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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
Version 1.0
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USER MANUAL
Manual Release V1.0
April V1.0
by
Copyright (c) 1992/1993 by Nick de Jong
FidoNet 2:285/404.31
All rights reserved
This manual written and modified by
Mark de.Jong
FidoNet 2:285/404.30
and
Harry Westerman
FidoNet 2:282/706.3
All rights reserved
Last changed: 05-Dec-93, 10:28:31
Read this manual thoroughly, or print it out on paper;
this way you can avoid a lot of annoyance.
If you have any questions about April or this document,
please feel free to contact one of the authors.
Page -1-
The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
Table of Contents
1.0.0 Introduction.................................................
2.0.0 Basics.......................................................
2.1.0 Requirements.................................................
2.2.0 About software and hardware..................................
2.2.1 Hardware....................................................
2.2.2 Software....................................................
3.0.0 Installation.................................................
4.0.0 Main parts of Aprils GUI.....................................
4.1.0 AreaMenu....................................................
4.2.0 NamesMenu...................................................
4.3.0 ShowMsgMenu.................................................
4.4.0 ScreenTitles.................................................
5.0.0 Menus........................................................
5.1.0 Project.....................................................
5.1.1 AreaMenu..................................................
5.1.2 NamesMenu.................................................
5.1.3 ShowMsg...................................................
5.1.4 Import....................................................
5.1.5 Import Info...............................................
5.1.6 Export....................................................
5.1.7 ReExport..................................................
5.1.8 Rescan Areas..............................................
5.1.9 About.....................................................
5.1.10 Register..................................................
5.1.11 Quit......................................................
5.2.0 Config......................................................
5.2.1 AreaList..................................................
5.2.2 Tosser....................................................
5.2.3 General 1/2...............................................
5.2.4 Screen....................................................
5.2.5 External programs.........................................
5.2.6 PrivUser..................................................
5.2.7 AreaGroups................................................
5.2.8 Languages.................................................
5.2.9 Origins...................................................
5.2.10 Openings..................................................
5.2.11 Closings..................................................
5.2.12 Event Commands............................................
5.2.13 AreaMenu..................................................
5.2.14 NamesMenu.................................................
5.2.15 ShowMsg...................................................
5.2.16 Save Configs..............................................
5.3.0 WriteMessage................................................
5.3.1.0 Write MSG.................................................
5.3.1.1 FromTo Window (Address Window)...........................
5.3.1.2 Carbon Copy..............................................
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
5.3.2 Reply MSG <from>/<to>.....................................
5.3.3 Edit MSG..................................................
5.3.4 Edit Header...............................................
5.3.5 Forward...................................................
5.3.6 Reply & Forward...........................................
5.3.7 Reply as Netmail..........................................
5.3.8 Save 'to quote'-part......................................
5.3.9 Archive...................................................
5.4.0 Message....................................................
5.4.1 Search (in) a MSG.........................................
5.4.2 Select MSG................................................
5.4.3 Select Marked.............................................
5.4.4 Select All................................................
5.4.5 Select None...............................................
5.4.6 Delete MSG................................................
5.4.7 Set MSG Flags.............................................
5.4.8 Catch Up..................................................
5.4.9 Clear NoReplies...........................................
5.4.10 Rip Origin................................................
5.4.11 Add to PrivUser...........................................
5.4.12 MSG Info..................................................
5.5.0 Browse......................................................
5.6.0 External....................................................
6.0.0 Groups & Languages...........................................
7.0.0 Openings & Closings..........................................
7.1.0 Codes for Openings & Closings...............................
8.0.0 Miscellaneous................................................
8.1.0 ARexx.......................................................
8.2.0 FontExtras..................................................
8.3.0 Collapse Quotes.............................................
8.4.0 AutoLoadHeader..............................................
8.5.0 MessageBuffer...............................................
8.6.0 Area and message flags......................................
8.7.0 Explanation and examples of several % codes.................
9.0.0 Politics.....................................................
9.1.0 Registration................................................
9.2.0 Distribution................................................
9.3.0 Copyright Notice............................................
9.4.0 Disclaimer..................................................
9.5.0 Bugs & Suggestions..........................................
9.6.0 Credits.....................................................
10.0.0 Acknowledgements.............................................
11.0.0 Glossary.....................................................
12.0.0 Index........................................................
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
1.0.0 Introduction
April is a new FidoNet-compatible tosser and editor for the
Commodore Amiga line of personal computers, specifically aimed at
points. Alot of time was used to make April as user-friendly as
possible, without making her too slow or too inflexible. Together with
a mailer like Trapdoor or Welmat it's now simple to set up a good
working pointsystem...
Some of the features of April are a new format of the messagebase,
a well thought-out userinterface, the speed and the enormous amount of
options to configure April the way YOU want. There are quite some
alternatives for April at the moment like GCCHost, Pointmanager, Foozle
and Chameleon combined with TrapToss, Confmail or another tosser. But
April beats them all in speed, features and ease of use. You can use
the newest FidoNet-technology like 4d addressing, multibossing, linking
of messages based on the MSGID and REPLY kludges. 4D-filenames like
those that are supported by TrapDoor can be used, and the configuration
can be done completely with a very comprehensive GUI. There is a very
complete and easy to use random system available. The memory that April
is allowed to use and the diskspace the messagebase is allowed to use is
fully configurable, and April works in all kinds of displayformats like
Interlace, Pal, NTSC, Overscan and 4 or 8 colors.
2.0.0 Basics
In FidoNet, and other networks based on FidoNet-technology, there
are several message-areas divided by subject. By calling a Bulletin
Board Service (bbs) with a modem, it's possible to read those
'echomail'-areas and leave messages in them. You have to be online all
the time while writing and reading your messages, so your telephonebills
can get very high doing this... There is a much more convenient and
cheap way to read echomail: become a point !
With a pointprogram it is possible to enter and pack electronic
mail, so you can send the messages with a so called mailer to your
boss. This packing is done with programs like LhA or Zip, and your mail
can be shrunk most of the time to about 40% percent of it's original
size, saving you a lot of time online. Messages that come back from
your boss will be unpacked and moved to the right messagebases. They
will be sorted, double messages will be deleted, and messages can be
linked together. Afterwards, you can read and reply the new messages in
a highly comfortable way, and eventually be answered. Also, private
messages in the form of Netmail or Matrixmail can be written and read,
and send in a couple of different ways.
How does a point work, and what software is needed ? The first
thing you have to do is apply for a pointnumber at a (FidoNet)node. The
owner of that node will become your boss, and you will receive a number
based on the nodenumber of your boss. Becoming a point will most of the
time cost you some small amount of money to cover the costs of your
boss, but sometimes it is free.
The cycle of things you have to go through is rather simple:
1) Export the messages that have been written by you. The messages will
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
be moved into the .PKT format, and ARCed into your outbound, ready to
be sent to your boss
2) Call your boss with your mailer. Your messages will be sent, and you
receive new messages.
3) Import the new messages with your tosser into the messagebase. This
means unpacking, moving to the right areas, check for dupes, and
place everything safe on disk.
4) Now you can read your mail, and reply on messages with the
maileditor.
You can automate the first three points completely, especially if
you have a harddrive attached to your Amiga. With some utilities like
CyberCron, or with an ordinary time-clock, you can have your mailer poll
your boss automatically at certain times, and with ARexx you can let
April import and export automatically too ! That way, you can start
reading at once, without having to wait for the polling, importing and
exporting.
2.1.0 Requirements
To get a working pointsystem, you need the following programs:
Program Example
1) Tosser April, GCCHost, PM, FastPoint, Foozle
2) Editor April, GCCHost, PM, Chameleon, Foozle
3) Mailer Trapdoor, Welmat
4) Arcer LHA, LZ, Zoo, Lharc, ARJ, ARC, Zip
5) Texteditor DME, Qed, CygnusEDPro, TurboText
Ofcourse there are hundreds of other utilities available that can come
in handy if you are a point, but you only need one of each of the above
and you can be a full-blown point.
To install the mailer and texteditor, just try to read the docs,
and spend some time with the programs. When you really don't get it to
work, ask your boss first, or try to find someone else that has been a
point for a while. Why try to reinvent the wheel ? Also, the different
echomailareas that are available can be a good help if you really have a
problem.
As you can see, April is a combined tosser AND a maileditor. How
to install April on your Amiga can be read in the following chapters.
First a small introduction, followed by an explanation of the basics of
the program.
2.2.0 About software and hardware
2.2.1 Hardware
April runs on all members of the Commodore-Amiga family,
independant of the Kickstart version they use. She supports PAL as well
as NTSC and has been tested on all processors, from 68000 to 68040. She
works as well in interlace as in non-interlace. 1MB is necessary,
more is recommended to make proper use of April. 1 diskdrive is
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
enough, but to give you the comfort April can provide, you have to use
a second diskdrive. A harddisk will make April run as she should,
because it's much faster and has a much shorter accesstime. If you
have a lot of memory available, the import of April will become much
faster, because of the buffersystem she uses.
2.2.2 Software
April runs on all versions of Amigados (1.2, 1.3 and 2.0...). With
version 1.2 and 1.3 the commands Endcli and Failat should be present in
the C: directory. These commands are with version 2.0 already in ROM.
Furthermore, your stack should be at a minimum of 8K. A lot of crashes
in version 0.99PublicBeta were caused by this ! Just type Stack 10000 in
the CLI you start April from, just to be sure.
3.0.0 Installation
The installation of April is very simple. Extract the archive which
contains April and copy the files 'April' and 'April.info' to your
boot-disk (or better: somewhere in your path). If you still use
AmigaDos version 1.2 or 1.3, you have to check if the commands
'EndCLI', 'FailAt' and 'Run' are present in your C: directory. That's
all!
April can be configured completely mouse-driven, so it's not needed
to create or modify your configuration in a texteditor. This way it's
much easier to install April completely to your own taste.
Take care that your ARCer, texteditor and mailer are somewhere
in your path, and your point is ready to use. April can be started
with the supported icon, or by typing 'run April' in a shell.
Because April is not self-detachable you should start her with RunBack,
ARun, Run or an equivalent if you want to close the Shell afterwards.
As soon as you started April for the first time, she will try to
load the configfile 'April.preferences' from your current directory.
If she cannot find it there, she will look in the S: dir. If this
configfile cannot be found, April will start with a default
configuration. By changing all the configurations (in the Config-menu),
you can create an environment to your own taste.
Since version 0.994 an Install window appears upon startup (only if no
config files can be found)
4.0.0 Main parts of Aprils GUI
4.1.0 AreaMenu
If everything is alright, you start in the AreaMenu. Here you can
find all the MessageBase-areas which are available, together with some
information about these areas. Available means that you manually have
created a new area in the Toss configs, or that April did this herself
while importing. During this action, April adds this area automatically
to the AreaList and copies the settings from the fake-area
April_General. Each line represents an area. When there are too many
areas to display, you can use the up and down cursor keys or the slider
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
at left/right (configurable) side of the screen to scroll up and down.
The screen is divided in different columns:
AREA - The name of the message-area.
Total - The total number of messages which are currently in
an area.
Unread - The total number of unread messages in an area.
UnYou - Number of unread messages written to the user of an area.
LastIn - The total number of messages which were imported during
the last import.
ToYou - The number of messages which are written to the user of an
area.
Rate - The average number of messages written per day in an area,
calculated by the date of each message in area.
Flags - The flags of an area.
If you want to know something about the screentitle in the Areamenu see:
Screentitles (4.4.0)
* How do I get to the NamesMenu?
From the areamenu you can jump to all areas which contain messages.
This can be done by double clicking on the desired area or by placing
the cursor before the area and double pressing the return key (or crsr
right). The third way to get there is to select an area and press the F2
key.
* How do I get immediately to the ShowMsgMenu?
By pressing the mouse-button combination LMB->RMB (right mousebutton
pressed while pressing the left button) on the desired area. Depending
on the settings in the AreaMenu Configs you will jump to the ShowMsgMenu
on the specified messagekind. Another way is to place the cursor
before an area and pressing the key-combination SHIFT-RETURN
(this has the same result as pressing LMB->RMB). Just like you can
jump to the namesmenu you can select an area and press the F3 key to go
to the ShowMsgMenu of that area.
4.2.0 NamesMenu
If you want to know something about the screentitle in Namesmenu see:
Screentitles (4.4.0)
This is the place where you can find an overview of all the messages in
an area. The columns are sorted by date and built up like this:
Date - The date when the message was written.
Size - The size of a message in bytes.
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
Flags - The flags of a message. These can be divided in:
D - Message will be deleted.
P - Message is proteced from deletion and will not be
thrown out of the MsgBase while importing.
R - Message has been read.
M - Message has been marked.
E - Message will be exported during the next export.
S - Message has been exported (send)
A - Message has been archived.
From - The name of the author of a message.
To - The name of the addressee of a message.
Subject - The subject of a message.
Most of the time, the subjects will be truncated because they are too long
to fit on the screen. This depends on the number of columns that are used.
Of course you get more space when you enlarge the overscan of the screen.
If you want to see a subject which has been cut off, you'll only have to
press the left-mousebutton on the subject.
The date will have the same format as the list command in AmigaDos. This
means that if you have a message which has been written within a week of
today, they will carry the name of that day (also with "Yesterday",
"Today" etc.)
Without looking at the number of columns you have chosen, there is the
possibility to show messages by kind. Examples of this are: only
Marked, LastImport, UnRead etc... or another combination.
For more info about this, we refer you to the NamesMenuConfig.
Note: the dates area chronically sorted, so you will first read the
reply and further on the replied messages.
4.3.0 ShowMsg
In this screen the message can be read. At the upper side of the screen
you'll see the person who wrote the message, the person for whom the
message is meant and the subject of the message. Above the from-field
are the date and time the message has been written.
