skWare's Dr Who Trivia Game


Introduction

skWare's Dr Who Trivia Game (skDwt) is a trivia game based on the Dr Who TV Series. Users can play this trivia game either by using the traditional ANSI interface or by using a Web Browser and the HTML interface. The System Administrator is able to modify the ANSI help and any of the HTML templates. In the registered version of skDwt the system administrator is able to provide their own questions.
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 definately read the Change Log..
You can also check out skWare Online for the latest information on this program and also the others written by skWare.

Installation/Upgrading

skDwt 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 skDwt on your system and backup a previous version if found. It will also perform updates to the user database if this is required.
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 either going to replace or delete. This has been done so that you use the backed up files as an aid is customising such things as the html templates or restoring your own question database.

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.
  2. You will need to intergrate any changes that you have made to ANSI help file. You will find a copy of the ANSI help file in the backup directory.
  3. If you have customised the questions for skDwt you will need to restore your own questions. You will find a copy of your questions in the backup directory created by the installer. To do this you should copy the files skdwt.dat and skdwt.txt from the backup directory back to your WINS data directory.
  4. Once you have completed using the files in the backup directory it can be deleted. It is suggested that you copy the backup directory it to diskette for archival purposes before deletion.

Configuration File

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

Parameter/TH> Description
[skdwt] This is the section header and is used to seperate 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 quoutes.
StartPoints This is the number of points given to a new player. It is also the number of points given to a player when they start a new day with no points.
QuestionsPerDay This is the number of questions a player is allowed per day. If this is set to 0 then the questions allowed per day is unlimited.
RightPoints This is the number of points a user will get if they answer the question correctly.
WrongPoints This is the number of points a user will loose if they answer the question incorrectly.
HomePageLink This is the link to your home page. It is used by the Home button so that the user can return quickly to you home page.
MenuPageLink This is the link used by the menu button so the user can return quickly to the games menu page.

ANSI Help File Customisation

You can totaly customise the ANSI help screen shown to users when they select [I]nstructions from the main ANSI menu. To do this all you need to do is modify the skdwt_help.prm found in the default language directory (ie. d:\wc5\language).

HTML File Customisation

The HTML interface uses WINS type templates and can be totally customised by the system admninistrator. To do this you should modify the supplied templates (in http\skware\template and below) to suit your needs. The templates supplied are discussed in the following table:-

Template File Used By
games.htm This template is used when the user clicks on the menu button. It provides a common html based menu for all of skWare's games. This template is common to all of skWare's html games supporing the menu button.
dwt\help.htm This template is used when the user clicks on the help button.
dwt\lost.htm This template is used when the user does not get the correct answer to the question.
dwt\main.htm This template is used for the start of the game.
dwt\nogames.htm This template is used when the user trys to enter the game and no longer has any more games left for the day.
dwt\nopoints.htm This template is used when the user trys to enter the game and no longer has any more points left for the day.
dwt\topten.htm This template is used when the user clicks on the top ten button.
dwt\won.htm This template is used when the user gets a question rright but does not make it to the top ten.
dwt\won10.htm This template is used when the user gets a question rright and makes it to the top ten.


There are certain sections of the template files such as the button section near the end of each template which you should not change in any way. If you change parts in one of these sections the program may not function as expected.

Adding Your Own Questions

In the registered version of skDwt you are able to add your own questions. To do this you should edit the file skdwt.txt that is in your wildcat data directory. The format of the file is as follows:-
  1. The question to ask. This can be a maximum of 139 characters long.
  2. The correct answer. This can be a maximum of 70 characters long.
  3. Alternate answer 1. This can be a maximum of 70 characters long.
  4. Alternate answer 2. This can be a maximum of 70 characters long.
  5. Alternate answer 3. This can be a maximum of 70 characters long.
  6. A blank line.
When the program is next started it will detect that there have been changes made to this file and import them into the database that the program uses. It will also randomise the correct answer as it is importing the questions. You must ensure that you follow the format of this file exactly as failure to do so could result in the program not working correctly.

Registration

There are several ways to register skDwt. 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 22 January 2001