Copyright: Copyright (c) 1993 Todd Henschell


CMPQWK
Table of Contents

About the program

Express setup

How to read mail and create replies

What the program is supposed to do

What the program isn't supposed to do

Important features you won't want to miss

Coming attractions

Keyboard shortcuts

Magic mouse shortcuts

General information & conventions

The toolbars

Read, Write, Conference, and Index Windows

Carbon copies

Spell checker

Menu contents

Disclaimer & copyright notices

Registration information.

Support sources and how to contact them.

Advanced user Information

Index of terms used

Known quirks, bugs, and the history of the program

Thank you, thank you...

Documentation credit


About the program

Offline mail was invented because a BBS has limited resources.  Users don't like busy signals, and that's what you get when everybody reads and writes mail while connected to the system.  With offline mail, the BBS uses a program (usually called a door) to "package" the mail for you in a format you can read on your own system, using a program called an "offline mail reader."

There are several different formats used to package mail for consumption off the BBS.  One of the most popular---if not the most popular---is the QWK format.  Once you've had the BBS prepare a QWK packet for you and you've downloaded it, you can read, reply, browse new files (if the system offers that feature) and examine news or bulletins without tying up the BBS phone line.  When you're through with your mail, you can quickly upload your replies, and the mail door will process them and put them in the appropriate conference.

All of this will take much less time than if you did it online (few online editors are as good as those built in to even the most feeble offline mail readers), and the whole process will tie up the sysop's board for only a short while.

Offline mail helps the sysop keep his system available, and it improves the quality of the mail you send.  You can take the time to compose a clear, concise message, and you also have the chance---while offline---to take back any snippy messages you've written, but after you thought it over, don't want to send.

CMPQwk was designed to be your tool for helping the sysop keep his system free so it can serve the maximum amount of users.   Its most important purpose, though,  is to make you look good by having nicely-formatted and well-thought-out mail coming from your end.

This software was conceived and created by Derek Backus, a self-taught programmer who writes largely in Pascal.  Derek and his dedicated and hard-working beta testing team slaved away, squashing bugs, thinking up features, and otherwise doing everything possible to insure that CMPQwk 1.1 was full-featured and ready to go out into the world.

The documentation and accompanying text and Write format files were designed and created by Todd Henschell, an author, technical writer, and screenwriter who honestly never realized just what he'd gotten himself into...until it was too late.


Express setup should get you up and running

Generally, the default setup will work for everybody.  Once you've told the setup program where to keep its working files, where you store your QWK and REP packets, and what packer you'd like to use (it must be in your path if you pick an external packer), you're ready to roll.  Here are the nine simple steps you'll have to follow on "full installs":

1.) Unpack the program to a temporary directory.  Be sure it's not the same directory where you want to install the program.  If you want to use the optional spell-checker, you can either unpack the file containing it into the CMPQwk directory after the program is finished installing, or unpack it into the temporary directory (with the rest of the program's files) and then run setup.  The spell-checking files will get copied and installed with the the program.

2.) If you're short of space, unpacking the spell-checker into the destination directory will save you a meg or so.  The program will automatically detect that spell-checking is available (once the appropriate files are present) and allow you to enable it in the Options dialogue.

3.) Using File Manager or Program Manager's File, Run menu item, run the Setup.exe that came in the CMPQwk archive.

4.) Once Setup is running, make sure it knows from what directory it is installing (it should know already).  Press Enter once that's correct.

5.) Type in where you want the program to install itself, including a drive letter and directory name, if you want something other than the defaults (C:\CMPQWK) and press Enter again.

6.) Setup will ask you if you're converting from one of several mail readers.  If you are, type the path to your mail reader if the displayed path isn't correct.  This will allow you to use the same tagline, subject, and to list files.  If you make a mistake, you won't get your taglines copied, but you can do that later if you refer to the help section Upgrading from a Mail Reader not Supported by CMPQwk.

7.) Once the program is finished copying, you can delete the files you unpacked into the temporary directory.  Unpack the spell-checker files into the CMPQwk destination directory if you haven't already done so.

8.) Start CMPQwk by clicking on the icon it created in Program Manager for you (or by double-clicking CMPQWK.EXE inside a File Manager window).  Under the Options Menu select Path Configuration, and then tell the program what unpacker/packer you want to use (be sure they're in your path if you use an external program).  The internal packing and unpacking is the default, and should work for everybody who uses QWK files packed with PKZip 1.x or higher.  Type in the name of the drive and directory where you keep your QWK packets, and the drive and directory where you'd like to keep your REP packets.

9.) Enter a drive letter where you want CMPQwk 1.1 to create its WORK directory.  Important!  The drive---or drive and directory---must exist.  If you want the program to create its work directory in R:\MAIL, for example, you must have a drive "R:" and a directory already there called "MAIL."

Note: Be sure a directory of the destination target name r:\mail\work (using our example drive and directory) doesn't already exist on that drive.  Also be sure that other programs will not try to use the same work directory.  (Such as they do with the common "temp" directory other Windows programs access cooperatively.)  Important!  CMPQwk will indiscriminately delete the contents of its work directory when it exits!  Don't let any other program access the CMPQwk work directory (or don't you store stuff there if you'll expect to find it later).  Click on OK or press Enter.

You're finished.  If this is the first time you've opened CMPQwk, it will open the sample packet that ships with it.   Follow the directions in the sample messages, and you'll see how easy the program is to use.

Try the program the way it comes out of the box first, then change things if you discover you'd like them done a little differently.  It shouldn't be work to set up software.  Our goal with CMPQwk was to make it easy.

See Also

How to read mail and create replies

Important features you won't want to miss

Advanced User Information


If you've gotten this help file with a program "update" you probably will only have to copy the unpacked files into your existing CMPQwk home directory.  Look for the file README.TXT that accompanys every release of this product for further instructions on how to install updates.  It may vary from version to version.


How to read mail and create replies

Once CMPQwk is up and running, you can get a feel for it by opening a packet.  Click on the File menu, then Open (or press Alt,F,O) to see a list of QWK packets in the directory you designated as your QWK storage area.  Once you've found a QWK file you want to open, if you double-click on it, the archiver you selected will open the packet, the Conference List window will present itself in the default position, and a Read window will appear in the default position.

To read mail, just double-click on the conference you'd like or press Enter while the cursor bar is over it.  Another Read window will appear in the default position.

One Read window will already be open with the first message the program finds in the first conference in the packet.  If you want to reply to a message, just press "R" while the Read window is the "active" window, and the message header dialogue box will appear.  Pick a subject, a tagline, flag the message private if you want, and click on "OK" to begin editing your reply.

Once you've finished entering your text, Alt+S or clicking the Save button will save the message (spell-checking it if you've enabled that feature and have the corresponding files from the second CMPQwk archive) and put you back at the read window.  If you want to send multiple copies of the same message to different users, just click on the Save CC button, and you'll be prompted for a list of users to whom you'd like to send a message.  Type in their names, and when you're finished, click on OK to continue.

Pressing the Spacebar will take you to the next message, or the next conference, if the current Read window message is the last one in the selected conference.

When you're through reading or creating replies, you can click on File, Close (or Alt, F, C) and CMPQwk will prepare your REP packet for uploading.  If you're through with your mail for the day, you can select File, eXit (or Alt+X) and CMPQwk will create the REP packet before it exits.

More about advanced features (like spell-checking and the rubber stamp tool) later.

See Also

Rubber stamps and auto signature

Spell checker

Read, Write, Conference, and Index Windows

Carbon copies


(Personal mail, if you have any, is always the first listed in the Conference list---unless you've created replies.  In that case, the replies conference will appear first.)


What the program is supposed to do

It's pretty simple, really: CMPQwk lets you open QWK packets, read the messages and other information in the packet, write and edit replies to your mail, and do it all without leaving the warm nest of Microsoft Windows®.  Generally speaking, it won't require clunky DOS shells.  For most users running in Standard Mode, that means you can continue to use your Windows communications program while you do mail.

CMPQwk is full-featured and quite powerful.  You can read and reply to as many messages as memory will allow, browse through a complete index of every conference, check out the "new files" listings and messages in their native ANSI colors, and even store important messages in a powerful, yet simply-organized folder system.

See Also

What the program isn't supposed to do


Microsoft Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.  Since we all know that Bill Gates hires more attorneys than the Justice Department, we wanted to make this perfectly clear.  They are in no way affiliated with us.  Notice I didn't say we are in no way affiliated with them.  Wishful thinking, I suppose.  In any event, if you don't know about Windows, how are you reading this?


What the program isn't supposed to do

It won't read mail that's not in QWK format (yet), it won't edit your system.ini or win.ini or do anything else but let you read and reply to BBS mail.  CMPQwk won't balance your checkbook or keep a record of all the people you've called this year to discuss the national budget, or track your recipe database, or anything like that.

It's just a mail reader, but we'd like to think that being a mail reader is good enough.

See Also

What the program is supposed to do


Important features you won't want to miss

There hasn't been a gusher of mail readers created for the Microsoft Windows® environment.  That's sad, because it's perfect for mail reading: you don't have to tie your system up while you do mail, you have superb control over how things look to you, the mouse is supported by the nature of the beast, and it's fairly easy to stuff the program with slick features because the environment allows them.  Well, maybe not easy...

CMPQwk is different from the other Windows mail readers in many ways.  Its internal packer/unpacker is fully PKzip and PKunzip 2.x compatible.  It's a full-featured (MDI) multiple-document-interface application.  That means you're not stuck in a single message.  If you want to jump back and grab some text you saw a few messages ago and paste it into your current reply, no sweat: hop to the index, find the other message, snag the material, and whip it into the clipboard.  Paste it into your message and continue.  (Note: If you have enabled color quoting you can't copy from the Read window.)

CMPQwk has plenty of user-configurable options.  There are many features you can set with the program, like font colors (so you can quickly see what material has been quoted) and display font (in case you don't like terminal font for some reason), to name two.

Unlike a simple single-document mail reader, CMPQwk lets you define positions for the Read, Write, Index, and Conference list windows.  You tell the program how you'd like it to look---it doesn't tell you.

CMPQwk should work right out of the box.  The defaults that come up when you first install it should be acceptable for just about everybody.  But---if you're a tinkerer---you can play with the settings and optimize them to your taste.  CMPQwk understands the command lines for most major file archivers (Zip, Arj, Lharc).  If you'd like to use the internal packer/unpacker, we'd be delighted.  If you want to use something else, that's okay, too.  It's your mail reader, after all.