* Scrolling of the message
When you want to scroll the message (only when a message has too many
lines to fit into the screen) you can use the cursor-keys. Of course
you can also use the mouse. You can do this by pressing the
right-button below half the screen to scroll down. If you want to scroll
up, just press above half the screen. A third possibility is pressing
the left/right button above the slider. You will see there is some free
space where you can click. This possibility has been added for quick
reading, so you don't have to move you mouse pointer all the way down
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
the screen. Finally you can use the space bar or the return key (both
have the same function). If you press one of these keys, the next page
of a message will be shown. If the message is at its end, the next
message (as you configed) will be read.
Pressing MMB in the from/to/subject box above the msg will let you edit
that message and if you want to set the flags with the keyboard use
the flag-character in combination with the CTRL key. eg ctrl-p protects,
ctrl-m marks, etc.
In the second box from the left side you'll see a Tree-box. In this box
you'll find for example:
9 | 1 (a)
o
/ \ (b)
O o
ID (c)
a) At the left- and right-top there are the messages which exist
respectively back and forward in the subject-chain. It makes in
this case no difference where (c) is set to.
b) The tree-box itself. The thicker point is the message you have
currently on screen. You can move through the tree if you have (c)
set to ID by pressing the right or left mousebutton.
Note that the tree is only an ID-chain.
c) This says if the chain is on ID or on subject. You can change this
by pressing the '\' key or if you have a mouse with 3 buttons,
press the middle mousebutton inside the chainbox.
Since version 1.0 a somewhat more interfaced chainbrowser has been
introduced. In the left bottom of this chain/ID box a gadget can be
pressed. When you do this, a ChainConfigs window will appear with 4
options, which are:
LR Click on Subject - Use Left and Right mousebuttons to browse through
the messages with the same subject. Since version
1.0 April supports 'Subject thread jumping'. This
means that if April comes at the end of a subject
thread, it will automatically jump to the next
subject thread.
LR Click on ID - Use Left and Right mousebuttons to browse through
the messagechain currently displayed in this
chain/ID box.
Tree NodeClick - Click on a message (displayed as a point in the
messagechain tree currently displayed in the
chain/ID box) to jump to a chosen message.
ChainBrowseFlags - Use the Browseflags when you browse through the
messages (eg. only unread messages in the chain).
The last two options are new for version 1.0
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
Beside the OK and Cancel gadgets in the ChainConfigs window is a third
gadget:
TreePrefs - When pressed a window with the current messagechain tree is
displayed. The spaces between two points (messages) can
be altered by using the sliders at the bottom and right
side of the window. Use RMB or the close gadget to exit the
window.
In the third box from the left you'll find the Browse-box. This box
is seperated by a horizontal line. Below this line are two arrows and
the number of messages which are available on the current
browse-settings forwards and backwards. If you have activated
AutoLoadHeader and you are in the last message of an area, then there
will be no number under the arrow. Without AutoLoadHeader the arrow
will be left out. This works also if you jump backwards.
Above the horizontal you can find the Trace section. April remembers the
last messages you've read. If you haven't used the trace funtion and
have read at least one message, a '<' will be displayed, indicating that
you can trace 1 message back. If you've read 10 messages and you trace
for example 5 messages back a '>' will be displayed, indicating that
you can ReTrace 5 messages.
In the second and the third box from the left, the mousebuttons work
like this (depends for the chain/ID browser on the ChainConfigs
settings):
Right mousebutton - Jump to next message
Left mousebutton - Jumpt to previous message
The Left and Right key work also in the MessageBrowse box (the first
box from the right). If you however have the ChainConfigs set to
"LR Click ..." then you have to the mentioned cursor keys in combination
use with the SHIFT key to browse through the messagechain.
Beside this the (Tear, Origin, kludges and SEEN-BY's) can be left out
of the message. If you want to configure this to your personal
preferences, please take a look at the ShowMsgConfig.
Finally:
Pressing MMB in the ChainBox will get the Complete tree in a window.
Pressing LMB on one of the nodes will get to the msg and close the
window. RMB has the same effect, except that the treewindow won't close.
Pressing MMB in the BrowseWindow will popup the BrowseFlags window.
If you don't have an MMB, you can emulate one in April with the keys
ctrl-tab.
If you want to know something about the screentitle in ShowMsg see:
Screentitles (4.4.0)
4.4.0 Screentitles
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
The titlebar in the AreaMenu displays for example the following:
April Vx.x -- 2199 messages in 14 areas.
(a) (b) (c)
a) The versionnumber of April.
b) The total number of messages in all available areas in the
MessageBase.
c) The number of areas which are available in your MessageBase at this
moment.
And an example of a titlebar in the NamesMenu:
AMIGA -- 392 of 392 Messages. 12 unread; 5 lastin Sat 20:49:50
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)
a) The areaname of the area you are currently in.
b) The number of messages against the number of messages which are
showed at this moment. In this case all messages are shown.
c) The number of unread messages in this area.
d) The number of LastImport messages.
e) The clock which is optional.
Finally an example of a titlebar in the ShowMsgMenu
AMIGA -- 392 MSG 1354 bytes 47 lines ---R--S Sat 20:49:50
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)
a) The areaname of the area you area currently in.
b) The number of messages in this area.
c) The size of the message you have currently on screen (in bytes)
d) The number of lines this messages has.
e) The flags of this message.
f) The clock which is optional.
5.0.0 Menus
5.1.0 Project Menu
5.1.1 AreaMenu
If you want to go to the AreaMenu, you will have to choose this
menu-item. This item works of course when you are in ShowMsgMenu or
NamesMenu. If you choose this menuitem when you already are in the
AreaMenu, the screen will be refreshed.
See also: AreaMenu (4.1.0)
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
5.1.2 NamesMenu
If you choose the menuitem NamesMenu, April will go to the NamesMenu
of the area you are currently in. If you wish however to go to the
NamesMenu when you are the AreaMenu, you'll first have to select the
area you want to go to. Then you have to select this menu-item.
When you choose the NamesMenu-item when you are already in this
NamesMenu, the screen will be refreshed.
See also: NamesMenu (4.2.0)
5.1.3 ShowMsg
This menu-item can be chosen when you are in the NamesMenu or AreaMenu
environment. Just as if you wanted to go from AreaMenu -> NamesMenu you
just have to select an area and active this menu-item.
And to keep it simple you'll have to do the same from NamesMenu to
ShowMsgMenu.
See also: ShowMsgMenu (4.3.0)
5.1.4 Import
In the inbound you can find mail or other files. We can find the
following files:
The packets - The unpacked mail (extension *.PKT)
The archives - The packed mail (extension like *.we0 or *.mo1 etc.).
Frequests - Files which have been freqqed from a BBS (extension
normally *.LHA, *.LZH, *.ZIP or *.ARC)
Files other than mail are moved to the directory configured in the
configs
If the flag 'backup' is set, the first thing April does is copy the
packets and mail-archives to a configured backup-directory. Is also the
flag 'AreaList Backup' set, then the arealist will also be backed up in
case it gets munged somehow. April will automatically use the
April.arealist.backup if the April.arealist seems to be broken.
If 'Unpack all at once' in the Tosser Config is activated, all
archives will first be unpacked in the temporary-directory before April
starts importing them. If not, all archives will be unpacked and
imported in the order that April finds them in the Inbound directory.
If April finds a packet in the inbound or temp-dir, April tries to read
as many messages as it can load. This can be configured in the
Tosser Config with the name 'MaxSegMem'. If April has loaded its buffer
full, it starts importing. The messages stay in memory but will be put
in another part of the memory, which is known under the name
'MaxScanMem'. Everytime this memory-part is full, all messages will be
saved to the their areas. So, if you make this memory-part very
small...then April has to write a lot of times, which decreases speed.
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The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
If MaxScanMem is full, April starts with sorting the messages of the
first area which is at the upper-side of your screen. If this has been
done, April will check the following things:
- check for duplicate messages
- is the number of new messages + the number of the old messages larger
than the maximum number of messages allowed in this area?
- is the size of new messages + the size of old messages larger than
the maximum size allowed for this area?
(The MaxMBNr and MaxMBSize, which are respectively the maximum number of
messages and the maximum size of those messages, can be configured in
the AreaList Config)
If one of the above checks is true, then April will remove as many
messages from this area until they are both false. If we have 'old
messages' of an earlier session of this import, then they will be moved
to the BadMsg-area, where they will be imported. This last method is
also configurable, which means that you can also remove these messages
at once... (so they won't be imported).
If April finds messages which are for an area that currently doesn't
exist, she will create this new area and imports the messages in that
new area. The settings of this new area will be copied from the
fake-area April_General.
April will place an '*' before each area where messages are imported or
were imported.
Note: It is possible to abort the import-session. This can be done by
pressing the ESC-key.
5.1.5 Import Info
Gives some information on Aprils latest import session. The information
about the import remains in memory until you quit April.
5.1.6 Export
When you activate the export, April will look at all areas. When the
export-flag is set, then April will look inside the header of this
area for export-messages. During exporting, a window will be shown on
screen with some information about the messages which are exported.
We can separate the normal mail into the following files:
*.PKT - Not packed mail (netmail)
*.we0...- Packed mail (can also be netmail)
And of course the files, which point to the above files (for example:
*.FLO, *.CLO etc...)
For information about these formats we refer to the Trapdoor manual.
Page -14-
The Ultimate PointPackage April Tosser/Editor Reference Manual
Note: Because the export flags of all messages are not influenced by an
import, you may also use import before you export.
5.1.7 ReExport
Exports the messages you exported the last time you activated the
Export function.
Note: ReExport exports only the last exported messages. If you wrote
new messages, you have to use the normal Export to export these.
5.1.8 Rescan Areas
Rescan has been added to April to simply update the info of an area.
This info can be found in your AreaMenu. Another reason to add this
routine was that it was annoying to add all the areas by hand
again in your AreaList config if you lost the April.arealist. Now you
do a simple Rescan, and April will look on disk for all *_msg and *_hdr
files and makes a new April.Arealist for you with updated information
regarding the number of messages, etc. Really handy if you had a crash
for example.
If you called this option from the Arealist configuration, April will
only ask you how you want to rescan (Rescan or DeepRescan). According
to the selected gadget, April will only rescan those areas which have
been selected.
Below you find the explanation of the Rescan window (not for calles from
the Arealist configuration):
Well, if you take a look at the Rescan window you'll find 4 gadgets and
4 options.
Each gadget will activate a different kind of rescan.
Here are the first 2 gadgets (functions):
Rescan - Rescan will only read the of top the header file. In
that part of the header file, some counted data has been
stored already.
This function is faster, but less profound than
DeepRescan.
DeepRescan - DeepRescan reads the whole header file and counts all
necessary data.
These functions scan only the areas which are currently active. This
means that areas which are not in the Arealist, will not be rescanned.
The other 2 gadgets, will not only read the active areas, but also the
areas which will be found in a given directory:
DirRescan - Scannes 1 or more directories; found areas will be
scanned with the Rescan function (see above).
DeepDirRescan - Same as DirRescan except that found areas will be
scanned with the DeepRescan function (see above).
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How does the Rescan routine know what directory (or directories) to
scan?
At the right side of the Rescan-window are 3 options. These options
are:
from all areas - April will scan the directories of all areas.
from April_General - April will scan only the directory given in the
fake-area 'April_General'
from [ ] - April will scan only the directory given in the
stringgadget.
Only one of these options can be set.
Finally there is 1 option left: 'No Requesters'
If you set this option, the Rescan routine won't give any error
messages(/requesters) while scanning.
5.1.9 Register
If you want to register, please fill in the whole registration-form.
Don't forget to set the option how you want to pay your registration
fee.
This window has 3 gadgets:
Create Msg - April will create a message in your netmail-directory.
Print Msg - The whole registration form will be printed.
Exit - With this gadget you can exit the registration-form.
April won't make a message nor will it print the form.
5.1.10 About
Gives some information about the writer of April and the programm
itself.
5.1.11 Quit
Leave April (April may save the configs if anything has been changed).
5.2.0 Config Menu
5.2.1 AreaListConfigs
In this ConfigWindow you can change the data of all areas. This can be
done by add, edit, copy, sort, move, etc.
On the right side you'll find the areas with next to them their
nodenumbers. If you enter here for the first time, only 3 areas are
active. These areas area: April_General, NetMail and BadMsg.
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Note: April_General cannot store any messages. It is a fake area for
your preferences only.
By double pressing the return key or double clicking the left
mousebutton on an area (or right cursor), you can edit the selected
area.
If you wish to use the functions at the left side of the window, you'll
first have to select the area and after that the function you want to
use.
The functions are:
5.2.1.0 Add - Add an area.
5.2.1.1 Edit - Change an existing area.
5.2.1.2 Delete - Delete an area.
5.2.1.3 Move - Move an area.
5.2.1.4 Copy - Copy all data of an area.
5.2.1.5 PCopy - Copy only parts of data of area.
5.2.1.6 All - Select all.
5.2.1.7 None - Unselect all.
5.2.1.8 Pattern - Select on specified pattern.
5.2.1.9 Sort - Sort the areas.
5.2.1.10 Make - Make an empty message-file
5.1.6 Rescan - Rescan one or more areas.
5.2.1.11 BBSInfo - BBSInfo of an area.
5.2.7 Groups - Change the selected group of an area.
If you wish to leave this config-window, click on the Close-gadget or
with the right mousebutton outside the window.
5.2.1.0 AreaListConfig Add
When this gadget is chosen, a window with stringgadgets and a few
options will appear. The data, except the AreaName, of this new area is
all copied from April_General.
We have 6 stringgadgets, which are:
AreaName - Name of the area.
Domain - The name of the Network of this area. (eg FidoNet)
UserName - The name of the user (Multi-user)
Directory - The directory where the mail for this area will be placed.
