletins doesn't seem to work. In fact, it doesn't seem to run.
I createa new bulleting (bullet6.ans) and update bulletin.asc in my theme
directory
/mystic/themes/neon/text/bulletin.asc

I have "(GX) Execute MPL program" in the prelogin menu, with "bulletin bulletin
bullet check" in data, but if I createa new bulletin in the themes text
directory, it doesn't get picked up on login as a new bulletin. It doesn't
appear the check is run at all. I can see the check for New Electronic Mail,
but there is no indication that a check for new bulletins occurs. I recall
that I would see this check even if there were no bulletins.

Nothing appears in the error log about this. I upgraded from A46 to A47, and I
think this is when this check stopped working.

Is there a way to run this MPL program manually? If I can do that, I can see
if there is an error or something blocking it from running. At least then, I
can start troubleshooting.

... Dennis

[Dennis Katsonis]

Re: Bulletin MPL program
By: Dennis Katsonis to All on Fri Jan 21 2022 12:09 pm

> As part of the prelogin for Mystic, we execute the MPL program "Bulletin" as
> such
> bulletin bulletin bullet check
>
> The problem I have with the latest, Mystic 1.12 Alpha 47 on Raspberry Pi is

> check for new bulletins doesn't seem to work. In fact, it doesn't seem to r

> I createa new bulleting (bullet6.ans) and update bulletin.asc in my theme
> directory
> /mystic/themes/neon/text/bulletin.asc
>
> I have "(GX) Execute MPL program" in the prelogin menu, with "bulletin bulle

> bullet check" in data, but if I createa new bulletin in the themes text
> directory, it doesn't get picked up on login as a new bulletin. It doesn't
> appear the check is run at all. I can see the check for New Electronic Mail

> but there is no indication that a check for new bulletins occurs. I recall
> that I would see this check even if there were no bulletins.
>
> Nothing appears in the error log about this. I upgraded from A46 to A47, an

> think this is when this check stopped working.
>
> Is there a way to run this MPL program manually? If I can do that, I can se

> if there is an error or something blocking it from running. At least then,

> can start troubleshooting.
>
> ... Dennis

I have found I can run it manually, but it doesn't detect that the files are
newer than the user last login date.

FindFirst (Root + PreFix + '*.*', 63);

While DosError = 0 Do Begin
If DirTime > UserLastOn And Upper(Copy(DirName, 1, Pos('.', DirName) - 1))
<
> 'BULLETIN' Then Begin
InStr := Copy(DirName, 7, Pos('.', DirName) - 7) + ' '


Is there a way to print the "DirTime"? I'm not too familiar with Python, but I
suspect this is where things are going wrong. The DirTime and UserLastOn are
not what they are expected to be.

[Dennis Katsonis]

Re: Bulletin MPL program
By: Dennis Katsonis to All on Fri Jan 21 2022 01:13 pm

> FindFirst (Root + PreFix + '*.*', 63);
>
> While DosError = 0 Do Begin
> If DirTime > UserLastOn And Upper(Copy(DirName, 1, Pos('.', DirName) - 1
> <

> > 'BULLETIN' Then Begin
> InStr := Copy(DirName, 7, Pos('.', DirName) - 7) + ' '

I have found that changing "UserLastOn" to "DateU2D(UserLastON)" seems to bring
about the desired behaiviour.

[g00r00]

DK> Nothing appears in the error log about this. I upgraded from A46 to
DK> A47, and I think this is when this check stopped working.

Did you follow the update instructions in upgrade.txt for A47? There is a step
specifically for the default bulletin MPL program:

- If you use the default bulletin system (bulletin.mps) then you should
replace it with the newer one otherwise you will probably get an error
trying to compile it:

install extract bulletin.mps c:\mystic\themes\default\scripts

Afterwards you will need to recompile it using "mplc -t"

DK> Is there a way to run this MPL program manually? If I can do that, I
DK> can see if there is an error or something blocking it from running. At
DK> least then, I can start troubleshooting.

You can run MPL programs from the command line if you wanted to, but first lets
confirm the above step. It looks like the upgrade instruction steps actually
tell you to run "mplc -t" before the step to copy over the new bulletin.mps so
that could explain it too.

... Reward for a job well done: More work

[Shaun Buzza]

g0> You can run MPL programs from the command line if you wanted to

I wasn't aware that this was possible. I can't run my programs in MIDE,
either. Perhaps because I'm working in Linux? The only way I've figured out
how to test my programs is by adding it to a menu and running it from within
the BBS.

Trying to simply enter './test.mpx' from command line does not work. Could
you please elaborate on this? I'd very much prefer to test my programs
without putting potential bugs onto PiBBS. :)

McDoob
SysOp, PiBBS
pibbs.sytes.net

[Dennis Katsonis]

-=> g00r00 wrote to Dennis Katsonis <=-

g0> @MSGID: <61EAECFE.92...@bbs.mozysswamp.org>
g0> @REPLY: <61EA07E7.88...@bbs.mozysswamp.org>

DK> Nothing appears in the error log about this. I upgraded from A46 to
DK> A47, and I think this is when this check stopped working.

g0> Did you follow the update instructions in upgrade.txt for A47? There
g0> is a step specifically for the default bulletin MPL program:

g0> - If you use the default bulletin system (bulletin.mps) then you
g0> should
g0> replace it with the newer one otherwise you will probably get an
g0> error
g0> trying to compile it:

g0> install extract bulletin.mps c:\mystic\themes\default\scripts

g0> Afterwards you will need to recompile it using "mplc -t"

DK> Is there a way to run this MPL program manually? If I can do that, I
DK> can see if there is an error or something blocking it from running. At
DK> least then, I can start troubleshooting.

g0> You can run MPL programs from the command line if you wanted to, but
g0> first lets confirm the above step. It looks like the upgrade
g0> instruction steps actually tell you to run "mplc -t" before the step to
g0> copy over the new bulletin.mps so that could explain it too.

g0> ... Reward for a job well done: More work

g0> --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/01/19 (Windows/64)
g0> * Origin: Sector 7 * Mystic WHQ (1:129/215)

Thanks, I did follow the instructions. With a bit more digging I was able to
change a line of code in bulletin.mps to get it to seem to work. See my later
follow up post. A bug in bulletin.mps perhaps?

... MultiMail, the new multi-platform, multi-format offline reader!

[g00r00]

SB> g0> You can run MPL programs from the command line if you wanted to
SB>
SB> I wasn't aware that this was possible. I can't run my programs in MIDE,
SB> either. Perhaps because I'm working in Linux? The only way I've figured
SB> out how to test my programs is by adding it to a menu and running it
SB> from within the BBS.

Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I accidetally removed MYSTIC from my
subscribed areas so it wasn't showing up in my newscan!

If you want to run from MIDE you have to set the Mystic install location, and
the user/password you want to run the program as in MIDE's configuration. You
also have to make sure you have access rights to execute Mystic.

SB> Trying to simply enter './test.mpx' from command line does not work.

./mystic "-uMy User" "-pMyPassword" "-x/mystic/myscript.mpx"

Again you have to make sure your accesses are done right if you are using
Linux.

... The shortest distance between two points is under construction