See Also

Packer considerations

Options Menu


Coming Attractions

First off, keep in mind that good software is always improving.  Our incentive for you to register (which means you send us money) is to convince you that you're not buying into a blind alley.  Many times with shareware a year down the road it's still the same, with no improvements, no bug fixes, and so on.  We have big plans for CMPQwk.  Version 1.1 is just the beginning.

Here are some of the things on the drawing board for consideration to be included in future releases:

Compressed libraries of old messages, with full database and index functions.  You'll be able to store and search through "canned messages" such as those sysops use, with long descriptions for each message, and a fully-featured search function that'll find exactly the message you need.  To save space, old messages will be stored in compressed format if you want to.

Old QWK packet database.  If you want to archive QWK files, you'll be able to do so and store them with a long description, date you received it, and so forth.

Fully-configurable keyboard.  There are limitations with what Windows can do here, but within reason, you could set the keystrokes to match the mail reader you use now, if you use one, or to the keys that "make sense" to you.

ANSI music support in messages.  This gets complicated, but could be a lot of fun.  The New Files display can show color ANSI, and so can the read window, but we'd like to support ANSI music via the Windows MIDI driver.  On some systems, ANSI is important.

Free-floating Toolbar and/or configurable Toolbar positions.  Along with this a "buildable toolbar" so you could put buttons on it to call your comm program, or do other useful things.  This feature is already in the early stages of development.

The ability to read multiple QWK packets simultaneously.  That can get pretty hairy, with windows scattered fourteen-deep, but some folks will no doubt want to do it, so we think it's worth some effort.  Currently we're planning for a "virtual application workspace" where you view one QWK file's contents at a time but can instantly switch back and forth between open packets, copying messages, text, etc. from one to another.  For now you're limited to one at a time, although you can get messages easily from one packet to another by using the folder tools.

Ability to read mail other than QWK.  For example, Internet mail.  It'll be tough to work this in, but it's something to shoot for.

Links you'll set up to a Procomm for Windows dialing directory.  You'll be able to establish links between a directory listing in Procomm for Windows and assign QWK/REP packet names to that entry.  When you're through doing mail, you should be able to pick "send replies" and Procomm for Windows will load (or come to the front) and begin dialing that system with a script for uploading your replies.  Short of an all-in-one comm program/mail reader, this would be the best way to integrate the two.

User suggestions.  Users often come up with the best ideas.  When they come in, there's a solid chance they'll make it into a future version.  Many of the program's current features were first suggested by the beta team.  We don't want to discount the opinions of those using the software.  If you have a good suggestion, please make it!


Keyboard shortcuts

You'll want to peruse this list in order to learn the various keyboard shortcuts you can use.  It's usually faster to use the keyboard during message reading and editing than it is to keep grabbing for that rodent.

Read Window

-	Back one message.

g	Go back one message.

+	Forward one message.

a	View an ANSI message in color (or animation).

left arrow	Back one message.

down Arrow	Scroll down one page.

up Arrow	Scroll up one page.

PgDn	Scroll down one page.

PgUp	Scroll up one page.

Space	Scroll down one page.

r	Reply to current message.

e	Enter a new message.

i	Message index.

j	Join a conference (Make conference list active).

s	Adds current message to a folder (you pick which folder).

p	Prints current message to the default printer.

t	Steal tag line.

CTRL+	Next conference.

CTRL-	Previous conference.

CTRL+right arrow	Next conference.

CTRL+left arrow	Previous conference.

Conference Window

A	Add a conference to the scanned conferences on this

D	Delete a conference (stop scanning it for future mail)

up arrow	Move up one conference.

dn arrow	Move down one conference.

Enter	Open the highlighted conference.

Index Window

up arrow	Move up one message.

dn arrow	Move down one message.

Enter	Make the Read window the "focus."

Write Window

F10	Save the current reply.

CTRL+S	Save the current reply.

CTRL+Y	Delete Current Line.

Shift+Del	Cut marked text into the clipboard.

Ctrl+Ins	Copy marked text from current reply to the clippboard.

Shift+Ins	Paste text from clippboard to current cursor position.

Del	Delete marked text (doesn't cut into the clipboard, it's lost)

Ctrl+Del	Clear all.

up arrow	Move cursor up one line.

dn arrow	Move cursor down one line.

left arrow	Move cursor left one space.

Shift+arrows	Highlight text to cut, copy, or delete.

ANSI View Window

up arrow	Move graphic up one line

dn arrow	Move graphic down one line

PgDn	Move one "screen" down

PgUp	Move one "screen" up

ESC	Close ANSI window


Magic Mouse Shortcuts

There are some nice tricks you can do with the rodent in several of CMPQwk's windows.  Most programs sorely neglect the mouse's right button.  We figured it was there for a purpose, so we gave it some things to do.  Once the mouse menu is "up" pressing the key in bold will make the mail reader take the described action, or start the described process.  Let's start with the Read Window.  Clicking the right mouse button anywhere in the read window will bring up a menu with the following options:

Read window right mouse shortcuts

Next message - moves to next message

Previous message - backs up one message

First message - jumps to first message in conference

Last message - jumps to last message in conference

Previous conference - backs up one conference

Next conference - goes forward to next conference

Reply - opens the reply dialogue

Print - print the current message

Export - export the current message to ASCII

Write window right mouse shortcuts

Save - saves the message (same as F10 or the save button on button bar)

Cancel - cancels the reply or message

Cut - cuts highlighted text into the clipboard

Copy - copies highlighted text into clipboard

Paste - pastes highlighted text into clipboard

Spell Check... - starts spell-checking the message

Import text - brings up the dialogue for importing a plain ASCII file into the message

See Also

Read, Write, Conference, and Index Windows


General Information & Conventions

If you're an experienced offline mail user or a Windows guru, you can probably skip this section.  If you're not, I want to take a minute to familiarize you with some of the conventions used in this help file.  Knowing about these few small points may accelerate your ability to get full use from the program.

When you see something in the help file or documentation like this: Alt+dn arrow it means you need to press both of the keys at the same time, not Alt,+, and then an arrow key.  It sounds silly, but sometimes people think it's the + key.  When the + key is involved, it'll usually be as a singular keypress, and if not, it'll be explained in plain t

During the description of a menu function such as File, Open, the letters in bold represent the keys you may hit if you'd prefer using the keyboard to the mouse.  So if you see Alt, File, Close it's probably a save bet to assume you can type Alt,F,C and save your file.  In the case of buttons, usually either a Tab to the buttons and then the boldfaced key, or Alt+the boldfaced key will do the job.

Any time you see something like Alt, O, S that means to press those keys in the order displayed, not all at once.

The keys Ctrl, Alt, spacebar, dn arrow, up arrow, and so on are always spelled out rather than illustrated.  That's because not everybody has a font that will display a keyboard graphically, and a bitmap for every key of this type would make the help file enormous.

If you see Important! it means just that, and failure to pay attention may result in the program behaving in a fashion you won't like.  If it's in red, like: Important!  It means if you don't pay attention you may lose data or, by setting something wrong, cause the program to malfunction.  Don't skip the Important! sections!

If you see Note: followed by some text, it simply means that you'll find an interesting fact there that may affect the way you use a certain feature, or represent a limitation of that feature.

Where bitmaps were used to illustrate the various dialogue boxes, they may look differently from what you will see because of wide variations in screen drivers, monitors, color selections, and so on.  It's what's checked, filled-in and not-checked that's important, not the appearance of the illustration.

See Also

Magic mouse shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts


At the time this help file was compiled, all of the screen captures used were accurate, but that may change somewhat after release 1.1 as features are added.  We will attempt to keep this file as accurate as possible.


The Toolbar

You mouse-happy folks will love the toolbar.  The functions of the toolbar duplicate, to some degree, the keyboard functions.  Users with Super VGA will get larger buttons with somewhat different graphics, but the relative order for each function will be the same as the smaller buttons used in lower resolutions.

You can also configure how the toolbar will appear (or disable it altogether) if you want to change the default settings.  You'll have to open CMPQWK.INI in Notepad or another plain ASCII editor.  Look for any line mentioning the toolbar (in case somebody else may've altered the ini file).  If you don't see an existing line, you may add one.  Here are your options:

ToolbarType=Default  Lets the program decide which toolbar to display.

ToolbarType=Small  Forces the program to display the small (VGA) toolbar.

ToolbarType=Large  Forces the program to display the large (SVGA) toolbar.

ToolbarType=None  Forces the program to hide the toolbar.

VGA Toolbar - 640 x 480 or less resolution

Just click on the button to see what its function is.  The position on the toolbar may not be exactly what you see here, but the button's graphic is the same.

SVGA Toolbar - resolutions above standard VGA

The same principle applies here: click on what you want to know about.  The SVGA toolbar is cut into three sections so non-SVGA users can see all of the buttons.


This button loads the Windows help engine with the CMPQwk help file (the file you're looking at right now).


This button opens the File Management dialogue.  From here you can open QWK files, delete and rename them, and specify sort order (by date or name).


This button closes the current QWK file (saving your replies) but does not exit the program.


This button cuts any highlighted text into the clipboard, deleting it from the source Write window.


This button copies any highlighted text into the clipboard.  It will work on non-color Read windows and any Write window.  (The Folder tool has its own copy button.)  Remember, if you copy to the clipboard multiple times, you will destroy the previous contents of the Windows clipboard each time you use it.


This button pastes any text from the clipboard, into the current Write window.  It does not function in a Read window.


This button jumps the Read window back one conference number.


This button jumps the Read window back one message (same as left arrow).


This button is the same as Page Up on the keyboard.


This button is the same as Page Down on the keyboard.


This button jumps the Read window forward one conference.


This button jumps the Read window forward one message.


This button toggles the delete status of a Reply window (it works only in the Replies conference).  It doesn't delete the reply, it only toggles whether or not the message will get packed into the outgoing REP file.


This button loads the message header dialogue to begin a new message (not a reply).


This button loads the message header dialogue to start a reply to the message in the front Read window.


This button will copy the text contents of the clipboard into the current Write window with a quote string (the initials of the recipient of the message and another character you have specified) appended to it.  It will appear as if the material was quoted from the message as written by the recipient, to you, in a prior message.


This button starts the Windows character map utility, if it's installed (in the Windows directory or your DOS path), so you can have access to extended characters in a Write window.  Note: load the same font you're using in your CMPQwk setup into Character Map before selecting characters to paste into the message.  If you fail to do this, the selected characters may not appear as desired in the Write window, or may not appear correctly in the final plain ASCII message packed into the REP file.


This button will steal the tagline (if one exists) from the current message Read window.  It will append the tagline text to your tagline file.  It does NOT check for duplicate taglines.


