Text Macros

You can enter text macros in any user-definable string. Text macros are defined as “@<NAME:n>@”, and are replaced by internal ProBoard variables at runtime. You can insert these macros in the following strings:

Textlines in menu items

Data fields in menu items

Menu prompts

Modem initialization string

'NAME' is the name of the macro. A list of available macros will follow.

You can also specify the field width for the resulting string. This is done by appending the macro name with a ':' and a number. A positive number will result in a left aligned string, while a negative number will result in a right aligned string.

For example:

@<NAME:30>@ will display the user's name in a left aligned field of 30 characters wide.

Note that the field width specifier is optional.

Here is a list of the available macros:

BAUD Current baud rate
CITY The city of the current user
COUNTRY User's country/state
CURFILEAREA Current file area name
CURFILEAREA# Current file area number
CURFILEAREADIR Current file area path
CURFILEGROUP Current file group name
CURFILEGROUP# Current file group number
CURMENU Current menu name
CURMSGAREA Current message area name
CURMSGAREA# Current message area number
CURMSGGROUP Current message group name
CURMSGGROUP# Current message group number
DATAPHONE User's data phone number
DATE Current date (xx-xxx-xx)
FIRSTNAME The first name of the current user
HANDLE The user's handle (fixed alias)
HIGHMSG Highest message number in message base
ID The user level ID for this user
LANGUAGE The language of the user (base file name)
LASTDATE Date of user's last call
LASTTIME Time of user's last call
LEVEL The level of the current user
LOWMSG Lowest message number in message base (Hudson)
MNUDIR Menu directory
MSGDIR Message base directory
NAME The name of the current user
NLDIR Nodelist directory
NODE Current node number
NUMMSG Number of messages in current area
NUMUSERS Total number of users in userfile
NUMYELLS The number of times the user yelled
PASSWORD The user's password
PEXDIR PEX-files directory
PORT Current com-port nr (1-8)
PVTDIR Private uploads directory
STARTDIR Startup-directory
SYSDIR ProBoard system directory
SYSOPNAME Name of the SysOp
TIME Current time (xx:xx)
TMLEFT Number of minutes left
TMONLINE Number of minutes online
TOTALCALLS Total # of calls to the system
TOTALMSG Total # of messages in message base (Hudson)
TXTDIR Textfiles directory
UPDIR Upload directory
USERREC Record number of this user's user record
VERSION ProBoard version number (eg. 2.20)
VOICEPHONE User's voice phone number
%NAME Will be replaced by the contents of DOS
environment variable 'NAME'.
Example: in DOS or a .BAT file you would put SET
INITSTR=ATDT5551212. Then when you use a
text macro like this: @<%INITSTR>@ it would
be replaced with "ATDT5551212". Note the
"%" symbol in the macro.

Other special characters are:

#1 - #7 Change color (only valid for displayable strings).
#B1 - #B7 If a 'B' is in front of the color number, the "blink"
attribute will be turned on.
1 = Red
2 = Green
3 = Yellow
4 = Blue
5 = Magenta
6 = Cyan
7 = White

Example:

Hi @<#3>@@<FIRSTNAME>@@<#7>@, how is the weather in @<CITY>@?──
Other single examples: @<NAME:35>@
@<TMONLINE:-5>@
@<CITY>@