Font - The font which should be used for this area (in ShowMsg)
BBSNode - NodeNumber of the BBS where this area comes from(your Boss)
(eg 2:285/404)
Next of these stringgadgets are the following options:
NetMail - If this one is set, it should be a Netmail area.
Bad_Msg - If this one is set, this area should be a Bad_Msg area.
Int. Area - Is set if this is an international area. Currently not
supported.
Read_Only - Set this option, if you want to make this area read_only
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(so no writing will be allowed)
Reflow Quotes- Reflow quotes per paragraph.
Use Private
Node - Set this option, if you want to use this area for
Private Node. A private node is if you want to be
a point with a node address.
UseNet Area - Set this flag if you want write UseNet messages in this
area.
Note: this flag is only useful when you write via a
Fido->UseNet gate.
Force INTL - If this option is set, an INTL is placed in every
netmail message you write in this area.
At the bottom of this window you will find two stringgadgets:
MaxMBNr - Maximum number of messages allowed in this area.
MaxMBSize - Maximum size of the messagefiles of this area.
(Given in KiloBytes)
It's only possible to change these figures while creating an area.
At the right side of this window, a gadget Edit Group and a list are
visible. If you haven't changed any Groups-config, the list will only
contain the Group 'General'. This list has been included into this
window to give you the opportunity to say which Group should be linked
to what area. Just select that Group and April will link it to this
area. If you want to change the groups press the Edit Group-gadget.
For more information about the terms mentioned earlier, we refer to the
explanation of the Import.
The Gadets which remain are Origins, Openings, ClosingsEdit and BBSInfo.
They have the same function as these gadgets in the AreaList-window.
5.2.1.1 AreaListConfig Edit
To let this window appear, you first have to select an area once and
then choose 'Edit'. You can also double click on an area or if you use
the cursor, double RETURN.
Multi-edit is also possible. If want to do that, choose more than one
area and choose the 'Edit' function.
The Edit Window differs almost nothing from the Add Window. Except the
stringgadget with the name of the area doesn't appear and it's not
possible to change MaxMBNr and MaxMBSize. This has been done for
practical reasons, you can specify the size of an area only when ADDing
one !
If you really want to change these sizes, you have to use the program
Jean which is available with the registered April package.
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For more detailed info see: AreaList => Add (5.2.1.0)
5.2.1.2 AreaListConfig Delete
Do you want to remove one or more areas, then select these area(s) and
press the 'Delete' gadget.
Note: You can't get deleted areas back, like with normal deleted messages.
5.2.1.3 AreaListConfig Move
Move is a function which can be used to change the order of areas to
your personal liking. This is handy if you want to place all areas of
their kind to eachother (eg with all AMIGA-areas) or for all areas
which should go to the same floppy, so you get minimal disk-changing
while importing.
The function works as follows:
You have currently the areas: April_General
AMIGA
AMY_POINT
OUR_LOCAL_AREA
If you want to get the areas AMY_POINT and OUR_LOCAL_AREA before the
area AMIGA, you have to select these two areas and press the 'Move'
gadget. April removes these areas from the arealist and keeps them in
the move-buffer. You will get a requester with the message that you
have to double-click on the area where you want to put these areas in
front. In this case you have to double click the 'area' April_General
because that is the area where you want to put the two areas behind.
As a result of this you get the list: April_General
AMY_POINT
OUR_LOCAL_AREA
AMIGA
Another way to change the arealist is to use the Sort function.
Note: another way to get an area into the movebuffer is by pressing the
mousecombination LMB->RMB. This has the same effect as selecting
an area and selecting the 'Move' gadget
5.2.1.4 AreaListConfig Copy
Do you want to copy all the data of an area to one or more areas, then
you will have to choose this function.
The first thing you'll have to do is select the area(s) where you want
to copy the data to. Then you have to press the 'Copy' gadget. April
will give a requester which says that you now have to double click the
area where the data should come from.
5.2.1.5 AreaListConfig PartCopy
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If you don't want to copy all the data to one or more areas, you need
this function.
Just as the copy function you first need to choose the area(s) where the
data should go to. Then select the 'PCopy' function.
A window will appear with 5 gadgets, which stand for the data of the
Domain, UserName, Directory, Font and BBSNode. You can select the gadget
of the data you only want to copy. You can do this with the
function-keys or with your mouse.
If you have selected your desired gadget(s), you need to close the
window by pressing the close-window gadget or by pressing the
right mousebutton outside the window. Finally select the area from
which you want to copy your data.
That's all...
See also: Copy (5.2.1.4)
5.2.1.6 AreaListConfig All
If you select this function, all areas will be selected.
5.2.1.7 AreaListConfig None
If you select this function, all areas will be unselected.
5.2.1.8 AreaListConfig Pattern
With Pattern you can select areas on a pattern.
A few examples are:
*amiga* - Select all areas which have the string 'amiga' in their
name. Upper or lower case doesn't matter.
*am???.028* - Selects all areas which names look like 'am???.028',
where '???' stands for 3 characters.
Next to these two basic-terms, there is the boolean function OR:
*.028*|*.30* - This pattern will select all areas which end on '.028'
or '.30'. You can see that the '|' character is used
for the OR function.
Note: Pattern works on comote lines so '*2:285/*' can also be used. If
you want to select areas, put an '*' behind them to ignore the
address.
If we sum up all these functions we know the following characters stand
for:
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'*' - Everything will be selected
'?' - 1 character will be selected
'|' - The OR-function
5.2.1.9 AreaListConfig Sort
With this function you can sort several areas. You can sort the whole
list or only a few. The only thing you have to do is select the areas
you want to sort, and press the 'Sort' gadget.
5.2.1.10 AreaListConfig Make
By selecting one or more areas and choose this function, April will
create a message-file. This file has the size of the MaxMBSize for the
area. If this number is 400, then a file will be generated of 400 Kb
filled with nulls.
This function is added to April so you won't get a scattered HardDisk or
floppy. Normally an area will get larger while importing, with the
result that the message-file enlarges also, but fragments your disk at
the same time.
5.2.1.11 AreaListConfig BBSInfo
If you wanted to add a new area with a nodenummer which is unknown to
April, a BBSInfo Window will popup. This window will also popup if you
selected this function from the AreaList Window.
This BBSInfo Window has been created to support the use of
Multi-bossing. This way every area will be linked with a BBSInfo. For
those areas with the same BBSInfo, all data will be general. So if you
change something, it changes for all linked BBS'
If we look into the window, we can see that the nodenumber and
domain of this new area appear at the top of the window.
Then we can see 7 stringgadgets:
BBSName - Name of the BBS where this area comes from.
Boss Name - Name of the Boss of the BBS named above.
AreaFix - Name of the area-linkprogram of this BBS.
PointNet - PointNet number of this BBS
PointNr - Your pointnumber which your Boss gave you.
Pack - General call which April will use to pack mail.
UnPack - General call of the unpacker which April will use to
unpack the mail. This happens before importing.
(currently UnPack of April_General only is used!)
Next to these stringgadgets, there are three options:
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2D Adressing - Send your mail in a packetformat according to FTS-0001.
Otherwise it will be sent in FSC-00039 format... then
your seenby and path won't contain any references to
your pointnet either.
Pack NetMail - Set this option, if you want to send your NetMail
packed.
4D FileNames - All archives, flo-filenames etc. will get the 4D
filename format as described in the manual of TrapDoor.
(eg. 2.285.404.mo0)
5.2.2 Tosser Config
This Config Window, where you can configure everything which has to do
with the Import and Export, can be divided in 3 parts:
5.2.2.0 BeforeImport options
Under the title "Before import:" we find:
Backup - If you set this option, then April will copy
the inbound to your backup dir. Only packets
and archives will be copied. Files will be
moved to the filedir.
AreaList Backup - Each time you activate import, the Arealist.april
will be backupped. So if you loose this file,
then April will use this backup-arealist and make
a new Arealist.april.
Kill BadMsgArea - If you want that April should clear all messages
of Bad_Msg area before import, set this option.
Unpack all at once - April will unpack all archives before she starts
importing. See also Import (5.1.4)
Show Import - If you haven't set this flag, you won't see the
import-session.
For more practical information about these options: Import (5.1.4)
5.2.2.1 Import options
Three options for the import itself:
Strip RE: - The "RE:" at the beginning of each subject will get
cleared, if you set this option.
Note: This option is also used in the FromTo Window
Protect ToYou - If you set this option then April will set the
protected flag of each message written to the user of
an area.
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Kill Dups - If this option is set, dups are killed instead of
moved to the BadMail area. (dups=duplicate msgs)
(This option does not work if "Don't check dups" is
set)
Kill too old - Messages which have to be transferred to a BadMsg area
(because there are to many messages which are imported
once) will be deleted (killed).
Force 1.3
(un)pack - CON: windows will be opened on your WorkBench
(only for extracting & packing during import/export)
Test EchoAddr
In - Will test your incomming mail with the node
given in your AreaConfig.
Show Export
Window - The small window in the center of your screen
while exporting will not appear if this option is
set.
Don't import
FlowInfo - All the flowinfo (such as Seenby's and paths will be cut
of of each imported message (thus needing less space).
No new
NetmailAreas - If you set this option, April will not create any more
netmailareas. A message which does not comply with the
current active netmailarea(s), is placed in the first
netmailarea in your AreaList.
Don't Check
dups - Check for duplicate messages disabled.
Twit Names - Click on this gadget if you want to enter message-
writers which April should filter from the messages
while importing.
5.2.2.2 Import stringgadgets
The Tosser Window has 7 stringgadgets, of which there are 2 for numbers:
MaxScanMem - The size of a piece of memory (in Kb) which will be
used for storing messages while importing. If you
make this size small, the import would take more sessions
than if you made this size large.
MaxSegMem - This is the size of a piece of memory where April stores
the packets.
For more practical information about the above options see Import(5.1.4)
The other stringgadgets are:
MinExpMem - Contains the minimum number of Kilobytes that have to be
available before April may start to export.
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HoldDir - This is a directory where the unimported mail stays. April
will look in this directory for mail to import.
(eg. 'Mail:Inbound/')
OutDir - This is a directory where your outgoing mail will be
placed. (eg. 'Mail:Outbound/')
BackupDir - A directory where your mail (archives and .pkt-files) is
backupped before importing. See also Backup directory
FileDir - This is the directory where the frequests or other files
will be moved to during the backup-session.
TempDir - This is a directory where the *.PKTs of an archive will
be placed while extracting and importing.
5.2.3 General Config
Since version 0.994 the General Config has been divided into two
different Generalconfiguration windows:
General1 Config - 5.2.3.0
General2 Config - 5.2.3.1
5.2.3.0 General1 Config
The General1 Config is also build with stringgadgets and options for
the general use of April:
5.2.3.0.1 General1 stringgadgets
Editor - Name of the editor where you want to write your messages.
EditFile - Name of the file of your written message (including path)
Suffix - Argument which will be placed behind the Editor and
EditFile.
An example: < Editor > < EditFile > < Suffix >
Command: Ced RAM:April.MSG -sticky
Some editors don't support a suffix. If so, leave the
suffix empty.
The real call to AmigaDos will be (including quotes!)
"Editor" "EditFile" suffix
EditColumns- The number of columns used in the message in ShowMsg.
This means that if you set this number to 80, April
will restyle the message to 80 characters. This is handy
if you use a font with a different width as the standard
topaz font.
ConfigDir - This is the directory where all the config-files of April
will be placed. (like AreaList.april, PrivUser.april,
etc.)
Note: April.prefs should be in current dir or s:
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LogDir - This is the name of the directory where April places her
log-file.
LogLevel - This level tells April how many comments to show in
the log file (April.log).
The loglevel can be set from 0 - 10;
Level 0 - All comments will be in the log.
Level 10 - Only the comments of opening April and
closing April will be in the log.
(use log only to debug, levels are not yet very well
implemented)
With the 'LogOn' option you can enable the log or disable it (by not
setting it)
ArchiveDir - The directory for archived messages.
See also : Archive (5.3.7)
Font - The general font, which April uses for her screens and
and configuration windows.
If you want to choose a font, just press the Font gadget
and a font requester will popup.
Note: the font can also be set for each area
Size (Font)- The size of the font in the Font stringgadget.
NodelistDir- The directory where April can find a Nodelist
(Traplist.library required)
5.2.3.0.2 General1 options
Next to the stringgadgets in the General1 Config Window we find
two options, which are:
- WorkBench to front before edit
If your editor doesn't have its own custom screen and it wants to open
its window on the WorkBench Screen, then you have to choose this option.
Everytime you will write/edit/reply a message, the WorkBench Screen will
come to front.
- April to front after edit
If your editor has its own custom screen or if you have set the
'WorkBench to front before edit' option, you have to set this option.
If this option is set and your editor has closed its window or screen,
the April screen will come to front.
5.2.3.1 General2 Config
This configuration window contains mainly options.
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5.2.3.1.1 General2 stringgadgets
Priority
AprilPri - The priority April is running on.
In/ExportPri - The priority for the Import and Export.
ExternPri - The priority of the programs or tools that are
started from the External Menu.
ClockPri - The priority for the clock that can be placed in the
slider of the April screen.
The priorities don't need any change under normal circumstances.
5.2.3.1.2 General2 options
Skip NamesMenu - If this option is set, April will skip the
NamesMenu. The only way to go to the NamesMenu then,
is by pressing F2 or selecting the 'NamesMenu'-item
in the 'Project Menu' or LMB->RMB in AreaMenu.
NOTE: LMB->RMB will have the same result as double
click if this options is unset. LMB->RMB and Double
click have been swapped.
Flash - When April wants to warn you, she will give a
screen-flash.
Bell - April will give a bell sound (also under <= 1.3)
Sliders on left - All sliders in April will appear on the left side.