This button will copy the contents of the current Read window into one of your folders.  If you have not created any folders to store messages, or you want to create a new one, you can do so in the same process.  Folders can have long descriptions and can hold many messages.


This button will paste any text you have placed into the Rubber Stamp text box into the current Write window at the cursor's location.  Note : you must have already put text into the rubber stamp text box before selecting this tool.


Read, Write, Conference, and Index Windows

Because CMPQwk uses the Multiple Document Interface, it creates several different window types in the course of operations.  Each window has special characteristics, and to some degree, special keystrokes for getting things done.  The program is like any good toolbox: there are hammers, saws, and screwdrivers, and you don't get the same job done with each tool.  That's the beauty of an MDI program, the windows can be tailored to do the task "just right."

You'll want to read this section and the Keyboard Shortcuts section closely if you're at all confused as to how to use the program.  You shouldn't be, but perhaps you're new to Windows, new to reading mail, or both.  Relax and have fun with it.  If you open a packet and fool around, it'll come to you quickly.  In an hour or so you'll find the way the program works is a lot like the way you work, and a few QWK packets later you'll be buzzing through mail so quickly and smoothly, you'll never know how you got along without CMPQwk.

Or at least we hope that's the case.

Conference window

Read window

Index window

Write window


The Conference Window

Once you've opened the sample packet, the first window that will appear is the Conference List window (followed very quickly by the first Read Window, but more about that in a moment).  The main option you have here in the Conference window is the choice to show all conferences the current BBS packet lists, or just those with mail.  Since it conserves screen real estate, checking the box for showing only those conferences with mail makes plenty of sense, but set it how you'd like to see it.

You can navigate through the conferences with either the mouse or arrow keys.  Moving the arrow keys to the conference you'd like to browse (personal mail is always the first listed) and pressing Enter will bring up a Read window displaying the first message in that conference.

With the mouse, double-click on the conference you want.  This will pop up a Read window, also.  If you've already been reading mail, a new Read window will appear in the default position (or in custom positions if you've specified any) with the first message in that conference as its contents.

See Also

Read window

Index window

Write window


The Read Window

The Read window works in concert with the Index window.  They're a team, and you can really buzz through a mail packet efficiently once you've gotten used to the idea of switching back and forth between them.  You have several options once you're in the Read window.  You can press R to begin a reply, you can export the current message to a text file (see the Message Menu section), or you can paste the current message into a folder using the folder tools (see the Folder Menu section).

Note: try clicking the right mouse button on the Read window, also, to see what that does.  There are almost always multiple methods to get at a function in CMPQwk.  Some people like the mouse, others hate to take their hands off the keyboard.

Before we cover anything else, let's get into the Index window.  Press I to bring it up.  If you haven't set a position for it, it'll appear in the default position.  Once it has appeared, though, you have a powerful tool for navigating through the packet and quickly reading the mail you'd like to read---and ignoring mail with which you don't want to bother.

See Also

Conference window

Index window

Write window


The Index Window

As I mentioned, this window works in concert with the Read window.  If you move the arrow keys you'll see that the highlight bar in the Index window moves---and the Read window itself changes to reflect the contents of the highlighted message.  Using the Index, you can quickly peruse the first pages of all the messages in the current conference.

If you see one to which you'd like to reply, all you need do is press Enter when the highlight bar is over that message, or double-click it with the mouse and the Read window will become the "front" or "focus" window.  Then press R to start a reply, which takes you to the message header dialogue and then the Write window, which is our next stop.

See Also

Conference window

Read window

Write window


The Write Window

The heart of any mail reader is its editor.  The editor in CMPQwk is the Write window.  It's where you'll spend a lot of your time, and it's where we spent a lot of time and thought trying to make things simple.  There are keystrokes to do many things more quickly than a mouse can do.  Visit the Keyboard Shortcuts section to see them all.  I'll just cover the few you need to know to get up and running now, but there are many more with which you'll want to become familiar.  The best way to learn them is to look at the list of shortcuts and then try them to see how they feel.

Before you'll see the Write window, though, you'll see the Message Header dialogue box.  It's here that you'll be able to pick your subject, taglines, and select if you'd like the message to be flagged "private" or not.  You may also disable taglines thru a check box in this dialogue.

Note: You cannot disable taglines on unregistered copies of CMPQwk, nor can you select the contents of the tagline.

Note: If you're replying to a message and you want to add either the subject or the recepient's name to your pick lists, just click the small button with > on it beside the "To" and "Subject" text entry boxes.  The text or name in the box will get appended to your pick list.  This does not check for duplicates, though, so you could add the same person multiple times if you're not paying attention.

Click button to see this dialogue.

You may bring up this dialogue any time during the writing of a message to alter the information contained in it.  There is a button on the Write window that says, "Header."  Clicking that will cause the Message Header dialogue to re-appear, where you can alter the tagline, to, subject, conference, and then go back into the message to continue.  In other words, unlike the limitation in some readers (such as Mustang's Offline Express) that ask if you want to edit this material before or after, we let you do it whenever you want.

Once you've finished with the Message Header dialogue, (hit Enter or click OK), the Write window appears.

If you've enabled Quote Original (see User Options) the Write window will appear with the original text of the message to which you are replying.  It'll be set off from the margin with the initials of the person who sent it, and a character seperating that from the body of the text on each line.

The cursor will start at the top of the page, allowing you to easily edit out the portions of the original message you don't want to quote.  You can highlight the text with the mouse, or use the other shortcut keys to muck about and format things how you'd like them.  For more information about that (see Keyboard Shortcuts).

If you want to insert material into or paste from the Windows clipboard, select the text (using either the keyboard or mouse) and click on the COPY button to copy into the clipboard.  To paste in text, put the cursor where you'd like the new text to appear the click on PASTE.

Note: remember that if you copy text to the clipboard multiple times, the previous contents of the clipboard will be erased!  There is also a 32K limit to text in the read window, which translates to about 50 pages, give or take.  That should be large enough for just about everybody.  If you're writing messages longer than that, you'll have to break them up into multiple messages.

Edit the material as you see fit.  When you're through with the message, press Alt+S to save it, or click either the Save or Save CC button.  The program will begin spell-checking the reply if you've enabled spell-checking in User Options.

(If you clicked Save CC, you'll be prompted for a list of people to whom you'd like to send a copy of the current reply.  Your To List---if you've defined one---appears in the pick box, and you can select to add any of those people, or type in a new name and add it to the list of to receive the message.)

There are a few other special features available with the Save CC option, and how the Save CC dialogue works is covered in more detail in the next section.

See Also

Conference window

Read window

Index window


This character (or characters) is called a "quote prefix."  The quote prefix is used so you can attribute by whom the text was written.  For example, if you get a message from Derek Backus and you've set Quote Original to on, and have selected %f%l> as your quoting string, text from Derek will appear like DB>text of the message...


Carbon Copies

The Write window Save CC button will bring up a special dialogue box where you can select from any user in your "To List" or type in other names and add them to the list of recepients of your message.

There's also a powerful feature which allows you to import a plain ASCII file as a list of users to whom you'd like to send a message.  When you create the file (use Notepad or any other editor that creates plain, unformatted text), put one user's name (first name, last name) on each line.  After you've selected Save CC, when the list box appears, click on the Import button or press ALT+I and pick the name of the ASCII user list file you'd like to use.  Click on OK or press enter and all the names in that file will appear in the box.

This feature is handy if you need to send specific messages to different groups (say marketing in one group and research in another).  Rather than picking names one by one from a list, you can get them all into the routing box (the box on the right) in two easy steps.

Note: Currently Carbon Copies can only be sent to one conference.  This will change in future versions.

See Also

Write window


The Spell Checker

CMPQwk has a 227,000 word dictionary.  If you've enabled the spell checking feature (see User Options) when you press Alt+S or click the Save button, Save CC button, or pick Message, Reply, Spell check from the main menu,the spell checker will load and begin examining your reply for spelling errors.  Note: if you didn't get the archive file with the dictionary in it from the BBS or service where you got the main program, you cannot enable spell-checking.  Internet and Compuserve users don't have to worry about this their versions are posted in one file only.  But BBS users must make sure they have downloaded both the program and spell-checker files (and correctly installed them).

If it finds a word not in either the main or user dictionary (more about that in a moment) it will pop up a dialogue box with the word it finds, a suggestion for a replacement (if one is available) and options to Replace, Skip, Skip All, Add to Dictionary, or Cancel the spell-checking process.

If you know the word is spelled correctly (be sure) you can elect to Add it to the dictionary so it won't be flagged later on, or you can tell the spell-checker to Skip it.  If this word is likely to be repeated in this message, click on Skip All so it ignores it throughout the text.

If you know the word is misspelled and the spell-checker shows you the correct replacement, just select Replace.  The error will be fixed and the spell-checker will continue.

If the spell-checker doesn't show a replacement (or shows one you know is wrong) you can click on the text box where the flagged text is displayed (above the suggested replacement list box) and type in your correction.  If you then click on Replace, your typed text will replace the flagged text in the message.

If you decide you want to jump back into the message and edit something, selecting Cancel will allow you to do this, but you'll have to spell check the entire message again when you save it.

If you use many specialized or technical words and they're getting flagged by the spell-checker, there's an easy way to get them into the user dictionary.  Send yourself a "nonsense" message that's nothing but all of the special words you use (many technical words aren't in the dictionary).  Keep your mouse pointer poised where the "Add to Dictionary" button appears, and just click away until it's finished.

The first few times you use the spell-checker, if you tell it to add the words you use (such as slang) you'll find it'll only mark "real" spelling errors by the second or third packet.  Of course, if you don't add them, unusual words will always get flagged as a spelling mistake.  Just make sure you have spelled them correctly before you add them.

The dictionary is as large as we could practically make it, but by no means does it contain the entire Webster's Unabridged!

See Also

Write window


(And by the way, the dictionary doesn't know the difference between "your" which means an item belonging to you, and "you're" which means "you are."  So it won't catch that type of error, that's a common grammatical---not spelling---mistake.)


Menu Contents

The following sections walk you through all the menu items you'll find in CMPQwk.  Most of them are pretty self-evident, and if you're a Windows guru you won't need them explained.  But if you're not a veteran Windows user, or you're new to offline mail readers in general, you'll want to browse through this section.

File Menu

Edit Menu

Conference Menu

Packet Menu

Message Menu

Folder Menu

Options Menu

Window Menu

Help Menu


File Menu

Open - Opens a new packet.  It shows you a list of the packets in your designated QWK directory.  You also can pick how you'd like the QWK file listings sorted, by file date or alphabetic order.  From the Open window you can delete old QWK packets, and using the Directory box, rename packets, and navigate through your directories and drives in the event you've stashed QWK files in a directory or on a drive other than the one you told CMPQwk to use.

