From: nospam.Rob.Swindell@f1.n770.z7702.fidonet.org   
      
     Re: Re: ANSI Ad   
     By: IB Joe to Rob Swindell on Fri Mar 25 2022 10:47 pm   
      
    > On 25 Mar 2022, Rob Swindell said the following...   
    >   
    >  RS>   Re: Re: ANSI Ad   
    >  RS>   By: IB Joe to Jay Harris on Tue Mar 08 2022 06:06 pm   
    >   
    >  RS>  > Synchronet puzzles me So... Rob et. al. actively works on that   
    >  RS>  > project you'd think that's where I wouldn't have an issue.  I don't   
    >  RS>  > think about things, because Mystic handles this flawlessly...   
    >   
    >  RS> So Mystic ignores or strips your clear-screen sequence (while   
    >  RS> Synchronet does not)? Please clarify what "handles flawlessly" means in   
    >  RS> this   
    >  RS> context. --   
    >   
    > Sorry... if someone post an ad, or any message with ANSI in it, Mystic reads   
    > the message as it is posted and meant to be viewed.  When Mystic reads a   
    > message with plain text or ANSI it displays both of them, the ANSI in the   
    > message has no affect to the reader.   
      
   Then what's the purpose of having the ANSI in the message if it has no affect?   
   The whole point of ANSI is to affect the text output (give it color or cursor   
   movement or other screen control, e.g. clearing the screen). That's what ANSI   
   *is*: text/screen affects.   
      
    > It seems though, with other BBS packages... Yours isn't the only one... The   
    > same happens with WINServer and other packages.  If there is ANSI in the   
    > message it affects how the messages are displayed to the user.   
      
   Right. And how is that flawed exactly?   
      
    > I post ANSI ads, as others do, and I never really thought too much about   
    > things because when I'm on my mystic system they display nicely... If I   
    > logon to a SynchroNET or my WINServer system the message is not displayed   
    > nicely... message header gets pushed up...   
      
   That depends on the message reader. Synchronet's default/built-in message   
   reader uses a "scrolling" interface, so everthing, even plain text, can "push   
   the header up". That's how a traditional terminal works. Other message readers   
   for Synchronet could do other stuff to keep a message header visible at all   
   times (e.g. my msglist module does), but they'd have to strip ANSI "clear   
   screen" sequences to prevent them from actually clearing the screen and   
   possibly strip ANSI cursor positioning sequences to keep the ANSI text from   
   over-writing the message header.   
      
    > You can see this anytime you want... Logon to any Mystic BBS and read BBS   
    > ads section... then go do that with your package and you'll see the   
    > difference.   
      
   It sounds like Mystic is not actually rendering your ANSI as you entered it,   
   i.e. your clear-screen sequence isn't actually clearing the user's screen. I'd   
   be curious to know how Mystic renders animated ANSI messages in that case.   
      
    > Rob, I'm just an end user and had questions as to why other systems weren't   
    > handling ANSI with their message readers like Mystic does.   
      
   It sounds like Mystic does some preprocesing (or server-side rendering) of the   
   embedded ANSI and then sending the rendered result to the user, not the ANSI as   
   it was entered by the message's author.   
      
    > I didn't mean to come across the wrong way... I just had questions... I was   
    > half hoping that it was something to do with how messages are stored...   
      
   I think the root issue was that the ANSI that was posted to a message network   
   was not examined closely or tested first to understand its contents. It   
   contained a "clear screen" sequence which was stripped/ignored by the   
   environment in which it was tested (i.e. a/the Mystic message reader), so it   
   went undetected. Even if a Synchronet message reader similarly stripped/ignored   
   that clear screen sequence, that wouldn't help you with all the other BBS   
   software out there that just sends ANSI sequences to the terminal user as-is,   
   assuming that's what the author intended.   
   --   
                                               digital man (rob)   
      
   Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #5:   
   ATASCII = ATARI Standard Code for Information Interchange   
   Norco, CA WX: 74.1øF, 47.0% humidity, 5 mph SE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)