Del = Del + Next - When you hit the DEL key in ShowMsg, April will set
the delete flag of the current message and jumps to
the next message.
Check name
without pnt - Imagine your name contains a '.' and someone writes
a message to you, April won't see that message as a
message written to you. With this option set, April
will see your name without points also as a message
written to you. (this is functional if you f.e.
want to color messages written to you in NamesMenu.
This way Nick de.Jong and Nick de Jong are the
same for April.
Archive FlowLines - Archive messages will be provided with FlowLines.
(like paths/seenby's etc.)
Print FF between
msgs - If you print several messages, then April will
automatically give a formfeed between those msgs.
No ask - If this option is set, April won't ask you, for
requesters example, if you're sure you want to delete x number
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of messages. This counts also for some other
questions.
Request on Quit - April will now ask if you want to quit.
No Prefs. Save
on Quit - April will not save the preferences when it quits.
The only way do save them, is by activating this
function manually.
NOTE: If you press the shortcut: CTRL-Q, April will quit
instantaneously without saving any config or preferences file.
MMB all active - April will support the middle mousebutton as she
did.
MMB partly active - April will not react on a middle mousebutton click
if you press it below the topline of the AreaMenu,
NamesMenu and ShowMsg.
eg: With AreaMenu above the areas
With NamesMenu above the messages
With ShowMsg above the message (and NamesMenu)
And then we have some options specially for April's clock:
Clock - If this is set, the clock will appear in your titlebar
Clock: seconds - The seconds will be shown.
day - The day will be shown.
memory - Now April will show all your memory (CHIP + FAST mem)
5.2.4 Screen Config
In this Config Window you can change the colors and size of April's
screen.
In the middle of the window are 4 boxes which stand for the colors used
for the screen. Left of these boxes you find 3 sliders with which you
can adjust each color. Each slider stands for a color, respectively
red, green and blue.
On the left side of this configuration window are 7 gadgets. Each
gadget has an 8 color buffer and will be saved in the configs. All
gadgets contain a color-pattern which can be overwritten by your own
color-pattern. The colors of each buffer can be changed by clicking on
one of the 7 gadgets gadgets and change them. Since version 0.994 you
don't have to press the "SavePallete gadget". This gadget has therefor
been removed.
At the mid-right side of the window we find 5 gadgets:
Max ScreenSize - When you choose this option and you choose ReOpen, the
April screen will have the same size as the WorkBench
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Screen (overscan).
8 colors - April will open a screen with 8 colors. If your Amiga
has no real fast-ram, the output will be slowed down.
Swap Colors - Change color 1 to color 0. Great for using a dark
background, and still have '3d'windows and gadgets.
Warm Colors - Some parts (like the titlebar and slider) will get
another color. This color is taken from the current
color-pattern.
PubShanghai - With this option set, the April Screen will become
the default Shanghai screen. This means that if you
open a for instance a Shell, it will be openend on
the April Screen (instead of the WorkBench)
Furthermore we have the following gadgets:
ResetPalette - Choose this gadget if you want to reset your palette
to an earlier palette.
StdOverscan - Same size of the Standard Overscan as set in the
WorkBench preferences. (only WB2.0)
TxtOverscan - This resolution is also set in the WorkBench preferences.
(only WB2.0)
YEmpty - This is a stringgadget in which you can enter the number
of pixels that have to be unused at the bottom of the
screen. This way you could more easily use for example
ToolManager to open on Aprils screen (with ARexx etc.)
At the right side of this window you'll find a list of resolutions
that are available for use. This is the same list you find in the
WorkBench preferences. (only WB2.0+)
Beside the 2 gadgets (OK and Cancel) you find the following gadget:
Test - Closes the screen of April and reopens it. The
ConfigWindow will always appear after a reopen.
If you close the window after changing some options or sizes, then April
will automatically ReOpen.
5.2.5 External programs Config
This configurationwindow is directly linked with the External Menu. All
parts of that menu can be changed in this ConfigWindow.
The operation of this window is about the same as that of the
AreaListConfig. You have to select here also the menu-item before you
choose one of the functions at the left side of the window. When
double-click on an menu-item then the Edit function is activated for
that selected area.
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The functions which are known for this configuration are:
5.2.5.0 Add - Add a new menu-item.
5.2.5.1 Edit - Edit an old menu-item.
5.2.1.2 Delete - Delete a menu-item.
5.2.1.3 Move - Move one or more menu-items.
5.2.5.2 SortMv - Move and Sort one or more items
5.2.1.9 Sort - Sort all or only the selected areas.
5.2.1.6 All - Select all.
5.2.1.7 None - Unselect all.
5.2.1.8 Pattern - Select by pattern.
The externalConfig-file has a normal ASCII format. So it is possible to
edit in an texteditor.
5.2.5.0 External Add
When you choose this function, a small window will appear with at the
top a few stringgadgets and below some options.
The stringgadgets are:
MenuName - This is the name as it will appear in the External Menu.
ShortCut - The character which will be pressed in combination with
the ALT-key to call this menu-item.
Command - The command which will be executed when this menu-item is
chosen.
An example for these stringgadgets are:
MenuName [TopChart ] ShortCut [t ]
Command [Mail:TopChart ]
Next to these stringgadgets we find the following options:
Program uses Workbench screen- The Workbench Screen will popup to front
if this flag has been set.
Program uses Custom screen - After using this program, the April
Screen will come to front.
Program uses CLI window - This option means that your window needs
a CLI/Shell for its output.
Background run - The program will be detached from the
April-task. If set, April will work
simultaneously with the executed program.
(Since version 1.0 this function is
finally implemented!)
I think it's clear to you all, that you cannot set the first two options
at the same time.
5.2.5.0 External Edit
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When you have double selected a menuitem or if you have chosen this
function while you had selected a menuitem, a window will appear (as
with Add)
The difference between the Add-window and this window is that the
stringgadgets are already filled.
For the meaning of the stringgadgets, see the Add-function.
5.2.5.2 External SortMove
When you want to sort the move-buffer (see Move) while moving, you
only have to activate this function. These areas will be sorted when
you place them back in the list.
5.2.6 PrivUser Config
The PrivUser is a list with the names of the people you often write to.
In this case it's useful to remember their name and nodenumber, so
they can easily be redrawn from this list while writing a msg. You can
get the info of the specified user in the From-To Window (see WriteMsg)
by pressing the SHIFT-RETURN combination.
The PrivUser Window has the same environment as the ExternalConfig
Window.
The contents of this window is as follows:
5.2.6.0 Add - Add a new name.
5.2.6.1 Edit - Change an already existing name.
5.2.1.2 Delete - Delete a name.
5.2.1.3 Move - Move 1 or more names.
5.2.5.2 SortMv - Move and sort.
5.2.1.9 Sort - Sort the names.
5.2.1.6 All - Select all.
5.2.1.7 None - Unselect all.
5.2.1.8 Pattern - Select using a pattern.
See also: ExternalConfig (5.2.5)
5.2.6.0 PrivUser Add
When you select the 'Add' gadget, a window with 7 stringgadgets will
appear:
FirstName - This is the firstname of the added person.
LastName - And the lastname of this person.
Address - The nodenumber of this person.
NickName - The NickName...
When someone has a large name and his normal firstname
is difficult to be retrieved from that name, a nickname
is handy. This name will then also retrieve the real name
of this user, so it can be placed in the From-To Window.
(See also: WriteMsg (5.3.1.0))
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Example : James Michael Smith
NickName: JMS
YoName - This is the name you call this person. This is also the
name which will be placed above the msg when you
reply on his letter. (like "Hello Micheal")
YoName: Michael (otherwise it would be James)
Group - The name of people who are in a group. This is very
handy if you want to write a CarbonCopy only to these
persons. eg only the members of your club.
Group: YourClub <NOT yet implemented!>
Domain - This is the Domain where the added name is active.
(like FidoNet)
See also: ExternalConfig => Add (5.2.5.0)
5.2.6.0 PrivUser Edit
Just as with the ExternalConfig, a window will appear with the same
contents as the Add window of this Config. Only now everything has
been filled in, according to the selected name.
5.2.7 AreaGroups Config (GroupEdit)
You find yourself in the editor for Groups. The currently available
groups are displayed in the list. With the slider, which is at the
right side of the list, you can scroll (if not every group can be
displayed).
At the left side of the window are 3 gadget:
5.2.7.0 Add - Add a new Group to the current list;
5.2.7.1 Edit - Edit an already existing group;
5.2.7.2 Delete - Delete a group from the list;
If you want to Edit or Delete a group, first select a group followed
by the desired gadget (or cursor-right to Edit).
5.2.7.0 AreaGroups Add
If you've selected the Add gadget, a window will appear in the middle of
your screen. The window has been divided in three parts:
GroupName - The name of the group which has to be added.
Language list - List of all languages currently available.
Gadgets:
5.2.9 Origins - Add/Edit/Delete origins;
5.2.10 Openings - Add/Edit... your opening sentences in your messages;
5.2.11 Closings - Add/Edit... your closing sentences;
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5.2.8 Language - Add/Edit/Delete languages;
Each Language has it's own origins, Openings and Closings. Before you
want to change one of these, select from the list a language. Then
press the desired gadget (Origings, Openings or Closings)
If you want to add a new Language you only have to press that gadget
and the Language window will pop up. However, if you want to edit a
language, first select the gadget you want to change and then the
Language gadget.
With the GroupName stringgadget you have the ability to add a new
Group. Just fill in a new name for that group, select a language from
the list, edit one of the first 3 gadgets and exit. If everything is
alright, your new group is visible in the GroupEdit window.
5.2.7.1 AreaGroups Edit (GroupEdit)
Well, not much to tell about this window. It's basicly the same as the
Add Window, with the exception that the GroupName has been filled in
and the language which is linked with this group has been selected
already.
5.2.7.2 AreaGroups Delete
With this function you can delete a group from the Group-list. First
select the group you want to delete, followed by the Delete gadget.
Origins, openings and closings will disappear, the language will remain
until deleted.
WARNING: A deleted group cannot be undeleted!
5.2.8 Languages (GroupLan)
If have pressed this gadget, a window will appear. This window is about
the same as the GroupEdit window. The only difference is the kind of
list (here languages).
I only discuss the Add function. The Edit function is almost exactly
the same. The Delete function can be used by first selecting a language
and then pressing the Delete gadget.
5.2.8.1 Languages Add
If you've pressed the Add or Edit gadget, a large window with a lot of
stringgadgets will appear. At the top of the window you'll find the name
of the language you're editing.
The division of this window is as follows:
- At the left side of the window, 4 count stringgadgets. cnt#1 can be
for example 'st' which will be printed behind the '1'.
Like:'The 1st of May'
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- In the center of the window, 7 stringgadgets. Each stringgadget
represents a weekday (Day #1 is 'Sunday' or an equivalent)
- At the right side of the window, 12 stringgadgets. 12 gadgets which
represent 12 monts (Month #1 is 'January' or an equivalent)
Finally 2 options:
American dates - Standard date like : 23-oct-92
With this option set, date like: Oct-23-92
Use Counts - Use the 'st', 'nd', 'rd' <or equivalent>
Am. dates (see above):
Standard (example) : Oct 23 92
With this option set: Oct 23rd 92
5.2.9 Origins Config (OriginEdit)
If you have configured the rest of April, this window could familiar
to you, because has the same interface as the Openings and Closings
configurations.
The following gadgets can be found in this window:
OK - Exit with installing the changes in the origins list
Add - Add a new origin.
Del - Delete the entry which is marked by the cursor/bar.
Cancel - Exit without installing changes.
If you press the key combination AMIGA-Space you can switch between the
stringgadget and the list (if you're working with the keyboard of
course)
5.2.10 Openings (OpeningsEdit)
What do we mean with Openings?
With Openings we mean the opening sentences your editor normally writes
for you while replying a message. (eg. "On 5 October you wrote to me:")
Now it's possible to add several opening sentences, so April will
randomly take one Opening sentence from the list while replying a
message.
The interface for changing the Openings list is the same as
that for the Origin and Closing configs. If you press the cursor-right
key (or press ones at an Opening line) the selected Opening will be
printed in the column below and can be changed. Another way to switch
between the list and the editor below is by using the key combination
AMIGA-space.
After add you have to use the Add function again, this time to insert
the Opening in the list. Each return is represented by a square-
character.
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Different from the OriginEdit is that you have the ability to use codes
in your Openings-sentences.
A little example:
You add a new Opening like:
--- New Opening ---
Hi %tof !
On %day %date at %time you wrote to %to about '%subject', the following
lines:
-------------------
When you reply to a message, the above lines will be converted to:
--- Replied MSG ---
Hi John !
On Saturday 3 October '92 at 20:35:41 you wrote to me about
'Nice proggy!', the following lines:
JM>
JM>...etc
-------------------
For the other supported codes, see: Codes (7.1.0)
5.2.11 Closings (ClosingsEdit)
What do we mean with Closings?
Closings are sentences which will be placed at the end of each message.
These sentences allow you to say goodbye to the person you wrote to.
An example of a closing is:
--- New Closing ---
Goodbye!
%me
-------------------
which will be converted to:
--- Replied MSG ---
Goodbye!
Peter
-------------------
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For the other supported codes, see par. (7.1.0)
5.2.12 Event Commands
To make it more easier to use other programs in conjunction with April
12 events can currentrly be programmed.
They are:
At startup - Upon startup the contents of this stringgadget will
be executed.
At quit - Same as above, but now when you quit.
To AreaMenu
To NamesMenu - When you switch over to one of these menus.
To ShowMessage
Before Import - Before importing (reading of the archives), after
the backup (& move of freqs)
Before Backup - First thing what happens, when you active the
Import.
After Backup - Same as "Before Import". The will both be executed.
(After_Backup -> Before_Import)
After Import - When is ready importing.