If you've enabled QWK Management in User Options, every time you open the File Open dialogue, the program compares the dates of stored QWK files against the delete date you've targeted for "aging them."  If it finds any packets older than the target, it will delete them without prompting you for permission.  It doesn't matter if you've opened the packet and read it or not, if it's old enough to qualify for auto-delete, it will be deleted.

The second time you open a packet, you'll see the name of the BBS that created it adjacent to the packet's DOS filename.  This information is automatically extracted by CMPQwk, and requires no work on your part.  You must open at least one packet from the corresponding BBS for this feature to be present.

Close - Closes the packet being read, saves messages into a REP packet if you're created any new ones.  Your pointers are saved, and you can pick up where you left off if you'd like to do so at a later time.

Save Replies - will save any replies you've created.

Print - Prints the current message to the default Windows printer.

Printer setup - Calls a dialogue box for selecting (and if desired) changing the printer setup.  Pick the printer you'd like to use or change its settings.

Quick Exit - bails out of the program, but doesn't build a REP packet - your messages are saved, but no REP packet will be built.  When you re-enter the program, CMPQwk will re-open the same QWK packet you were working on when you chose Quick Exit, and any replies you created will re-appear in the REPLIES conference.  Important!  If you use a ramdisk for the work directory, don't reboot between mail sessions and expect to come back to your packet: it'll be gone, as will all of your outgoing messages.

Exit - Leave CMPQwk, saving any messages you've created into a REP packet.

Click button to see this dialogue.


Edit Menu

Cut - cuts selected text to the clipboard, deleting it from the message in the process.

Copy - copies (without deleting) selected text to the clipboard.

Paste - pastes the clipboard contents (if it's text) at the cursor's position.

Delete - deletes without copying to the clipboard.

Clear All - clears current reply window and the clipboard.


Conference Menu

Add a conference - Add a conference to your "scanned for mail" list in the BBS.

Drop a conference - Delete a conference, stop scanning it for mail in the future.

Select - pick a conference from which to read mail.

Next - jump to next conference from your current position.

Previous - jump back to previous conference.


Packet Menu

New Files - displays the "new files" listing if the BBS supplies one.  If it's a colorized ANSI screen, and you have a color monitor, CMPQwk will display the ANSI graphics as if you were online, in full color.  You can scroll through the list by using the arrow keys or hitting page down and page up, but you can't copy text from it as it is a graphics window.  ESC will close any of the ANSI view windows.  If the new file screen contains hundreds of files, it will take quite a long time to draw after each keypress, the ANSI display window has to recalculate the colors and postions of the entire window, even area beyond the window border.

Bulletins - displays any bulletins supplied in the QWK packet, again, in color if that's how they were created.  (Also a graphics window.)  The same keys are used here, as well.

News - displays news screens, if available.  Ditto with respect to ANSI, keyboard, etc.

View Session - displays the session screens (quote of the day, etc.) if any are contained in the QWK file.

Welcome - displays the BBS's welcoming screen, including ANSI graphics and colors.

Closing - displays the "goodbye" screen from the BBS.

Board Stats - statistics about the BBS or your account with it, as available in the packet.  PCBoard systems usually provide more information here than Wildcat! BBSes seem to do.  If a field is blank, it's because the system didn't provide any information to fill it.


Message Menu

List - displays an index of all messages in the current conference.

Next - go to the next message in the current conference, or jump to the first message in the next conference if you're at the last one in the current conference.

Previous - jump back one message.

First - go to the first message in the current conference.

Last - go to the last message in the current conference.

Enter New - Enter a new message - select recepient and conference.

Reply - submenu...

Enter - begin a new message (you'll pick to whom and subject, etc.).

Quote - Quote material from a previous message.

Edit - Edit a message.  Deletes the original and creates a new outgoing message for you to edit.

Delete - toggle the "delete" status of an outgoing reply.  Note, you can "undelete" before you build a packet by selecting this again when the same reply is the current window.  Allows you to toggle on and off whether or not a message gets sent.  (We all change our minds from time to time.)  Note: The message will still appear in the reply conference, although if you look at the deleted status indicator on the message header, you can see if the delete flag has been activated.  "Deleted" messages will not get sent out in the outgoing REP packet.

Import Text - Paste in a text file, it will appear at the cursor's position.  If it has hard returns, you'll probably have to fool around to format it correctly once it's inside the message.

Spell Check - loads the spell checker and begins examining the current reply for errors.  (Independant of "saving" the message.)

Steal Tag Line - Grabs the tag line from the message you're reading and appends it to your tagline file.  If the Tagline Thief can't find a tagline, it'll tell you.  Some tagline managers add special characters to the beginning of the tagline that may interfere with the Tagline Thief's ability to grab the line.  If this is the case, you'll have to manually copy the text into the clipboard and insert it into your tagline file by using the Tagline Editor.

Search - Searches through the packet for specific text.  It then builds a new conference called "search" that contains any "hits" for what you searched on.  Open that conference to browse through the messages containing the word (or words) you searched for.  At this writing you can't search through just a specific conference, it searches the entire packet.  This may change, however.  Consult the readme.txt files that accompany updates to the program.

Export - Save the current message to a plain text file.  You can either append to an existing export file, or create a new one each time by typing in a unique file name when the export dialogue opens.  If you have set APPEND EXPORT on in User Options, you will append to the filename you pick from the list box.  Otherwise, it will OVERWRITE the file if you pick one from the list box.  Important!  Be sure you know which way it is set, because you can't recover the file once you've overwritten it!

File Attachments - brings up a dialogue letting you manage (copy) any files that are attached to your downloaded messages.  You can select a destination for the attached file and CMPQwk will copy the file to your selected drive and directory.

View ANSI - lets you view a message with special ANSI codes so it appears in color, and with the graphics allowable when using ANSI.  Press ESC to close the ANSI viewer.


Folder Menu

View and Maintain Folders Dialogue

Add a Folder - adds a new folder item (where you can store messages).  You can use long names and have as many folders as you'd like.

Delete Selected Folder - deletes the selected folder (and all the messages you may have stored there, so be careful!).  Important!  You cannot undo this!

Read Selected Message - reads the selected message in the current folder.  Note: from the folder read window you may copy the selected message to the clipboard for pasting into your current mail packet---great for sysops who have dozens of "canned messages" and for sharing important messages with others (see Add Current Message, below).

Delete Selected Message - deletes the selected message in the current folder.  Important!  You cannot undo this.

Add Current Message - brings up a dialogue box for adding the contents of the current Read window into a folder.  It won't copy a Write window, only an "original message."  Pick the folder into which you'd like to put the message and select OK.  If you haven't created a folder already, you can do so from this dialogue and then put the current message directly into the new folder.

OK - exit when you're through.

Click button to see this dialogue.


Options Menu

This is where you'll find most of the settings CMPQwk will use to control its day-to-day functions.  It's also the most critical part of the program.  Fouling up this section will adversely affect how the program works, so be sure you understand everything here if you want to change something.

Best rule of thumb: if in doubt, leave it at the defaults, they'll probably work just fine.

Path Configuration Dialogue

User Options Dialogue

Reply Options Dialogue

Define Window Positions

Lists


Path Configuration Dialogue

The possible archiver selections are:

Internal - fast and PKZip/PKUnzip 2.x compatible.

LHA/LHA - LHARC is a freeware archive utility by Yoshi, and you must already have it on your system and it must be in your path like all external packers.

ARJ/ARJ - a shareware product by Robert K. Jung, same path restrictions apply here, too.

PKUnZip/PKZip - by Phil Katz, this option is provided in the event he changes the Zip standard.  If this happens, until we release a replacement unpacker DLL, you could use this method.  Otherwise, use Internal.  This program, like all the external archivers, will require you to load a DOS shell to use.

Other - For any other archiver you want to use (or if you need special options with a standard packer), you must enter the correct commands in a second dialogue that will appear.

The internal unpacker/packer used in CMPQwk version 1.1x is completely different from that used in 1.0.  Those who may have had difficulties with the original packer should not have a problem with the 1.1 version.  The new unpacker has been thoroughly tested and optimized for use with CMPQwk 1.1x.  Default setting: Internal.

QWK Path - Set the path to the directory where you keep your QWK files (drive and directory name).  Default setting: CMPQwk home directory.

REP Path - Set the path to the directory where you want your REP packets built (drive and directory).  Default setting: CMPQwk home directory.

Work Path - This is where you want CMPQwk to put its "work" files.  A directory called "WORK" will be created here, you don't need to supply the name, just the drive you'd like to use.  A ram disk is best, if you have the extra memory to set one up---but be sure it's large enough to hold the opened QWK packet and all your replies.  See the Advanced section if you're not sure how to do this (and how to determine how large it must be).  Important!  DO NOT set this to a floppy disk!  A floppy is too slow and may not contain sufficient free space, resulting in who knows what horrible problems.  Use a hard disk or ram disk.  A drive and directory of the target name (if you want CMPQwk to put its work directory under another) MUST exist.  Don't put any files you want to keep into the work directory while you're reading mail, because they'll be deleted when you exit the program.  Important!  If you put the work directory on a ramdisk, choose Quick Exit, and then reboot your system, Quick Exit will not be able to resume your packet, and you will lose ALL of your replies.  Default setting: under the CMPQwk home directory.

Click button to see this dialogue.


Note: If you're currently using QWK files packed with any version of Phil Katz's PKZip that's 2.x compatible or below, pick internal as your packer selection unless you have a good reason not to.  This way you won't start a DOS shell to run the packer.  The internal is quite a bit faster than the combination of a DOS shell plus the time the packer takes to work on the files.  Also, if any BBS you call is still using version 1.x of PKZip, you can use internal, because the internal packer is 1.1 compatible.  Some systems have not adopted the new zip (although most have).  Until such time that 1.1 is completely "dead," the internal packing will remain 1.1 compatible.


User Options Dialogue

      General Options

Rubber Stamp Text - insert text here (either by the pasting the clipboard's contents with SHIFT+INS) or by typing the characters you'd like to have represented.  Handy for often-repeated items or other special uses.

Note: there is a limit of 2,400 characters for the rubber stamp text tool.  That includes spaces, commas, etc.  That's also a real big rubber stamp!  Default setting: blank.

Start Maximized - tells CMPQwk to start in full screen mode.  Default setting: enabled.

Use Saved Window Positions - tells CMPQwk to set the Read, Index, Conference, and Reply windows to the positions you've set up using the Define Window Positions menu (described later).  If you don't check this box, the program will place windows in the default positions.  You must define window positions for this to work, and you must enable this for your defined window positions to take effect!  Default setting: disabled.

