Using newsgen.pl script to generate a test newsdat.txt

What it does
------------

This is a perl script that generates a dummy database to
use when testing Coranto.

How to Use newsgen.pl
---------------------

Open newsgen.pl in a text editor

Change the perl shebang line at the top of the file to point to your
perl directory (open a script that works that is in the same location
and copy that shebang line if you are not sure)

Edit the values at the top of the file to suit your needs.

You can set the number of items, number of words in each item,
the minimum and maximum numbers of letters in each word, the name of
'fake user', the category that the items will be listed in, and text
of the items subject line.

Save your changes

Place newsgen.pl in the same directory as your Coranto installation

run newsgen.pl from the command line

in windows it looks like this:

w:\somedirectory>perl newsgen.pl

To run the script using this method on a remote server you need telnet
or shell access to the server.

OR call the script in your browser like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/pathtoscript/gennews.pl

If there is an existing newsdat.txt file it will be renamed by adding an
underscore character and four random letters to the name.

Revisions
---------

This is a revision of the gennws4.pl script available at:

http://coranto.gweilo.org/go/download/other

Creates newsids that are like the ones Coranto creates

Uses random lengths for the 'words' created

Tests for the existence of newsdat.txt and renames the file if
it exists.

uses crcfg.dat not crcfg.pl which does not exist
in current Coranto versions

Adds more user settings using the variables at the top of
the script.