Before Export - First thing what happens, when you active the
Export.
After Export - When April is ready exporting.
The OK & CANCEL gadget don't need further comment.
5.2.13 AreaMenu Config
We can seperate this window into two columns. The first column is for
the Areamenu information.
The first 3 options say when you want to make a line bold:
Bold LastImport - Makes lines bold of areas with an LastImport-flag.
Bold UnRead - Makes lines Unread of areas which contain UnRead
msgs.
Bold UnRead ToYou - Same as 'Bold Unread' but now for UnRead msgs to
you.
The other 2 are:
No leading nills - Data in AreaMenu will only show the numbers.
(eg. ' 10' in stead of '0010')
Show NoReply - If this options is set, April will place an "!"
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after each area which contains not replied
messages.
In the second column we find 6 options. Each option stands for a
message-kind where April jumps to when you select the LMB->RMB
combination (left mousebutton->right mousebutton) or by double clicking,
(this depends on your config).
From the AreaMenu we can jump with the LMB->RMB to the following
combinations:
First unread MSG - First unread message.
First unread MSG ToYou - First unread message to you.
First LastImport - First LastImport message.
First unread LastImport - First unread LastImport message.
Lastread - The last message you read.
Lastread +1 - 1 message further as the above message.
The other options which can be set are:
Bold LastImport - Makes lines bold of areas with an LastImport-flag.
Bold UnRead - Makes lines Unread of areas which contain UnRead msgs.
Bold UnRead ToYou - Same as 'Bold Unread' but now for UnRead msgs to you.
No leading nills - Data in AreaMenu will only show the numbers.
(eg. ' 10' in stead of '0010')
For more info about the AreaMenu see par. 5.1.1
5.2.14 NamesMenu Config
This Configuration Window contains, just as the AreaMenuConfig window
only options.
These options can be devided in:
Show Date - Show the date column.
Show Flag - Show the {"flags" link NamesMenu} of all messages.
Show Size - Show the size (in bytes) of each message.
Show From - Show the From field in the namesmenu.
Show To - Show the To field in the namesmenu.
Show Subject - Show the Subject field in the namesmenu.
Show NoReply - If set, April will place a "!" for each message
that hasn't been replied by you.
* Unread - With this you have the possibility to place a '*'
* LastImport for each message with is UnRead/LastImport/ToYou
* ToYou
C Unread - With these 3 options you can color the messages-lines
C LastImport of the messages which are UnRead/LastImport/ToYou.
C ToYou
B Unread - With these 3 options you can place the messages-lines
B LastImport of the messages in bold if they are UnRead/LastImport/
B ToYou ToYou.
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Show All - Show in the NamesMenu only the messages of which
Show Marked the selected options has been set.
<etc...>
For more info about this see par 5.1.2
5.2.15 ShowMsgConfig
The ShowMsgConfig contains a lot of options. Not all options are related
to how messages are showed. Jump to a next/previous message-kind, the
way each message has to be quoted and other things like buffered
msg-reading, for example, are set with these options.
All options are:
Show Kludge - The Kludge will be visible.
Show seenby - The seen-by will be visible.
Show tear - The tearline will be visible.
Show origin - The origin will be visible.
Kludge color - In combination with "Show Kludge", the kludge will
get another color.
Quote color - Now the quotes will be colored
Font extras - The underline/bold/italic etc...will be made
visible.
Collapse Quotes - The quotes in a message will be collapsed.
(see also 8.3.0).
No columns - Don't test for column wordwrap.
No Reflow - Don't reflow your messages (only for exported
messages)
The 2 options above may get handy if your message looks as if the
routine got overworked :)
The following options are very handy for those who want to jump to
next/previous messages on message-kind:
AND not OR - If this option is set, the messages have to comply with
the options set below. Otherwise, April will look for
another message which complies with these options, before
it will be showed. So if it is set, and you select
Unread and ToYou, then you will read all messages that
are BOTH. When you unselect the gagdet, you will read
every message that is Unread or that is already Read but
is addressed to you.
Normal - Option for normal messages.
Selected - Option for selected messages
Marked - Option for Marked messages
Showed - Option for messages which are showed in the NamesMenu
LastImport - Option for messages which were imported last.
Unread - Option for unread messages.
To You - Option for messages which are written to you.
Beep if To You - April gives a beep if she bumps in a message addressed
to you.
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Next to these options, which indicate where you want to jump to, there
are the Quote-options. These options say what you want to quote in a
message (ReplyRestyle). We find:
Quote klg/snby - The replied message will contain kludges and seenby's
Quote tear/org - The message above will contain tear and origins
No Openings - If this option is set, you disable the Opening lines
when replying to a message.
No Closings - Same as 'No Openings', but now for the Closings.
Quote Firstname- Places the Firstname of the person you reply to before
his quotes instead of the usual initials.
eg. Jim McEntire: JM> (this flag not set)
Jim> (This flag set)
Finally there are those last options:
NoErrorReq - Don't show error requesters.
Slider - If you set this option, the slider will be placed in
the ShowMsg.
ExtraTitle - <Not yet implemented>
AutoLoad HDR - Gives you the possibility to jump to the next/previous
area while you are in ShowMsg. If you press Next Msg
at the end of an area, you will go to the next area.
April uses the way you are reading at the moment, if
you are reading only Unread messages, April will send
you to the next area with Unread messages left !
Show NamesMenu - If this options is set then April will place the
NamesMenu in the ShowMsg window. At the bottum side
of your screen you'll find the list window which size
can be adjusted by pressing the bar above the names-
menu list and slide it up or down. When let the bar
loose, April will refresh the whole screen.
Note: when you press the space bar you can activate
the Showmsg or namesmenu. This way you can scroll
through the message or the namesmenu list.
MsgBuffer - This option makes buffered message loading possible.
A second program is started at a low priority that
continuously keeps filling a buffer in memory with
the next messages in the messagebase and starts to
restyle them as well. When you hit Next Msg, you will
see the msg on screen almost instantly ! April
doesn't have to look it up on the (hard)drive.
The first stringgadget is connected to the MsgBuffer option and has
only then a function. The size should be given in KiloBytes, and
specifies the maximum amount of memory your buffer is allowed to be. 30K
is enough for normal use.
For more info about this part see par 5.1.3
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The stringgadget which we shouldn't forget is:
TabSize - This stringgadgets gives the number of spaces which will be
used when April finds a TAB code (ASCII 9) in your message.
5.2.16 Save Configs
This function will only be activated when you quit April or if you
choose this menu-item.
A window will appear with all the configuration-files. If any changes
have been made to a configuration, they will be saved. This way, no
configuration will be needlessly saved.
If an error occured while loading or saving, "ERROR" string will stay for
a few seconds, so also if you have a fast harddisk it will attract your
attention.
5.3.0 WriteMessage Menu
5.3.1.0 Write MSG
With this function it's possible to generate a new message. You can
write a new message in each of the three parts of the program (AreaMenu,
NamesMenu, ShowMsg)
If this function has been activated, the editor (which has been
configured in the GeneralConfigs) will be loaded. In this editor you
can write your new message, save it to disk and leave again. When you
have quitted your editor, 2 windows will appear on the April Screen:
The FromTo Window - This is the place where you can input the the
data of the new message.
The PrivUser Window - This is the window with your PrivUser, where you
can choose the destination.
See also: Reply Msg (5.3.2) and Edit MSG (5.3.3)
5.3.1.1 FromTo Window
In this window you can input the data of the person to whom your
message should be sent to, and some extra info about your message.
We should make a clear distinction between NetMail and EchoMail.
(eg. Netmail needs a nodenumber and echomail not)
The window regarding echomail looks like:
4 stringgadgets:
From - The sender of this message (you). Will automatically be
filled in with your own name.
To - The name of the person whom this message is meant for.
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Subject - The subject of this message.
Origin - May be filled in to your own liking. If you have an
origin-list, April will take a random origin from that list.
If this list is empty, April will fill in her own origin.
Note: if you press SHIFT-RETURN while your cursor is in the
Origin stringgadget, April will place another origin
in the stringgadget.
If you press SHIFT-RETURN in the 'To' field, April will look in the
PrivUser and complete the name and ev. fill in the address. If 'To'
Holds your 'AreaFix' Name (see BBSInfo) of the BBSInfo of this area,
April will fill in all fields (using password etc.)
Then there is the option:
Usenet
NetMail - Set this flag if you want to write a message via a
Fido->Usenet messagegate and your message is Usenet Netmail.
(April will then address the message to the given person)
Don't
reflow - Don't reflow the message you just wrote.
The division of the Netmail Window differs not much from that of the
EchoMail Window. The differences are:
- 2 extra stringgadgets for the From and To addresses.
- 6 extra options for a message, which are:
Private - States that this is a private message.
Receipt - If every Node works as it should, you should
receive a Receipt message from the Node of the
addressed point.
Crash - If set, the message will be exported and stored in
a separate packet, so you can send your message(s)
directly with your mailer. The format will be
eg 2.285.404.0.CUT.
Crash to Boss - Your message will now be crashed via your Boss.
This way, you don't have to make contact yourself,
but your Boss' BBS will make contact for you.
Please notify your Boss when you're going to use
this option !
File Attach - Opens a file-requester, with which you can say what
file you want to attach to message. Is only allowed
with Crashmail.
Carbon Copy - With this option, you can send a message to several
persons. You should use the PrivUser when you use
this option.
Finally, we have the gadgets:
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Edit - Here you can change your just-written message.
PrivUser - The PrivUser window will appear or disappear.
Use the shortcut AMIGA-Space for switching between the PrivUser window
and the FromToWindow.
If you think the that the windows don't have the right position or size,
just change them to suit your own taste. April will remember the
position and size of ALL windows for the next time you're going to
open the windows and stores them in the preferences file. April will
then save the preferences file while leaving or if you choose the menu-
item 'Save Configs'.
5.3.1.2 Carbon Copy
If this option is set, you can send a message/file-attach to several
persons. The only condition is that those persons to whom the message
has to be sent should be in the PrivUser-list.
How does CarbonCopy work?
Just set this option and choose the persons to whom the message should
be sent. It doesn't matter what the 'To' or 'Address' stringgadgets
say, because April won't do anything with them if this options is set.
When desired, you may change some other options.
Finally, just press the OK gadget and April will take care of the
rest...
5.3.2 Reply MSG
With this function you can reply to a message. Basicly the same as
WriteMsg, but now the message which you want to reply to, will be
quoted. The initials of the original writer/addressee will be added
before each quoted line, to indicate which parts of your new message
that have been quoted. The name of the addressee and the subject will be
filled in also.
Note:
There is a substantional difference between the "ReplyMsg <from>" and
the "ReplyMsg <to>". The first function replies to the author of a
message, the second function replies to the addressee of a message.
5.3.3 Edit MSG
When you have written a message earlier on, you can change that message
with this function. The date and time will also be changed to the
current date and time.
April will set the export flag of each message which was edited, except
if the message was generated by you.
5.3.4 Edit Header
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This function is basicly the same as EditMsg, but now you can't edit the
message. With this function it's only possible to change the data of
the FromToWindow (except if you choose the 'Edit' option).
5.3.5 Forward
This function copies a message to another area, along with some info
about that message (such as original writer etc...)
5.3.6 Reply & Forward
Basicly the same as the forward function, but now you're able to reply
to the message, before it's going to be forwarded. This way, it's
possible to reply to an echomail message in the netmail for example.
5.3.7 Reply as Netmail
This function replies to the author of a message, just like the normal
"Reply <from>" function does. The only extra thing this function does
is placing the replied message in the netmail area which has the same
nodenumber as the echomail area where you replied the message.
5.3.8 Save 'to quote'-part
Select one or more lines in the ShowMsg window (the part where the
message is situated. Choose this menu item and April will add the
selected lines to the file Quote.msg the same directory as your
EditFile.
5.3.9 Archive
The menu-item 'Archive' can be divided in a submenu with the following
items:
Archive - If you choose this one, the message(s) which have been
selected, or, if you're in ShowMsg, the message
currently on screen, will be archived. Each area has
it's own archive-file (eg. Archive_AMIGA)
If you don't want any flowlines in your archive,
just unset the "Archive FlowLines" flag in the
GeneralConfig.
Archive as... - A file-requester will appear on screen. Fill in the
directory and filename where the archived message(s)
should be saved.
Archive in
Group - Select a filename (group) from the list where the
current message should be saved to. See "Group edit"
for more information.
Group edit - You can enter a filename by pressing the ADD gadget.
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the DEL gadget is of course for removing filenames
from the list.
Use filenames as: "Archive:Planes.arc" or
"Archive:FunnyMessages.arc"
(The extension (or no extension at all) may be
anything. Don't forget to insert the correct path
where the archive should be saved to)
As you can see has this feature been added to archive
on subjects instead of areanames.
Print MSG - Your message will be send to the printer.
5.4.0 Message Menu
5.4.1 Search (in) a MSG
With this function you can select by a pattern. The pattern compared can
be flags, strings (e.g. from) or date.
*Flags
At the left side of the Search window you find all flags which can be
checked. Next to these flags there are two rows of options.
For example:
(Un)Set/X
Delete [] []
etc...
The first (left) option states if a checked message must be Set or
Unset. The second gadget is a kind of "Don't care" gadget. If
this gadget is set, it doesn't matter if the first gadget has been
set.
An example:
(Un)Set/X
Delete [V] []
This means that the message must have the deleted flag set.
(Un)Set/X
Delete [] [V]
This way the search routine won't check this flag. Even if the first
option has been set.
*Strings
There are 4 stringgadgets: From, To, Subject and String. These first 3
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stringsgadgets are patterns for the From, To and subject. The fourth
(stringgadget 'String') is a pattern for the message itself.