Auto (Ansiart) - when this is enabled, CMPQwk will automatically load the ANSI viewer if it comes across a message with [ansiart] on the first line.  Default setting: enabled.

Read Replies During Scan - if you check this, CMPQwk will jump from your personal mail into the stored replies, allowing you to scan through them before continuing on to other public mail.  Default setting: disabled.

Notify Of Re-read during Scan - CMPQwk will notify you if you're about to re-read a message you've already read (for example, if you go back to a conference you've already finished).  Otherwise it will just load that conference silently.  Default setting: disabled.

AutoRen QWK - the program will automatically increment the file names of QWK packets by changing the suffix of like-named packets to letters, starting with A, skipping K and continuing to Z.  Default setting: enabled.

      Read Window - sets options for the read message window.

Color Highlighting - define the colors you'd like to use for quoted and general text in the message Read window, as well as the background color of the Read window (if you'd like it different than the Windows default).  You can have different colors for each, just select the colors from the pick box that you'd like.  The current Read window will reflect the changed colors as soon as you've closed the dialogue box.

Note:  If you use color highlighting, the way CMPQwk handles the Read window will change from text to graphics, and this will slow down the text scrolling speed.  This is an unavoidable consequence of using colored fonts.  Note: You will not be able to copy text from a Read window into the Windows clipboard when color highlighting is enabled.  If you need to frequently copy from Read windows, we suggest you disable color highlighting.  Default setting: enabled (black and white).

Switch To/From - swaps the positions on the message header fields from From/To to To/From---a matter of personal preference.  Default setting: disabled.

Subject Sort - sort messages by thread rather than by number.  Default setting: disabled.

Start Maximized - forces the Read window to start maximized, overriding any saved window positions you may have created.  Default setting: disabled.

ANSI Maximized - forces the ANSI viewer to appear maximized when you view messages that contain ANSI graphics.  Default setting: disabled.

Beep on Conference Change - beep when you've jumped to another conference.  Default setting: enabled.

Beep On Personal - beep when displaying a message sent to you.  Default setting: enabled.

Append Export - set whether you'd like the default export file to be appended to or overwritten when you export a message to a text file.  If you elect to overwrite the file and export multiple times during a reading session, you will destroy all but the last export.  You can also export to a specific file name, as well, to prevent this.  Default setting: enabled.

QWK Management - If you'd like CMPQwk to automatically delete your QWK packets for you after a specified number of days (a day is defined as 24 hours after the QWK was received on your system, not "calendar days"), you may enter a figure in the QWK Management box.  Pick the number of days you'd like to hold your QWK files by entering that figure.  If you enter "0" in the box, QWK files will never be deleted.  CMPQwk 1.1 will delete any files that have "aged" sufficiently each time you activate the File Open dialogue.  That way if you keep the program loaded for days at a time, (as some users tell us they do) it will still perform file management every time you open a new packet.  Enter a figure from 0 to 365.  Default setting: 0.

Click button to see this dialogue.


Reply Options Dialogue

Fido Taglines - enables the FIDO-style network taglines (the special character signifying taglines must be a " * " when sending mail over FIDO networks).  Default setting: disabled.

Start Maximized - start the Write window so it  covers all the other windows in the application workspace.  Default setting: disabled.

Re-Open REP Files - tells CMPQwk to re-open any replies related to the packet you want to open---important if you do mail in multiple sessions.  Default setting: enabled.

Spell Check - enables the built-in spell checker so it can scan your replies for spelling errors.

Note: You must have already unpacked the spell-checker dictionary and other files into the CMPQwk directory (or installed them with the rest of the program) for this to work.  Default setting: disabled.

Quote Original - duplicate the original message and place it into the editor before you begin replying (and insert "quote marks" before the message text).  Default setting: enabled.

Auto Signature - enables the automatic "end of message" signature if you've placed one into the Signature Text box.  You cannot enable this unless you put something into the signature box.  Default setting: disabled.

1ST Line Quote Prefix - sets the quoting style for the Reply window.  Pick the characters you'd like to have used on the quoting line.  For example, %f%l} in the 1ST Line Quote Prefix box would result in a quote from a message by Derek Backus looking like: DB}.  You can use any high ASCII character in this line, although traditionally the } sign is used on most BBSes.  Default setting: %f%l>.

Other Lines Quote Prefix - establishes the quoting style for every line following the first quoted line in a paragraph.  The formatting rules are exactly the same.  If you want all the quoted lines to appear the same, just set both boxes identically.  Default setting: %f%l>.

Quote Header - Will enable a header that appears before any other material in the message.  You can put in text, the original sender's name, who it's from, who the message is to, and so on.  To have a header on a message originally from Derek Backus and sent to you that would appear like "Derek Backus said to (your name)" you'd put: %f %l said to %i %a in the Quote Header box.  Be sure to include spaces where you want them (such as between first and last names).  Just about any text can be put here, although on netmail, less is better.  Default setting: blank.

Signature Text - Just like the Rubber Stamp Tool, you can place high ASCII or other text in here (up to 256 characters).  If you've enabled Auto Signature, when you save your message CMPQwk will insert the text you've put into this window at the bottom of the message, above the tagline.  Use the clipboard to get high ASCII into this box if you have a special "graphical" signature you use in mail.  You can also have the time and date you wrote the message inserted into the signature line or lines by using the %d (date) and %t (time) variables.  Default setting: blank.

Click button to see this dialogue.


Define Window Positions

Allows you to drag and stretch some sample windows into the positions you'd like the Read, Write, Index, and Conference List windows to appear.

Define Windows Control Panel - pick the window for which you'd like to define a position and size from the Focus Control buttons and then size and place it in the application workspace (within CMPQwk's borders).  Select each window in turn, place each where you'd like it to appear during future sessions, and when they're placed and sized where you'd like them, click on the Save Window Positions Button.  If you decide to cancel the operation, click the Cancel/Restore Old button.

The next time you open a packet, the windows will appear in the positions you've selected, if you've enabled the Use Saved Window Positions in your Miscellaneous Options configuration---one doesn't do much without the other!  Default setting: no saved positions.

Click button to see this screen.


Lists

Edit Taglines - loads your tagline file into a simple editor so you can edit, delete, and otherwise manage your taglines.  External "tagline managers" are not supported.

Click button to see this dialogue.

Edit To Pick List - Allows you to enter, edit, or delete users who will appear on your quick-pick "to list" when sending messages.

Click button to see this dialogue.

Edit Subject Pick List - Allows you to enter, edit, or delete subjects that will appear on your "subject list" when sending messages.

Click button to see this dialogue.

Edit Twit Lists - Opens a series of dialogue boxes where you can assign user names and words to three skip lists.  That means if a user's name (assuming it's spelled correctly) is in a message header, and you've entered that name in the To and From skip list boxes, you won't see any mail to or from that user.

Click button to see this dialogue.

There is also a Subject Skip list.  If you type in the appropriate keyword (like TAXES, for example) you won't see any messages with TAXES in the message header subject field, even if they're sent to you directly.  (You will receive these messages from the BBS, but they will not appear when you browse through the conferences in the QWK file.)

To put something in the skip lists, after you've clicked on Edit Twit Lists (Alt,O,K), click on the box you want (or Tab to the button below the section you want) and select Add.  When the Add Skip To (or Skip From, or Subject Skip) dialogue box appears, type in the item you want to skip and press enter or click OK.

This feature is handy if you have a pesty user you'd like to ignore, or if you're sick of seeing messages about a certain subject.

If you decide you want to remove somebody or a topic from the skip list, select that item and click on Delete.  This will clear the person's name or subject keyword, and from the next packet on you'll see messages to or from this individual, or with the specific keyword in the message subject header.

Note: You may also add a person or subject to the respective pick list when you are creating a reply.  There is a small button at the right of each pick list (Subject and To) on the Message Header dialogue.  When you are creating a reply and this box pops up, click on either of the buttons with > on them, and the text in the respective field will be appended to your permanent pick list.

Say you're replying to "Bob Smith" and you think you might want to correspond with him regularly.  Click the button with the > character on it and his name will be appended to your "To" pick list.  If the subject of the message is, "Global Thermonuclear Politics," clicking the > button next to that will put this item on the list of subjects you may choose from when preparing future messages.


Window Menu

Cascade - overrides any selections you've set up in the "define window positions" menu and cascades all the open windows down the screen, from left to right.

Tile - tiles all open windows with no regard for the text contained within them, they're simply packed onto the screen however they fit.

Arrange Icons - lines up all the iconized windows along the bottom of the screen, from left to right.

Close All - closes all open windows (prompting you upon closure of a packet, and saves your replies on the way out) - does not close the program, just open windows.

(Active Windows) - Once multiple windows have been opened, allows you to quickly select between them with the keyboard or mouse.


Help Menu

Index - brings up the help file at the Index page - from here you may pick the subject with which you require assistance.

Keyboard - a list of all keyboard shortcuts you can use.

Using Help - how to use the Windows Help engine.

About - shows your registration information and the version of the program you're using.  Will print a registration form if you haven't registered your copy.


Disclaimer & Copyright notices

Here's the section where we spell out all the legalese stuff.  Be sure you understand everything here before you use the program.  Our liabilities are strictly limited with respect to non-registered (read that non-paying) users.

Legal disclaimers

Copyright notices.


Legal disclaimers

This program isn't warrantied to do anything other than fill up disk space.  If you use it, and it eats your hard disk's FAT and all your data and you lose 5,000 replies in your mail that morning, we're very sorry, but we're not liable.  By evaluating this program you assume all liability for its use and operation, or its failure to operate as expected.  No warranties either expressed or implied are in place during the evaluation period.  Finito.

Registered users will have other rights that will vary from state to state, regarding fitness of purpose and other features.

Todd Henschell and Scrazner Graphics (creators of this documentation) are not liable for any omissions, typographical or other errors that cause program malfunctions, or by omission, neglect to provide the user with information required for correct operation of the software.

User assumes all liability with regard to operation of Cmpqwk Reader.


Copyright notices

CMPQwk Reader is Copyright © 1993 by Derek Backus, and all rights are reserved by him.  You may not use this software beyond the evaluation period without registering or you will be in violation of the copyright.  This software is not in the public domain, and may not be distributed by any method where the user is charged (except normal access fees by a public BBS) without prior written permission by the author.

Shareware vendors MUST notify users that by purchasing or downloading this software for the nominal fee they are NOT registered users of same.  Registration fees are above and beyond any costs incurred by the user as a result of obtaining this software.

This help file and all printed documentation derived from it is Copyright © 1993 by Todd Henschell and Scrazner Graphics, and may not be copied, altered, or in any other fashion used except as it was meant: in support of CMPQwk Reader.

The internal Zip unpacking code is licensed from James N. Hughes, author of the fine Windows archive utility Windows Unarchive.  We suggest you search for that on your favorite local BBS, download it, try it, and register it.  It's blazing fast, and will unpack both ARJ and ZIP files with no fuss, no muss.  It's a real gem.  Look for WUNA2xx.ZIP.

Any other software products mentioned in this help file are the respective properties of their owners, and as such, have no connection with CMPQwk Reader.  Microsoft Windows® is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation, and is in no way affiliated with CMPQwk Reader or its author.


Registration Information.
Registration Information

Here's the section that, like the annual PBS fund drive, is where everybody goes out to get something from the refrigerator.  Well, sorry, but we have to talk about it.  Without registrations, continuing to support and improve the program will be impossible.

How to register & why register

What do you get when you register?

What do you get when you don't register?

Where can you register?


How to register & why register

That's an easy one to answer.  You register by sending a check or money order to the address listed under Where can you register?.  Once you've registered, your key and registration numbers (which will disable the reminder that comes up when the program loads and enable your taglines) will be mailed to you via U.S. Mail.  If you prefer, that information can be posted in a message to you on one of our support sites, or routed electronically via the networks listed in the section covering support.

Why register?  Because you're an honest person who recognizes the amount of work, dedication, and general pain it takes to produce a piece of software like CMPQwk.  You don't like to hear about penniless programmers dying of starvation, yet it's an awful fact in today's heartless shareware world.  This terrible tragedy hasn't made 20/20 yet, but rumor has it that Geraldo might be interested, so stay tuned and watch out for flying chairs.

If you send a check, the author can pay his rent, pay for the electricity to continue to power his computer system, and improve CMPQwk even further.  Our goal is to make this product the best mail reader---period---not just the best mail reader for Windows.  The best is the only place to be.

That's an impossible task without user support.

With the support and suggestions of users like yourself, who appreciate the complexity of the task (you're reading this, that means you liked it enough to peruse this deeply into the help file), something approaching "the best" is within reach.


What do you get when you register?

I'm not going to say "peace of mind."  Nobody gets peace of mind by spending money.  Well, nobody except the bureaucrats running the government.  You get $40 or thereabouts poorer, of course, but you gain the honest use of a superb piece of software that, if it were marketed through retail stores, would cost well over $100.  You also get free support via the regular channels, notification of updates, and reduced prices for future versions.

You also get the programmer's ear if there is some feature you just can't live without.  Registered users who make suggestions about requests for new features in future versions will always get a nod before folks who say, "I'd buy it if it only did (fill in the blank)."  One is a committment that deserves reward and encourages us to work harder.  The other is a annoying half-promise that may or may not come true.

You can guess which is which, I'd wager.

If you're a BBS sysop and can get ten or more users to register at once, notify us of this and we'll give your users a discount price if they all submit their payments (through you) in one order and with one check from the BBS sysop.  We'll mail you a single card (or post a single message) with all the key information and you can distribute that to your users directly.  It helps us, and your users love the convenience of registering locally through their favorite sysop.


By the way, CMPQwk version 1.5 (with many added and improved features) will be a free upgrade to all registered users.  Version 2.0 (already in preliminary planning stages) will be a moderately-priced upgrade, probably $25.


What do you get when you don't register?

Nothing.

You can continue to use the software, of course, although you'll be in violation of the copyright if you don't register it within the trial period.  And no, we're not going to send the Copyright Police out looking for you.  We're too busy working on the next version.  If you don't register, and you're confused about something, or have a technical question or other problem, you'll have to be content to get your questions answered after we attend to registered users.

Fair is fair.

One more point: if you try CMPQwk and hate it, we're sorry.  We've worked hundreds of hours on it and did our very best.  If you don't want to use it and despise it, we suggest you delete it from your system and move on.

Here's how you do that: delete all the files in the \CMPQWK directory and then delete that directory.  Delete ZDCMP.DLL from the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, and CMPQWK.INI from the Windows directory.  Delete the appropriate icon from whatever Program Manager group it's in.  You're finished, it's all gone...

Not everybody likes every piece of software.  It's that simple.  There are other fine mail readers out there produced by very talented programmers.  Try one of them, you might like it better.

We feel there's room for more than one offline mail reader, but we also like ours the best and we're  not ashamed to admit it.


Where can you register?

Send a check or money order (U.S. dollars only, please) to:

Derek Backus

1930-B East Alosta Ave. Ste 432

Glendora, California 91740

You can also register CMPQwk via Compuserve.

What about VISA and MASTERCARD?  Not yet.  Compuserve is the only current method of registering using a VISA (and you have to have a Compuserve membership to do that).


Support sources and how to contact them.
Support sources and how to contact them

Technical support is provided first to registered users, and then if Derek has any free time, questions from unregistered users might be addressed.  There are only so many hours in the day, and we feel this is the most fair way to distribute support time.

How to report a problem if you have one (or a compliment!)

Compuserve

Net support sites (Smartnet, etc.)

Los Angeles Area BBSes


How to report a problem if you have one (or a compliment!)

If you have encountered a problem with the program and you are a registered user, want to register, or have other non-technical questions, feel free to contact the author.  Derek Backus can be reached via multiple methods.  The fastest way to reach Derek is to leave him a message on one of the Los Angeles-area BBSes in the list.  But you can also get E-mail to him on several networks, on the Internet, and via U.S. Mail, of course, if all else fails.

If you have a problem involving what you think is an "atypical" QWK file created by a little-known offline mail door, please take the time (if you're interested in seeing the problem diagnosed and fixed) to call Derek's BBS or one of the support sites and upload the QWK.  We will want to take it apart and see what makes it tick---or not tick, as the case may be.

Also, if you do this, please leave a message on the support system letting Derek know on what system you left the packet, and what it was called.  Mail for Derek gets routed from the two "official" support sites to his private system, and if you don't tell him where the file is, he's not going to be able to find it, see what might be causing the difficulty, and remedy it.


Compuserve

Derek's Compuserve ID is:  72233,3255.  It is 15% cheaper to register by check or money order mailed directly to the author, but for some folks, Compuserve may be more convienent.  Currently registering via CIS is the only way to accomplish registration with a VISA or other credit card.


Net support sites

Derek is "reachable" via the Internet at dbackus@Patchby.speedway.net

You can generally reach him via the RIME Windows conference on the Panasia BBS by putting ->Panasia as the first line of the message.  This is not an "official" support site, but is a fine Southern California BBS that he does call regularly to check for mail.

Note: Please DO NOT route messages from the Internet to Derek's Compuserve address!

The absolute best method (guaranteed of success) to reach Derek is a message left on one of the two Los Angeles area BBSes acting as direct support sites.  See the next section.


Los Angeles Area BBSes

Several Los Angeles area BBSes are supporting CMPQwk.  The Patchbay BBS (818) 441-3965 is one site where you can leave a request for support.  You may post a message there in Conference 14, CMPQwk Support, to Derek Backus.  If you have a question regarding the documentation, or wish to contract for documentation production services, post it in the same conference to Todd Henschell.

Grant Willey, sysop of The Dataphile BBS, is also providing support for CMPQwk, in addition to Smartnet and Metrolink routing services at (818) 957-5813.  If you route via netmail, you can leave a message there to either Derek Backus or Todd Henschell in the Windows Conference.  If you call The Dataphile directly, please leave any messages to us in the CMPQwk Support conference.

You may call the programmer's BBS directly in order to obtain the latest version and any updates, although this system is not available at all times (as are the main support sites).  There will be instructions displayed on the main prelog screen.  Read them before you log on, they'll contain important information about updates, bug fixes, and so forth.  The Labryinth BBS (818) 445-0281.

RIME users will almost always be able to reach Derek if they route messages to him via ->Panasia in the Windows conference there.


Advanced User Information

The following tips are for users who want to squeeze the most out of the software that they use.  If you're happy with the way things are running "stock" then you're all set and don't need to read any of this.  If you'd like to delve more deeply into how the program works, what follows are some practical tips.

Included is information about what the minimums and optimum system configurations are, and what type of performance you can expect from various system configurations.

Keep in mind that with the wide variances in screen drivers, monitors, memory configurations, and so on, there was no way to cover every possible event that might come up when running the program.

How to make the most out of the program.

Rubber stamps and auto signature

System requirements, both minimal and optimal

Packer Considerations

For VGA only users

For SVGA users

For high-color/high end graphics boards users

Problems with colored fonts

Scrolling speed problems

Inaccurate window placements if you change video modes

Big Netmail packets

Upgrading from a mail reader not supported by CMPQwk

Other considerations


How to make the most out of the program.
How to make the most out of the program

It should be obvious that if you have a marginal Windows system, you also have a marginal CMPQwk system.  That means if you can barely run Windows (let's say you have a 286 12mhz with 2 megabytes of RAM and you like to torture yourself by trying to run Windows) then CMPQwk will be no fun at all.  Only standard and enhanced mode are supported (which shouldn't be a problem, because Windows 3.1 only supports them, also).  You can not run CMPQwk 1.1 with Windows 3.0.

To make the most of this---and every Windows program---you should have at least some type of a 386 (so your PKZIP windows don't have to go full screen, for example) and you'd be a lot happier with four megabytes of RAM.  If you're running something less, it just won't be as enjoyable as on a more powerful system, and in some cases you will not even be able to open a moderately-large QWK file.  You just won't have enough memory to make things work..

If you have such a "minimalist" system, stick with the internal PKZip compatible unpacker and packer.  The internal archiver won't cause you to load a DOS session, and that might speed things up.

Since CMPQwk is a multiple-document interface program, the more screen real estate you feed it, the better it looks.  Try it full screen first, and arrange the windows (see the section on setting window places) so that your Read and Write windows appear on top of each other.  That way you get the maximum size in which to do the body of your work---reading and writing.  Stuff the Index and Conference windows where they fit or ignore them---you can spacebar through mail and thus you won't need them most of the time.


If you're low on memory, try running CMPQwk by itself, with just Program Manager and no other software running.  That'll speed things up a tad.  CMPQwk needs about 512K of RAM before opening a packet.


Rubber stamps and auto signature

One of the drudgeries associated with heavy mail is, for many users, inserting a signature or other file into every message.  Sometimes a corporate ID number must be inserted into mail, other times a "power user" just wants to have a distinctive signature with high ASCII.  We've taken such users to heart with the Rubber Stamp tool and the Auto Signature feature.