*Date
If you just opened the Search window, all date-gadgets will look like:
Date [ ALL ] [**] [*********] [****]
a b c d
a) Indicates checking-method (ALL/SINCE/UPTO/ON eg. 12 September 1992)
b) The day
c) The month
d) The year
You can change the months and condition by using:
Left mousebutton - go forward (eg months: January, february etc..)
Right mousebutton - go backwards (eg monts: January, December etc..)
So it could look like:
Date [ ON ] [12] [September ] [1992]
If you have set the date-gadgets like this, and you haven't touched the
other patterns (like flags and strings), April will select all messages
which were written on 12 September 1992.
Well, we have discussed all kinds of patterns in this window, but how to
start searching?
At the bottom of the screen are 2 gadgets:
Search gadget - April will check all patterns against the messages.
Since this includes 'String' also, April will have to
load the message itself. This means that it takes a
little while, before she will be finished.
This routine will result in selecting the messages which comply with
the patterns in the Search-window.
Abort gadget - If you press this gadget while searching, April will
abort the Search function.
There are different ways of selecting a message.
Default is always: First unselect all, Select if found.
Here are all options, which can be found at the bottom right of the
Search-window:
First unselect all - April will first unselect all messages. This means
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no message will be selected before starting.
Select if found - April will Select (Highlight) the message which
matches the patterns.
Unselect if found - All message which match the patterns will be
unselected. This option cannot be used with
"First unselect all" or "Select if found".
Search selected
only - April will only check the messages which are
selected (highlighted)
Mark found entries - All messages which match with the patterns will
be marked.
Search until tear - If this option is set, the Search function will
not go beyond the tear (tear, origin, seenby's
etc. are not compared with the given pattern)
5.4.2 Select MSG
With this function you can select a message, or by using this function
repeatedly, unselecting one.
5.4.3 Select Marked
Does not need much explanation: All marked messages will be selected.
5.4.4 Select All
With this function you can select all messages of an area. Independently
of if you're in ShowMsg or in the NamesMenu.
5.4.5 Select None
Does the opposite of the SelectAll function: unselect all messages,
indepentently of if you're in ShowMsg or in the NamesMenu.
5.4.6 Delete MSG
With this function you can delete messages in the NamesMenu and
ShowMsg.
In the NamesMenu you have to select the message and then this
menu-item. In ShowMsg you can delete a message by pressing the
DEL-key or, like in the NamesMenu, by choosing this menu-item.
In the NamesMenu April will give a warning if you're sure you want to
delete the message(s). However, if you're in ShowMsg, April will just
set the DEL-flag of the message. If you have accidentally set the
DEL-flag, it's possible to get the message back by selecting that
message and calling the SetMsgFlags routine and RESET the Delete-flag.
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If you have deleted 1 of more messages, they won't be visible with the
normal settings. Do you however want to see these messages, set the
Delete-flag in the NamesMenuConfig. The 'All' flag in the
NamesMenuConfig does NOT mean that the deleted messages are visible!
The messages of which the delete-flag is set, will really be deleted
when you are importing new messages in the regarding area. This means
that you have activated the import function or that you have
written/edited a message in that area.
5.4.7 Set MSG Flags
The window of this function can be called by selecting one or more
names. In ShowMsg it will always appear. Other ways to let this window
appear in ShowMsg is by pressing the '*' on your keypad or by clicking
with the middle mousebutton on the flags in the title of ShowMsg.
2 kinds of SetMsgFlags windows exist. The window in ShowMsg
speaks for itself, but the window in the NamesMenu needs some more
explanation.
This window has 2 rows of gadgets:
Above the first row you find an R which stands for RESET;
And above the second row an S which stands for SET;
If you choose SET, the message of which the flag hasn't been set will be
set. With RESET the opposite. Both SET and RESET will swap the chosen
flags
This way it's possible to swap flags of the selected messages: e.g. all
marked messages will be 'unmarked' and 'unmarked' messages will be
marked.
5.4.8 Catch Up
This function will set all READ flags of all the messages in the area
you have #active#. This means that if you haven't read a lot of
messages in area, April will update that area with this function by
setting all the READ flags.
And it looks as if you have read all messages.
That's all...
5.4.9 Clear NoReplies
If you select this function, April will clear the NoReply flags (which
are printed as "!") of the messages you've selected or the message you're
currently in (ShowMsg).
5.4.10 Rip Origin
Rip Origin is a small but useful function. Suppose you find someones
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origin very nice/great/havoc and you don't want to type the whole origin
into the Origin-List (lazy? 8), you should use this function. Rip Origin
will rip the origin of someones message and places it in your Origin
list of the group of the area you're currently in.
5.4.11 Add To PrivUser
This function will copy the names of the authors of the messages to your
PrivUser list.
Activate AddToPrivUser by:
- selecting one or more messages in the NamesMenu.
- pressing the shortcut in the NamesMenu or ShowMsg.
- or choosing this menu-item.
See also: PrivUser (5.2.6)
5.4.12 MSG Info
If you're in ShowMsg and you select this function from Message-Menu or
by pressing "?", a window will popup, with some information about the
message currently on screen.
If you have a Nodelist, give in the GeneralConfigs the name of the
directory where April should find this list. (Traplist.library required)
If April finds a Nodelist, she will say where the message originally
came from (like BBSName, Boss etc)
Only one line needs some explanation:
Overhead: This is the number of bytes (also in percentage of the message)
that has nothing to do with the message itself (like origin,
kludges and seenby's)
5.5.0 Browse Menu
In this menu gives you the possibility to jump to several places in an
area. We can divide this menu into:
First msg - Jump to first message in an area;
Last msg - Jump to last message in an area.
First in chain - If want to read a whole chain, this function brings
you to the first message in a chain.
Last in chain - Same as "First in chain", but now for last message
in a chain.
First selected - If you have selected several messages, this
function jumps to the first selected message.
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Last selected - Same as "First selected", but now for last message.
First marked - This function brings you to the first message of
which the mark flags has been set.
Last marked - Same as "First Marked", but now for last message.
Swap Page forward - April will jump one page (screen) further into a
message. Or, if this isn't possible: next message
Swap Page back - Same as above, but now backwards.
ID/Subject chain - Choose this function if you want to switch between
ID and Subject in a chain. How you're currently
chaining can be seen in the Browse box (2nd box
from the right)
Goto Lastread - If you're in the Arealist(menu) and you choose this
menu item or press the TAB key, then April will
jump to the lastread area and lastread message.
(the last message you read in the messagebase)
Next Area - Same as "Previous Area", but now for a next area.
Previous Area - Jumps to NamesMenu or ShowMsgMenu of a previous
area.
Menu back - This way, you will force April to go a Menu back.
(ShowMsgMenu->NamesMenu->AreaMenu->Quit)
5.5.0 External Menu
This Menu has been specially added for external programms, like mailers
and request-tools.
The shortcut for each added menu-item is the ALT-key and not, like other
menus, the AMIGA-key.
For configuration of the External Menu I refer to the explanation of the
ExternalConfig (5.2.5).
6.0.0 Groups & Languages
Each area is part of a group of areas. You can have a 'fun' group, a
'test' group, a 'general', 'local' group, etc. Each group has its own
origins, openings, closings and a language field.
The 'General' group and 'English' language are defaults.
Languages (5.2.8):
Each language can have it's own names for days, months etc. These days
and months are visible in the area in which they are used.
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Groups (5.2.7):
Each new Group which is added has the standard language 'English'. It's
possible to change this to another language with GroupEdit. Each area
must be linked to a group. The language which will be used in that
area, depends on the language of the Group of that area.
7.0.0 Openings & Closings
With these terms, we mean the sentences at the beginning and at the end
of each message.
How to create the sentences see:
Openings - Add/Edit Openings (5.2.10)
Closings - Add/Edit Closings (5.2.11)
See also: Origins (5.2.9)
7.1.0 Codes for Openings & Closings
The full supported code-list is as followes:
Code Which means... Example
============--=======================--=================================
%from => from name => Nick de.Jong
%fromf => from firstname => Nick
%froml => from lastname => de.Jong
%to => to name => John McCall (me)
%tof => to firstname => John (me)
%tol => to lastname => McCall (me)
%me => your name => Peter Dillenger
%mef => your firstname => Peter
%mel => your lastname => Dillenger
%subject => subject
%subj => subject
%date => complete date => 23 june '92 / june 23rd
%dates => date short => 23-oct-92 / Oct-23-92
%dateday => day if last week
else equals date => wednesday / %date
%year => year => 1992
%yy => year => 92
%month => month name => october
%mm => month nr => 10
%day => day name => wednesday
%dd => day nr => 23
%time => time => 18:45:25
%Mtime => time => 6:45:25 PM
%hour => hour => 18
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%min => minutes => 45
%sec => seconds => 25
%area => AreaName => Amy_Point
%msgfile => TextFile of msg => T:April.MSGfile
%Naddr => Addr of user => 2:285/404.31
%FromAddr => Addr of user => 2:285/404.31 (same as above)
%ToAddr => Addr of To-user => 2:282/307.5
%req => 'Ok' requester => (*) %req "Hello world!"
%cmd<commnd>=> Command (no output) => (*) %cmd"list >T:Temp.cmd"
%$<file> => Replaced by contents
of file (as args) => (*) %$ram:txt
%#<file> => Replaced by contents
of file (with
linefeeds) => (*) %#ram:txt
%string[/title[/txt]] => (*) %string/enter string
%list[/title[/[$"file"]/../line]] => (*) %list/Files/line1/line2
suffix nr => max nr chars => (eg %subj15): subject will
be cut at 15 characters.
============--=======================--=================================
The '%to' code changes to the "me"-string if you reply to a message
written to you. This string is unlike daynames and months, currently
not linked with the language of a group. (will be fixed in newer
versions)
All the codes used in April can also be used in the commands of the
External Menu, but they will work only when you're in ShowMsg.
(*) The codes '%list', '%string', '%$', '%#', '%req' and '%cmd' will be
explained with some extra examples in par. 8.7.0.
8.0.0 Miscellaneous
8.1.0 ARexx support
Version 1.0 is the first April version with a large number of ARexx
commands, which gives the user the ability to control April from within
other programs. I chose a few basic examples for this document. In the
addendum to this document you can find all the ARexx commands April
recognizes.
An example of an AmigaDos script which calls the 'JumpFirstNoReply.rexx'
ARexx script.
---ADos-script-----------------
run April
waitforport "APRILREXX"
rx rexx:JumpFirstNoReply.rexx
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-------------------------------
See also the ARexx script provided with the package.
8.2.0 FontExtras
Well, you've certainly seen them: the *GREAT* kind of words. No, the
word "GREAT" is just an example for one of the extrafonts which April
supports. If you have set the flag "ExtraFonts" in your
ShowMsgConfigs, April will show this word in Bold. The '*' at both
sides of the word will be stripped.
To give you a brief example of the ExtraFonts April supports, here are:
*GREAT* - The word "GREAT" will be showed in Bold
_GREAT_ - The word "GREAT" will be showed Underlined
/GREAT/ - The word "GREAT" will be showed Italic
#GREAT# - The word "GREAT" will be showed in Complement.
The above methods are only used for single words. If you want to show
whole lines in for example bold, you have to use the following method:
$*This is a line in bold$*
The '$' before the '*' character says that Bold should continue until we
find another '$*'.
Another example:
$/This line is in italic$/
Italic stays on until we find the characters '$/'.
If you actived for example italic and you won't turn it off, April will
automatically stop the italic when the line changes from quote:
-An example------------------
JM> $/Here is italic on, and will stay on until it bumps into a
JM> different quote.
DH> Yep, here is italic off again, because this is a different quote.
-----------------------------
8.3.0 Collapse Quotes
If this function is activated, the quotes of all messages will be
brought back to a minimum. This way large masses of quotes are avoided
and a message with minimal quotes will be shown.
To give you an example of Collapse Quotes...first look at the normal
quotes in a message:
PdB> HJ> That document is nothing compared with this guide.
PdB>
PdB> Well, that is just what i mean.
After a few replies it will look like:
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PdB> HJ> PdB> HJ> PdB> Nice Quote this is...
PdB> HJ> PdB> HJ>
PdB> HJ> PdB> HJ> It's not that long...
PdB> HJ> PdB>
PdB> HJ> PdB> I don't agree with you.
PdB> HJ>
PdB> HJ> You can say what you want, but it's getting shorter
PdB> HJ> all the way.
PdB>
PdB> What i can't imagine is why they still use long-quotes.
If you have selected the Collapse Quotes option, the above message would
look like:
PdB>> Nice Quote this is...
HJ>> It's not that long...
PdB>> I don't agree with you.
HJ>> You can say what you want, but it's getting shorter
HJ>> all the way.
PdB> What i can't imagine is why they still use long-quotes.
It's for the user to decide wether he's going to use this option or
not.
8.4.0 AutoLoadHeader
If you set this option and you are at the end of an area while you are
in ShowMsg, you can go automatically to the next area. April will, just
as with every other message, check the Browse-options with the flags of
the message. If you, for example, read unread messages in an area and
you get at the end (or beginning) of an area, April will automatically
go to the next/previous area and load the first/last unread message.
This doesn't have to be an area which is next to the current one, April
will show a brief "Skipping x areas" and jumps to the next one with
Unread messages.
8.5.0 MessageBuffer
If this option for buffered loading is set, every time you go to the
ShowMsgMenu, a few messages will be already loaded and restyled. This
way you don't have to wait for loading and restyling the next or
previous messages.
Connected to this option is the stringgadget "Buffersize". This is the
size of the memory April may use for loading and restyling of
messages. The size is given in Kilobytes.
When you switch back to the NamesMenu, April will stop the MsgBuffer-
task from loading and restyling messages.
8.6.0 Area and message flags
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The flags of a message are:
L - Message is last read.
D - Message will be deleted.