If you have a small text file you'd like to selectively insert into messages (such as a corporate logo that uses high ASCII) you can, using the rubber stamp button on the toolbar, paste it into a new message or a reply.  If you haven't already placed the text you'd like to use into the Rubber Stamp Text box in the User Options setup dialogue box, you can do so at any time, and it'll be available right away.

Here's how to do that if you haven't already done it: Using Notepad or another text editor, open your signature file and copy it into the Windows clipboard.  Don't worry if it looks strange in Notepad, it'll be fine in the CMPQwk text box.  Open CMPQwk's User Options dialogue box, Alt,O,F click on the Rubber Stamp Text box to put the cursor inside it, and press Shift+Ins to paste in your clipboard text.  Click on OK.

From now on, when you click the Rubber Stamp button on the main Tool Bar, or press Ctrl+U, your special text will appear at the cursor's location inside the message.

If you have a special ASCII signature file or other text item you want to appear in every message, open the Reply Options dialogue and look for the Signature Text box.  Use Notepad to copy your text file into the clipboard and then Shift+Insert to paste it into entry box.  From that point on, if you've checked "auto signature," in the Reply Options dialogue, the contents of the Signature Text box will be inserted at the end of your message (before the tagline) automatically when you save your message.  There is a 256 character limit in the auto signature tool, and a 2,400 character limit for the user text tool.

You can modify either the Signature or Rubber Stamp text at will and the changes will be reflected the next time you use either tool.


(If you've accidently put a bitmapped graphic image into the clipboard, you won't be able to paste it into the Rubber Stamp Text box.  QWK mail cannot contain graphics other than ANSI codes, which are really just special text.)


System requirements, both minimal and optimal

The rule of thumb to remember here is is that if Windows runs poorly, so will anything you run under Windows.  That includes, but is not limited to, CMPQwk.

Windows Version

If you're running anything less than Windows 3.1, all bets are off.  You MUST have Windows 3.1 to use CMPQwk.  It will not work correctly with Windows 3.0 or earlier versions.

Disk space

The program takes about three megabytes, plus the small files it will put in the directory it creates under itself to track your messages.  If you have huge tagline, subject, and to-list files, you'll need more space.

Memory

Minimum memory requirements will vary, but it's safe to say that if Windows runs slowly on your system because you don't have much memory, CMPQwk will run slowly, too.  A 386 25mhz machine with four megabytes of memory is a good start.  From there up, things will only get better.  From there down, Windows will get intolerably slow for most folks.  CMPQwk uses about 512 Kbytes of memory when a packet isn't opened.

Ram Disk minimums/maximums

Figure twice the size of your QWK packet plus one-half of that for replies to be safe.  More if other applications will need temporary space.

Laptop without a mouse

You'll want to have a mouse.  If you're using Windows and you don't have a mouse, for example on a laptop, there are "mouse substitute" programs like NoMouse™ from Abacus.  Some of the things you'll want to do (such as setting window positions) are a real pain without a mouse.  Most folks using Windows have the little rodents, but some don't.  Your best bet: get one if you can do so.


How much the program will take when a packet is opened depends wholly on the size of the packet.  A QWK file with thousands of messages in each conference may require several megabytes once you've opened the List window and a batch of Read windows.  CMPQwk allocates from the global pool as it needs memory.  If you don't have enough contiguous memory to perform a certain function, that function may not operate properly.  If you see the error message: SEGMENT LOAD FAILURE you don't have enough RAM to do whatever it was you were trying to do.


Packer Considerations

If you want to use an external packer, be sure that it can be called from a directory in your path.  If you're not sure what your path is, it's the list of directories that DOS has been told to look into when a program is "called" and the program can't be found in the "current" directory.

Open a DOS window, change to the directory where you put CMPQwk, and type the name of the program you want to use.  Let's say it's ARJ.  From a DOS window inside the C:\CMPQWK directory type "ARJ" with nothing after it.  If DOS gives you the message "bad command or file name"... ARJ isn't in your path.

Either edit the path statment in your autoexec.bat file so the directory where ARJ is is listed, or copy the ARJ.EXE file from where you're keeping it into the CMPQwk directory.  Either procedure will work fine.  The first just saves a bit of disk space and makes better sense technically, but will require you to close Windows and reboot your system before it takes effect.

If all of this confuses you, best to crack that DOS manual for a refresher course.

And of course, be sure that you and the BBS to which you're sending mail, are using the same packer!


For VGA only users; managing screen space
For VGA only users

VGA (16-color 640 x 480) users should run the program maximized (full-screen) and use the terminal font that ships with Windows.  At that resolution, it's just not practical to run in a smaller window.  If you try it, you'll have to choose a font size so small you'll need an electron microscope to read your mail.

Try setting the positions of the Read and Write windows so they take up most of CMPQwk's workspace, with one stacked on top of the other.  That way you can use a larger font, and generally you don't read mail while you're writing replies.  The conference list will fit, somewhat truncated, to the right of those windows in most cases (depending on the font you use).

Play around a bit and find a font that's comfortable for you and maximizes the screen real estate.


For SVGA users

There's sufficient screen real estate at 800 x 600 and above to run the program in a window that's less than full screen.  You can also fool around with some other fonts that are available, such as those that come with Procomm Plus for Windows© by Datastorm Technologies Incorporated.

If you use Procomm Plus for Windows, you can install the fonts it ships with into your system and use one of them.  These fonts are only available when Procomm is running unless you install them manually.  They're the PWKEYMAP.FON and PWTRMNL.FON files located in the Procomm directory.  Also the 8514OEM fonts that ship with Windows work nicely, as well.

Start Control Panel, double-click on the FONT microapp, then click on ADD, and point it at your Procomm directory, you'll see the fonts listed there.  Install them both and test them at different point sizes by opening a mail packet, then selecting "Font" from the Options menu.  Look for "PC Plus" in the available font names.

The Read window will reflect whatever font you select once you've clicked OK.  The PC Plus SS at 9 points is a good size for 1024 x 768 resolutions.  If you don't use Procomm Plus for Windows, pick the Terminal font that ships with Windows, it's the best choice, and it'll display the high ASCII characters correctly.

If you arrange your window positions so the Read and Write windows appear on top of each other filling about two-thirds of the application workspace, put the Conference List to the right in a narrow column, and the Index window along the bottom in a narrow strip, you'll find the results generally pleasing.


For high-color/high end graphics boards users

Scrolling speed with some high-color drivers and frame-buffer video boards (non-accelerated products) is quite slow.  This is a problem with the driver and not with CMPQwk.

The colors in the highlight color palette may not appear the same in different color-depths on all systems.  This is a function of how the Windows 3.1 palette-manager works, not a bug.  Also your colors may not appear the same if you shift color palette depth between uses of the program.  Some video board drivers will use somewhat different colors in the same palette positions when they operate at varying color depths.  The ATI Ultra boards are one of the most notable offenders because they default to "locking" the palette, which often fixes the system colors in ugly or bizarre defaults.

You'll get the best appearance with an Ultra board if you "unlock" the palette and use the standard VGA colors.  See the next section for more on this.


Problems with colored fonts

Some graphics boards (such as the ATI Ultra Pro) can fix the Windows palette, display higher-than normal colors, or shift the amount of available colors on the fly.  If you set your Read window color highlighting a certain way and then change the available color depth---or lock the Windows palette as this and other cards can do---you might find the colors won't appear as you set them.  You'll have to re-set them for the current session.

In some cases, high-color drivers will incorrectly report the number of available colors to software, or they'll report a number the software doesn't understand, and so the color palette might not appear correctly.

The only workaround for these problems is to pick your colors for each session if, when you originally set colors, you were using a different color-depth driver.


Scrolling speed problems

On accelerated boards such as the ATI Ultra Pro, and most S3 boards, using the arrow keys to page-down (holding the key down) may result in the message scooting by so quickly you can't read it.  It is not a problem in the slower-scrolling graphics or "colorized" Read window, but prevelant in a non-colored Read window.  This is a function of the hardware, and the way around it is to watch how long you hold down that key!

Please note that if you enable color quoting, the Read window changes from a text window to a graphics window.  Because of this, scrolling speed will slow down.  There is no simple way around this, Windows 3.1 manipulates graphics much more slowly than it does text.

Also, if you want to copy text from a read window, you can't do it if you have color highlighting enabled, because the window is no longer a text window.  Even if you could copy from it (that gets automatically turned off when you enable color), you couldn't paste it into a message, because it would be a bitmap, not text.

This limitation will probably change in version 2.0, but currently the best Pascal routine for colored fonts requires we use a graphics window.  Because CMPQwk 2.0 will be a complete re-write, most likely the way color fonts work will be different.

Until then, if CMPQwk scrolls the Read window too slowly for your taste, disable color.


Inaccurate window placements if you change video modes

If you set window places in one resolution, they may or may not appear the same relative to the application workspace in a different resolution.  This isn't a bug, it's a function of how your screen driver describes screen sizes to a running application.

In a related problem, some 800 x 600 SVGA drivers do a poor job when set to large DPI fonts (the video driver's install programs or its INF file doesn't set DPI correctly).  This can cause CMPQwk and other programs that depend on accurate DPI reporting to save window places with poor accuracy or not at all.  It may also cause some programs, including CMPQwk, to display fonts incorrectly.  If you experience these problems, there is no known way around it at this writing except to change video drivers or switch to a different mode (the problem seems to go away in 1024 x 768 for these same boards).


Big Netmail packets

If you routinely download and read huge netmail packets (thousands of messages) and you want to use a ram disk to speed up the mail reader's operation, be sure you have sufficient space on the ram disk to hold the size of the uncompressed packet (probably twice its compressed figure) and at least half as much in addition to contain replies.  If your QWK file is one megabyte, you'll need a 2.5 megabyte ram disk to be safe, and three would probably be better if you're likely to run other programs that create temp files.

Should you get a huge mail packet that causes CMPQwk to act strangely, we want to hear about it.  It's been tested up to and beyond 9,000 messages and worked flawlessly.  The actual limit for messages is 16,000 messages per conference and 64,000 conferences.  And by the way, that's not messages numbered up to 16,000, that's 16,000 messages in each conference.

If you have (by some fluke you call the largest BBS in the galaxy) a QWK with more than 64,000 active conferences, the program will fail to read your incoming packet and will probably crash.  We feel that 64,000 active conferences is more than adequate.

Note: your ability to open and read through a packet this large will also be affected by how much memory you have on your system.  If you're running low, it'll be hard to read packets of this magnitude, and it may not be possible at all, depending on packet size and your total free RAM.  Setting a permanent Windows swapfile may help if you run out of memory while reading monster QWK mail packets.  See your Windows manual about how to do this.  In fact, I'd suggest this for Windows in general on low-RAM systems (four megs or less).

So if you need more than 64,000 conferences, we're sorry, CMPQwk will not work for you.  (And where are you getting these packets with more than that?  No BBS in the world we could find had much more than 7,000 conferences!)


This number was bumped up from the old number of 2,000 which we discovered during release 1.0 was insufficient  Derek has increased it again so that the limit is 64,000.  This number is---within the present architecture of the program---as large as it can go.  (The 2,000 conference limit was the source of the famous---or infamous, depending on your point of view---"runtime 201" errors.)  Well...we don't expect to see any of those messages again!


Upgrading from a mail reader not supported by CMPQwk

Two of the most popular mail readers (Rosemail and OLX) are directly supported when it comes to copying certain parts of their configurations.  There are others out there, and it may be possible for you, by doing a few things on your own, get your new mail reader quickly into the shape you'd like to have it.

Taglines

If your mail reader keeps its taglines in a plain ASCII file, you can just copy it into the CMPQwk directory (renaming it in the process) as TAGLINES.CMP.  If your mail reader keeps taglines in some other format, you'll have to manually add them into CMPQwk's tagline data file using the tagline editor built into CMPQwk, or with some other plain ASCII text editor (like Notepad or Qedit).  The taglines should have one tag per line and no other extraneous formatting characters.  Other formats may cause unpredictable results, so we don't reccomend you experiment if you're not sure what ASCII is.

To Lists

The same rule as taglines applies: plain ASCII can be copied into the mail reader's directory as WHOTO.CMP.  The same as taglines applies except use one name per line.

Subject Lists

Yup.  You guessed it: SUBJECT.CMP.

Twit Lists

You already know the answer, I bet.  SKIPTO.CMP and SKIPFROM.CMP

Canned Messages

If you've got a huge database of canned messages you send often (like support professionals or sysops) the best way to get them into the CMPQwk folder system is to use your old mail reader to e-mail them to yourself (flagged private) on a system where the sysop won't mind, and put them in via the program's Add Current Message to folder option.  It'll be a lot faster than the clipboard, retyping, or anything else I can think of.


Other considerations

CMPQwk has been tested on QWK mail packets assembled by many different QWK doors.  If you run across a QWK packet that it will not open correctly or read, please send it to us so we can examine it.  At this writing, we have opened and correctly read packets prepared by Tomcat, Markmail, Rosemail, and several others.  The support board telephone numbers where you could upload a sample packet (as a file, not into the mail door) are listed elsewhere in this file.

Odds are, however, if it doesn't work with some small obscure mail door, it's probably the door's problem, and not CMPQwk's.

Users in countries where English isn't the dominant language will find that the keyboard mapping (the special keys used in Germanic and other languages) will be best if they select Courier or Courier New as their font.  This degrades the program's ability to view high ASCII, as these fonts don't have all the extended characters, but they do have the Ö and Ü characters in the correct place, making it easier for non-English-writing users to type words that require them.  This is the best way to implement German and other "foreign" languages at this writing.  It is "font-dependant," not, "program-dependant."


It works like this: if you get a "funny" QWK and you don't send it to us, we can't look inside it and see if the system that made it is doing something strange.  If we can't look inside it, we can't compensate for it in our program.  We usually find ways of working around some of the non-standard QWK packets that turn up.  You'd be surprised what kind of junk is inside QWK mail.

If our program will  not open a certain QWK, and you don't send us that QWK, there's simply no way we can write code to work around the problem.  We can't afford to call every BBS in the world to sample their mail.  We have to rely on users to help with this.


Index of Terms Used

If you didn't understand a term used in this help file, it's probably in this list.  If it's not, there's always a dictionary...

ANSI: American National Standards Institute.  In this case, it refers to the colored graphics that a BBS that supports ANSI can display.  Usually there will be ANSI graphics in the BBS's "new files" or "welcome" display under the Packet, New Files and Welcome selections, for example.

ASCII: in this context it refers to a "plain" text file, or a file that has no special formatting characters, and thus can be read by most any software that can open "text" files.  The tagline file CMPQwk uses is plain ASCII.

Application Workspace: the space inside a Multiple Document Interface application where it places its various windows.  These windows are called Child Windows.  Child Windows that CMPQwk uses are the Conference List, Read, Write, and Index.

Button Bar: a row of buttons with function labels on them.  CMPQwk has a button bar on the Write window, and it can be used to tell the program what functions (like saving a reply) to perform.  Some people think they're faster than menus or simple keyboard combinations.  It's a matter of taste.

Dialogue Box: a box containing instructions, picklists, or buttons that give you the options to set program runtime parameters, pick files to open, or define other variables that affect the way a program runs.  If you select Help and then About, CMPQwk will show you an "About" dialogue box, with an OK button to close that box,  for example.

Frame Buffer Video Board: the basic type of graphics board where there is no hardware acceleration (such as an S3 chip) present and the system's CPU is called on to draw all the elements on the screen.  Some of these boards will, with the use of a high-color DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) chip, allow you to set your color depth beyond 256 colors.  However, in such high-color modes, text scrolling is often unacceptably slow.

Multiple Document Interface: a standard by which a Windows application can open multiple windows "inside" itself.  This means it can edit (or do various functions) while holding different text or information inside other windows, but it needn't load multiple copies of itself to do it.  Windows Notepad and Write are both "Single Document Interface" applications.  If you want to edit or cut and paste between two Write files at once, you'll need to open two copies of Write.  CMPQwk and Sysedit, for example, are both Multiple Document Interface applications, or MDI apps, for short.

Offline Mail: versus "online mail," which is mail you do while you are still connected to a host, or BBS system.  Offline mail you can do on your own system, using an offline mail reader, and you don't need to be connected to a host system to do anything except upload it when you're through creating messages.  See QWK Packet below for more.

QWK Packet: a file created by a BBS "Mail Door" that contains a specially-formatted and compressed collection of messages extracted from the BBS system's mail database.  To open and read a QWK packet, you'll need some software called an Offline Mail Reader.  Our preferred choice for you to use is CMPQwk, of course.

RAM Disk or RAMDISK: a virtual "disk" created with software (ramdrive.sys ships with DOS) that happens to be much faster than a "real" or "physical" hard disk.  If you have extra memory (say eight megabytes or more) setting up a RAM-based disk and using it as your work directory will speed CMPQwk's handling of the temporary files it needs when you do mail, and even save some wear and tear on your hard disk.

Shareware: a concept where eternally optimistic (some say naive) and enterprising programmers release their finished software products out into the world in the hopes that users who download and use them will see the justice in paying for them.  Sometimes they "cripple" the software so it only works partially as intended, or they put in "pester screens" with pictures of VISA cards to make the user feel bad.  The best approach is just to make the product so good that the user feels horrible about not paying for it.  Shareware registrations approach four to ten percent of actual use, depending on who's giving the figure and the software package used.  Of course we'd like to beat the odds...and only you can help us do that.

SVGA: "Super VGA," or Super Video Graphics Adapter.  Usually it means a display system (including video board and monitor) capable of displaying at resolutions and colors beyond IBM's old standard of 640 x 480 x 16.  If your video subsystem can display resolutions greater than this and at higher colors, you've got SVGA.

Toolbar: usually a strip of buttons with colored or other graphics on them that, when pressed by the mouse, will perform a function that could involve multiple menu selections.  Similar to a Button Bar, but a Button Bar only has text on the buttons, not bitmapped graphics.

VGA: Video Graphics Adapter, based on IBM's standard 640 x 480 x 16 and below.  Sometimes extended to include that resolution at 256 colors, although technically that's Super VGA.


Gotcha!  This box is a pester screen.  Please register the shareware that you use!  We can't continue to create products like this unless people actually pay for them.  Remember that after 30 days, you're using our program in violation of our wishes (and copyright law) if you do not register it.  There...I feel better now.  And don't act surprised, you knew this annoying popup was going to appear before you clicked on pester screens!


Often incorrectly spelled "dialog" which, like "lite" and "flammable" should be retired to the scrap-pile of the English language.  See Strunk & White's Elements of Style for more on this if you have nothing better to do.


Known quirks, bugs, and the history of the program.
Known quirks, bugs, and the history of the program

Version 1.14 fixes the following known bugs and provides the following new features:

A problem with the search that appeared in a beta between 1.13 and 1.14 fixed.

The program's ability to quickly load even larger packets enhanced (up to 64,000 conferences now, with 16,000 messages per conference).

Many operations switched to global memory to speed them up.

Initial steps toward full text-wrapping written into the program.

File attachment management added into the Message menu.

Method used to build the list boxes the program uses enhanced to handle the larger packets.

Many small tweaks here and there.

New help file (with added information) created.


Thank You, Thank You...

Thanks to the many people who registered this product.  Because of you folks, CMPQwk will only get better and more powerful.  Your comments and suggestions have been helpful.  We're listening...

Kudos to the Beta Testing Team who plugged away during thick and thin, their only payment being able to see the software come into shape, help it get that way, and to get to use it once it was ready to be used.

Great work!  Roll those credits:

Programmer: Derek Backus

Docs & Interface Graphics: Todd Henschell, Associate Sysop The Patchbay BBS

Beta Wrangler: Pye Scrazner, (lost forever in the æther and sorely missed).

Front-line Beta Testers: Mark Whitney, Mark Warnsdorfer, Will Duquette, Grant Willey.

Program Security Analyst: Ben Chiu, Jensen Gema Volstatic

Thanks to: Daniel Bise, Sysop The Patchbay BBS (support site)

Thanks to: Grant Willey, Sysop The Dataphile BBS (support site)

Thanks to: William Padilla, Sysop Panasia BBS

Thanks to: Ron Amick for nifty interface suggestions.

Special Thanks to Mike W. Smith and Mark Warnsdorfer, who helped greatly with the spelling dictionary.  Way to go Mike and Mark!

And Extra Special thanks to Colette and Leslie.


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Click button to see the documentation credit.

If you wish to contract for documentation (online help & general text file) services, you may leave a message for Todd Henschell on The Patchbay BBS (818) 441-3965.  Describe your project and how large you think the documention should be.  (Compare it to this file if that helps you.)  I'll get back to you with an approximate quote.  Turnaround time for the original and revisions varies by how complex the project is, how much original material is available, how often your program crashes during beta (and screen captures), and how thoroughly you'd like your program documented.  Figure from one to two months of projects similar to this one.

Prices vary by the same token, as you might've guessed.

Please don't submit requests for "spec" or "sample" work.  This file should suffice for that.