P - Message is protected from deletion and will not be
thrown out of the MsgBase.
R - Message has been read.
M - Message has been marked.
E - Message will be exported during the next export-session.
S - Messages has been exported (sent).
A - Message has been archived.
The flags of each message can be changed with SetMsgFlags.
The flags of an area are:
N - Area is for Netmail messages.
B - Area is for Badmail messages (eg corrupted messages)
W - This is an international area (WorldWide). Currently only an
indicator. <Not yet supported>
R - This is a read-only area.
Q - Area uses Reflow Quotes
P - Area is used for Private node.
E - Area has exported messages.
I - Area has last import messages.
L - This is the LastRead Area.
8.7.0 Explanation and examples of several % codes
Because several codes may need some further explanation, we're going to
give some extra examples.
%cmd : Executes a command.
Example: %cmd "list >T:Temp.cmd".
This will execute the 'list' command and place the output
in 'T:Temp.cmd'
Usage : %cmd<command>
%$ : Will load the contents of a given file and each line of this
file will be placed as an argument.
Usage : %$<file>
Example: %$RAM:Txt
This 'code-string' will be replaced by the contents of the
given file ('RAM:Txt'). Each line of the file will be divided
by a space.
For example, if the file 'RAM:Txt' has the following contents:
--------------------------------------------
Hello1
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Hello2
Hello World 3
--------------------------------------------
it will replace the '%$RAM:Txt' by:
'"Hello1" "Hello2" "Hello World3"'
In combination with a command (eg AFR) it'll look like:
AFR -a 2:285/404 %$RAM:Txt
AFR -a 2:285/404 Hello1 Hello2 "Hello World3"
%# : Same as %$, just now with linefeeds and no '"' placed round
the lines.
Usage : %#<file>
Example: %#RAM:Txt
This command can eg be used in conjunction with the %req
command, because that command needs also linefeeds in its
text.
%req : A requester will popup with a given text in its window.
Usage : %req <text>
Example: %req "Hello world !"
%req "Hi %mef, how are you ?"
%string : Gives the user the opportunity to let a stringgadgets popup.
The contents of the stringgadget will replace the %string
code.
Usage : %string[/title[/txt]]
Example: %string/"Enter command"
This will create a stringgadget with the title "Enter command".
or: %string/"Enter here"/List
This will create also a stringgadget with the title "Enter here",
only the contents of it will be 'List'
In combination with a command (AFR) it'll look like:
AFR -a 2:285/404 %string/"Enter file"
AFR -a 2:285/404 <ContentsOfStringgadget>
%list : Creates a window with a list (+slider) and a stringgadget.
Usage : %list[/title[/[$"file"]/../line]]
Example: %list/"Freq Files"/File1/File2
This will create a listwindow with a slider and stringgadget.
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2 contents of the list are already given: 'File1' and 'File2'
Besides the already given contents you can enter new ones in
the stringgadget. You can alos Delete, Add or Edit the items
in the list.
In combination with the already given %$, you can make a
complete File request tool:
AFR -raq 2:285/404 %list/"FileRequest"/File1/File2/$RAM:tmp
AFR -raq 2:285/404 File1 File2 <Contents listwindow>
For all these codes needed for a nice filerequester or other
tool, see the "April.extern" configuration file, provided
with the AFR (April FileRequest) tool.
NOTE: All given command codes may be used in conjunction with each
other. April recognizes recursion, this means that f.e. the
following strings are valid to use in your April.extern:
"Node?" %req "%cmd \"getnode %UserAddr >ram:tmp\" %#ram:tmp"
With each recursion you have to place a '/' before the '"'
character.
Example: "... \"... \\"...\\"... \" ..."
^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And so on...
9.0.0 Politics
9.1.0 Registration
* Registration for the complete April Pointpackage *
April has been released after 2,5 years of programming, testing,
bugfixing and a lot of discussions about how to create and improve a
point-only program which has everything that we missed in other point
programs. This means that we think it's reasonable to ask a
registration fee in the amount of one of the following currencies:
30 Dutch Guilders N. de Jong
30 Deutsch Marks Aggemastate 109
20 US $ to 8926 PB Leeuwarden
25 Swiss Francs The Netherlands
15 English Pounds
FRIESLAND BANK account: 29.67.09.816
POSTBANK Giro account : 5581224
With your registration you help to ensure further development of April,
you will receive support and some nice tools specially made for April.
You may use April for an evalution period of up to 4 weeks. After that,
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you have to register.
Please allow 2 to 6 weeks for delivery.
9.2.0 Distribution
You may only copy and distribute the complete April package, without
removing or adding files to the archive. You may not charge any more
than the cost of a diskette plus a small fee for copying the April
package.
With the "April Package" we mean the executables and the documentation.
*****************************
The newest version of April is always available under the magic name
APRIL for filerequest, and also for downloading at the following bbs's:
Digital Desert 2:285/404 01184-63843 HST/V32
01184-72217 V32Bis
Focus BBS 2:282/706 05157-6209 V32Bis
Enigma BBS 2:282/307 05107-1403 V32Bis
9.3.0 Copyright Notice
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAMS, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY
APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAMS "AS IS" WITHOUT
WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND
PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAMS IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAMS PROVE
DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR
CORRECTION. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO
IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY
REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAMS AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR
DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAMS
(INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED
INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF
THE PROGRAMS TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER
OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
9.4.0 Disclaimer
Disclaimer
Nick de Jong, the author of April, cannot give you any warranty,
either express or implied to, with respect to the fitness or
merchantability of April.
Nick de Jong reserves the right to not develope new versions of April
in the future.
Nick de Jong distributes this program, knowing of no damaging errors.
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He also will not be held liable for damages, inability or data loss
whatsoever, by April. The user of April uses her at his/her own risk.
9.5.0 Bugs & Suggestions
April has been in betatest for quite a long time and a lot of bugs
have been removed. However, it is possible there are still some left.
If you think you found one, please describe the bug and the things you
did which caused the bug as exact as possible.
April has been released after 2,5 years of programming, testing,
bugfixing and a lot of discussions about how to create and improve a
point-only programm which has everything that we missed in other point
programs . It is, however, still possible that you miss something in
April.
If you have any suggestions, comments or bugs, feel free to write them
to:
Nick de.Jong at (2:285/404.31)
or at his normal mail address:
Aggemastate 109
8926 PB Leeuwarden
The Netherlands
9.7.0 Credits
April couldn't have got where she now is without the use of some very
capable beta-testers (in random order):
Harry Westerman (2:282/706.3)
Pepijn van.Caspel (2:285/404.24)
Mark de.Jong (2:285/404.30)
Ivo Meijer (2:282/706.0)
Roy van der Woning (2:283/705.7)
Eric de.Jong (2:285/404.0)
Raimond Verwei (2:285/404.2)
Michael Visser (2:285/404.3)
Jan Marten Eric Elzinga (2:282/307.0)
Bard de Boer (2:282/307.3)
These guys are now some walking docs of April, so if you have questions
you can also write to them, when Nicks replies are getting slower ;^)
Furthermore I'd like to thank Niklas Sjoberg for sending me the typos
of this manual. Took me some time to remove them, but there you go :)
10.0.0 Acknowledgements
The following names are either trademarks or the efforts of
the person and/or company listed:
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Amiga and AmigaDOS are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
April by Nick de Jong.
ARexx by William S. Hawes.
Chameleon Editor and CList by Jürgen Hermann.
ConfMail by Bob Hartman, Spark Software Inc.
CygnusEdPro by CygnusSoft Software.
EchoMail by Jeff Rush.
Fido and FidoNet are trademarks of Tom Jennings, Fido Software.
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
TrapDoor by Maximilian Hantsch and Martin Laubach.
Welmat by Michael C. Richardson.
Amiga, AmigaDOS Commodore-Amiga Inc.
ARC Raymond S. Brand, SEA Inc.
ARCmail Thom Henderson, SEA Inc.
ARP Scott Ballantyne, C. Heath & others
BinkleyTerm Vince Perriello, Bob Hartman
ConfMail Bob Hartman, Spark Software Inc.
CygnusEdPro CygnusSoft Software
Fido, FidoNet Tom Jennings, Fido Software
Find Rodney Lewis
Foozle Peer Hasselmeyer
Freq Roy van der Woning
GCCHost Davide Masserenti
LHA Stefan Boberg
LZ Jonathan Forbes
PM Pino Aliberti
ZOO Rahul Dhesi, J. Brian Waters
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11.0.0 Glossary
2D/4D Adressing
2D and 4D are addressing formats of messages. In the beginning of
EchoMail there were no points. Later when points were added, 2D
addressing wasn't enough, and need arose for 4d addressing. April
implements the FSC-00039 document, which is used by most of the
current tossers in FidoNet.
The format describes how the *.PKT file is built technically.
April_General
This is a fake area. The area April_General is only used for data
transfer to new areas. This occurs while importing.
This 'area' cannot contain any messages.
April.arealist
This is a file that contains all the information of all areas you are
connected to with April. The file is used by april to get a quick
overview of all the areas, and contains also the information about the
size an area can get, where April can find the area on disk and where
messages have to be send when you enter a message in a certain area.
April makes this arealist itself in the config dir (that you can
specify, proposed is s:) and makes (optional) a backup of this important
file before each import.
April.prefs
This is a file that will be put in your s: directory, and contains all
your preferences of April. Also, it contains the place where to look for
the April.arealist.
Archive
A function that can archive messages to a textfile or print them
on the printer that is attached to your Amiga. Each area has it's
own archive-file called Archive_Areaname.
Area
An area contains echomailmessages or netmailmessages about one subject.
The subject of such a conference is most of the time obvious from the
name of the area, but the moderator will finally decide the subject of
the area. An echomailarea has a fixed tagname that all nodes carrying
that area have to use.
AreaFix
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A general name for a program which the BBS of your Boss runs to give
you the ability to connect and disconnect areas. It could, however, also
have another name.
AreaMenu
This is one of the three 'menus' in April, this one gives you an
overview of all connected message-areas in a list. That way, you can
choose the area you want to read in. Also some extra information like
the number of unread messages, or the total amount of messages that one
area contains is available here.
See also: AreaMenu (4.1.0)
Backup-directory
This is a directory that you can specify. April can copy all the
incoming mail in the inbound-directory to this backup directory before
she starts importing. If something goes wrong, then you can just start
over by copying the files from the backup directory to the inbound !
This is all optional ofcourse, but very useful.
Bad_Msg
This is a special echomail-area where messages end up that aren't
technically correct. Messages that got truncated during their travels
through the network, messages without a decent origin or subject, they
all end up there. Also, duplicate messages can (optionally) go to this
area, and it is also used as the area for messages that are 'too old for
importing'. That means that there wasn't any room in the area itself
for the messages, for example when you receive 500 messages at one time,
while you specified that only 400 messages are allowed in that area.
100 will go to the bad_msgs then, so they are not lost ! The reason
why a message went to Bad_msgs is mentioned in the subject of the
message.
BBS
Bulletin Board System, a computersystem with a modem connected that is
available for other persons to call in. Most of the time the BBS will
be available 24 hours a day, and contains echomail, files, online games
and all kinds of bulletins. When there is a mailer installed 'in front'
of the bbs, a bbs can become a node in a network and exchange net- and
echomailmessages with other nodes.
Boss/Sysop
The person that put a lot of money and time is his hobby to start up and
keep his bbs running. Per definition, this is a nice guy or gal that
will always be willing to help the users with their problems, or help
them to become a point. Through you boss you receive your mail, and you
send your messages into the rest of the network through his bbs.
Chain
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A serie of messages about one subject. It contains a whole chain of
messages and replies.. April detects those chains in two ways: If
messages have the same 'subject'-line they are considered to be part of
a chain, and further the MSGID and SUBJECT kludges are used to build a
complete tree of messages. You can always see this tree in the upper
right part of the ShowMsgmenu. By reading such a chain, you can easily
follow a discussion for example.
Dups
These are duplicate messages. Normally, messages are sent only once
through the network, but Murphy hits when you least expect him :-)
Throught faults in the routing-scheme of the messages or sysop-errors,
messages can be sent accidentily twice to a certain node. This is not
only a waste of money, but it is also very annoying to read messages
twice... So April detects those double messages and deletes them while
importing.
Domain
Domain is the name of a Network, like FidoNet. Currently not used very
much.
See also: Net
EchoMail
Echomail is electronic mail that is 'echo-ed' between several nodes in a
network. If you write a message in a message-area on one node connected
to the network, then your message will be echo-ed to all the other
systems connected to that same area. That way, you don't have to call
around the world yourself to reach someone, you can just call a node
close to you, and the message will reach him through the network.
Although a message is most of the time addressed to one person, ANYONE
can read and reply to your message! For personal messages it is better
to use netmail.
Editor
With a (mail)editor you can read all incoming netmail and echomail and a
good editor has a lot of functions to make this as easy as possible, and
enables you to write, archive, printout and reply to those messages.
Export
This is the opposite of Import. All areas are checked to see if you
wrote any messages in them, and if some are found then they will be
packed in the outbound directory, so your mailer can send them to
your boss(es).
Fake-net
This is the same as your pointnetnumber. This is a little trick which
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made points possible in FidoNet.. Since Fidonet had only 3d adressing
(Zone:Net/Node) and points would need 4d (Zone:Net/Node.Point) they came
up with a the following idea: just make a netnumber that doesn't really
exist, like 26000. Then just pretend that your points are a node in
that net, and export the mail to that (fake!) node. Like if your number
SHOULD be 2:282/309.1, you fakenumber would become 2:26309/1. That way,
you only need 3d addressing in your software. And since there isn't a
REAL 2:26309/1, no harm is done... Just ask you boss what
fakenet-number he has chosen, and enter it in the approriate field in
BBSInfo.
FidoNet
The Domain name of a Net (network) for which April has been written.
See: Net
FileAttach
Connect a file to a message. Your mailer will then send your file to the
addressee of the message. The person for whome the file is meant, will
receive it when he is polling for his mail.
FileRequest
With FileRequest we mean that you can request files from a BBS.
FileRequests cannot be generated by April. For this you should use an
external program like Freq (by Roy v.d. Woning). A file with the
requested file will be generated and be placed in the outbound file has
Such a file has a *.REQ extension.
FlowLines
With these lines we mean the path, kludges and seenby. With flow we mean
the way a message has travelled.
Forward
Forwarding means moving a message from one area to another. You can
also do this in combination with a reply, so you can answer to a message
in a different area in which the original message was written...(Be sure
that the addressee is reading that other area also !).
Header-file (*_HDR)
The messages that April saves to disk are kept in two files per area: a
_HDR file and a _MSG file. The _HDR file contains things like the FROM:
field, the TO: field, subjects, dates, and some other information that
April uses. DON'T mess with a #?_HDR file, if you change only one byte,
the whole file can become unreadable !
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HoldDir/Inbound
This is the directory that April checks for new incoming mail. Normally
this should also be the inbounddirectory of your mailer ofcourse.
Traditionally this directory is Mail:Inbound/. All
*.PKT|*.SU?|*.MO?|*.TU?|*.WE?|*.TH?|*.FR?|*.SA? files are considered
(packed) mail, and will be imported into the messagebase of April. Other
files in this directory will be left alone, or optionally moved to a
Files Backup Directory.
Import
This is the process of putting the incoming mail on disk, so you can
easily read/write/search and reply to the echomail and netmail. First,
April will make a backup of all the incoming mail in the inbound
directory, then the right programs will be called to unpack the packed
mail, the *.PKT files are (sometimes in more than one 'round') checked,
and all messages are moved to the right area. During that process,
there are checks for duplicate messages, broken messages,and the maximum
amount of diskspace and memory that April is allowed to use is taken
into account. Old messages are deleted to make room for new ones,
everything is sorted by the date when the messages were written, and all
chains are linked together.
See also: April Import (5.1.4)
Kludge
Kludges are small lines of text in the body of a message, used by
pointsoftware. Normally, you won't be able to see them, but with April
you can switch them on... Kludges all have in common that they start
with a Control-a character at the beginning of a line. A kludge is a
way to work around something. The format of the *.PKT files that the
messages are sent in, isn't very flexible. When FidoNet started using
4d instead of 3d addressing, there was no room for the 4th pointnumber
in the *.PKT file.. So they invented a kludge, FMPT 1 at the beginning
of the messagetext to be able to see that the message came from point
number one.
LastImport
With LastImport we mean the last time we imported our post. So, if we
talk about LastImport messages we mean the messages that have been
imported since our last import.
Log-File
A textfile where all actions of April are noted down. Afterwards, e.g.
when something went wrong, you can take a look at what exactly happened,
how many messages were imported or exported...
See also: General options (5.2.3.0)
Mail
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Echomail or netmailmessages. Those are electronically sent messages in
general, sent through computernetworks like FidoNet.
Mailer
A program which contacts a BBS and retrieves your mail from it. A Mailer
is normally also capable of handling frequests and file-attached
messages.
Examples of wellknown mailers: Trapdoor and Welmat.
MaxMBnr
The maximum number of messages that is allowed in a messagearea. When
there arrive more messages in one area, the oldest ones are deleted
automatically.
MaxMBsize
The maximum size in kilobytes that is allowed in a messagearea. When
the messagebase is getting larger, the oldest message(s) will be
deleted to make room for the new ones.. This can have unexpected
results, like when you are replying to the oldest message in the
messagebase then there is a good chance that that message will disappear
to make room for your answer ! Use the Protect flag to protect certain
messages from deletion.
Message-file (*_MSG)
This is the part of the messagebase where the text of the messages is
kept on disk.
Moderator
A moderator is someone who checks the messages of an area. He supervises
mostly every message on discriminating or rude language. It's also his
job to see to, that the subject of a message conforms with the subject
of that area.
NamesMenu
This menu gives an overview of all messages that are imported in one
area in a list with all the names, dates, subjects and flags. Here you
can make a selection of the messages you want to read, or find a message
quickly.
See also: NamesMenu (4.2.0)
Net
FidoNet is divided in 6 zones, one for each continent. Those zones
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are divided again into different regions, and those regions are divided
into nets. That way, the northern part of The Netherlands is the
282-net in region 28 in zone 2 of FidoNet. In a net you have several
nodes, and those nodes can have one or more points. This structure
takes care of an efficient routing of mail, and prevents dupes.
Netmail
This is (mostly) private mail adressed to one particular person instead
of mail written in an echomail-area. Most of time only points and nodes
are able to use netmail. Since you can specifically address a message
to one person, netmail can be considered as private mail. But when you
route your netmail through the network to the addressed system instead
of directly calling the other node (crashing) the mail, then all the
sysops of the nodes between you and the addressed system will be able to
read the mail. It is very important to enter the right nodenumber,
otherwise it will never reach it's destination.
Node
A node consist of a computersystem connected to a modem. The system
received a nodenumber, and is placed in a net and a zone, so the node
can send and receive echomail and netmail within a computernetwork.
Nodenumber
This is the number that is your address within a computernetwork. If
your boss had nodenumber 2:282/309, then your pointnumber or nodenumber
will be e.g. 2:282/309.1. With this nodenumber you can receive and
write mail, and people can always look up in the nodelist where a
message came from.
Origin
This is the last line of an echomailmessage. Originally, this was
intended to give some space to tell where the message came from, but
more and more people use these 56 characters to add something funny to
their message. Just use your imagination ! April has a random system
integrated so every message can have a random one chosen from a
collection of origins.
Outdir/Outbound
This is the directory for outgoing mail. Here will the messages that
were written by you end up, after they have been exported by April and
packed with the ARCer. All you messages will wait there for you mailer
to send them to your boss.
Packet
A packet is a standard format to send messages to other nodes. Since
there are a lot of different computers used in FidoNet, the format of a
*.pkt file is described in very great detail in the technical
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documentation of FidoNet. That way, it is possible to become a point
from a node that uses an Ms-Dos PC or an Atari ST while you use an
Amiga yourself.
Path
This is a list of number that you can find under all echomailmessages.
This line is a kludge, so it start with a ^a. The numbers give the route
that the message has taken through the network; that way, you can easily
see where something went wrong, or where a message came from.
Point
A point is really just another user of a bulletin board, but he is
slighly different because he gets his echomail with a mailer, and can
read and write mail off-line. A point has a pointnumber, so he or she
can use netmail too. However, he is still considered as a normal user,
and will still be under supervisory of his boss.
PointNumber
This is the number you get from your Boss.
See: Point
Poll
Fido-talk for calling with your mailer to your boss. During a poll you
send your mail, receive new mail from your boss, and you can also pick
up files or send something using fileattaches or filerequests.
PrivUser
An ordinary ASCII-file with a list of names combined with nodenumbers.
It's a kind of little personal telephonebook, where you can look when
writing netmail or when you forgot how to spell that difficult name
again. That way you don't have to memorize all the nodenumbers from
people you know, to write a netmail to them. It's necessarry to keep
this list yourself, because points are NOT in the normal nodelist...
Sometimes you can get so called pointlists, wich have the same format as
the privuserlist that April uses. With April, you can put some more
information in the privuser than just name and number, but she will
still read the old format of those pointlists.
Region
A region is a collection of nets, that are most of the time grouped
together based on the geographical location. Most of the time a region
is just about one country.. Region 28 in FidoNet is The Netherlands for
example.
Seen-By
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Some contol-information that you can find under all echomailmessages.
The number are the nodenumbers from other nodes that that particular
message was also exported to. This is very important to know, that way
you can prevent that a message will be exported twice to one node, and
thus avoid dupes.
ShowMsgMenu
Here you will see the message. It's the environment where all messages
can be read.
See also: ShowMsgMenu (4.3.0)
Tearline
"A short, product-specific banner" according to the FidoNet technical
documentation. You will find a tearline under each message, and it
starts with three dashes and a space: --- So if you write a message with
April, you message will get a tearline inserted like: --- April 0.99Beta
Just to mark the end of your message and tell the world that you are
using the wonderful April to write that message :-) When you register
April, there will be a + added, so everyone can see that you registered
your April, and that you keep developers developing.
TempDir
This is the directory that will temporarily hold the packets that were
in an Arced mailbundle. When e.g. LhA unarcs a mailbundle, it will
unarc the *.PKT files to the TempDir, and imports those to your
messagebase. Take care that you have enough room in your TempDir !
Tosser
A tosser is the software that takes care of the maintenance of your
messagebase. It moves the new incoming messages to your messagebase,
exports newly written ones to the outbound, it deletes the oldest
messages for you, and also linking and sorting of messages is done by
this piece of software built-in to April.
Zone
FidoNet has been divided into 6 zones at this moment, 1 per continent.
Within such a zone you have several regions, and those are divided again
into nets, etcetera. This way, a very big 'tree-structure' is built, to
divide FidoNet into some orderly organized parts.
Zone-Gate
This is the BBS which works as a gate between two different zones.
It's the only system that's allowed to transfer messages between
zones.
See also: Zone
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12.0.0 Index of this April Manual
'%' - Codes................................................... 7.1.0
2D / 4D....................................................... Glossary
About......................................................... 5.1.9
About software and hardware................................... 2.2.0
Acknowledgements.............................................. 10.0.0
Add To PrivUser............................................... 5.4.11
April_General................................................. Glossary
April.arealist................................................ Glossary
April.prefs................................................... Glossary
Archive....................................................... 5.3.9
Archive....................................................... Glossary
Area.......................................................... Glossary
AreaFix....................................................... Glossary
AreaList Add.................................................. 5.2.1.0
AreaList All.................................................. 5.2.1.6
AreaList BBSInfo.............................................. 5.2.1.11
AreaList Configs.............................................. 5.2.1
AreaList Copy................................................. 5.2.1.4
AreaList Delete............................................... 5.2.1.2
AreaList Edit................................................. 5.2.1.1
AreaList Make................................................. 5.2.1.10
AreaList Move................................................. 5.2.1.3
AreaList None................................................. 5.2.1.7
AreaList Pattern.............................................. 5.2.1.8
AreaList PCopy................................................ 5.2.1.5
AreaList Sort................................................. 5.2.1.9
AreaMenu...................................................... 4.1.0
Areamenu...................................................... Glossary
AreaMenuConfig................................................ 5.2.13
ARexx......................................................... 8.1.0
AutoLoadHeader................................................ 8.4.0
BackupDirectory............................................... Glossary
Bad_Msg....................................................... Glossary
Basics........................................................ 2.0.0
BBS........................................................... Glossary
BeforeImport options.......................................... 5.2.2.0
Boss.......................................................... Glossary
Browse Menu................................................... 5.5.0
Bugs & Suggestions............................................ 9.4.0
CarbonCopy.................................................... 5.3.1.2
Catch up...................................................... 5.4.8
Chain......................................................... Glossary
Closings (ClosingsEdit)....................................... 5.2.11
Collapse Quotes............................................... 8.3.0
Config Menu................................................... 5.2.0
Copyright Notice.............................................. 9.3.0
Credits....................................................... 9.6.0
Delete MSG.................................................... 5.4.6
Disclaimer.................................................... 9.4.0
Distribution.................................................. 9.2.0
Domain........................................................ Glossary
Dups.......................................................... Glossary
Echomail...................................................... Glossary
Edit Header................................................... 5.3.4
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Edit MSG...................................................... 5.3.3
Editor........................................................ Glossary
Event Commands................................................ 5.2.12
Explanation and examples of several % codes................... 8.7.0
Export........................................................ 5.1.6
Export........................................................ Glossary
External Menu................................................. 5.5.0
External Add.................................................. 5.2.5.0
External Config............................................... 5.2.5
External Edit................................................. 5.2.5.1
External SortMv............................................... 5.2.5.2
FakeNet....................................................... Glossary
FidoNet....................................................... Glossary
FileAttach.................................................... Glossary
FileRequest................................................... Glossary
Flags of MSG/Area............................................. 8.6.8
FlowLines..................................................... Glossary
FontExtras.................................................... 8.2.0
Forward....................................................... 5.3.5
Forward....................................................... Glossary
FromTo Window................................................. 5.3.1.1
General Config 1.............................................. 5.2.3.0
General Config 2.............................................. 5.2.3.1
General Config 1/2............................................ 5.2.3
General1 options.............................................. 5.2.3.0.2
General2 options.............................................. 5.2.3.1.2
General1 stringgadgets........................................ 5.2.3.0.1
General2 stringgadgets........................................ 5.2.3.1.1
Glossary...................................................... 11.0.0
Goto AreaMenu................................................. 5.1.1
Goto NamesMenu................................................ 5.1.2
Goto ShowMsg.................................................. 5.1.3
Group Add..................................................... 5.2.7.0
Group Del..................................................... 5.2.7.2
Group Edit.................................................... 5.2.7.1
Groups window................................................. 5.2.7.0
Groups & Languages............................................ 6.0.0
GroupAdd Language............................................. 5.2.8
Hardware...................................................... 2.2.1
Header-file................................................... Glossary
Holddir....................................................... Glossary
Import........................................................ 5.1.4
Import........................................................ Glossary
Import Info................................................... 5.1.5
Inbound....................................................... Glossary
Installation.................................................. 3.0.0
Introduction.................................................. 1.0.0
Index......................................................... 12.0.0
Kludge........................................................ Glossary
Language Edit................................................. 5.2.8.1
LastImport.................................................... Glossary
Log-file...................................................... Glossary
Mail.......................................................... Glossary
Mailer........................................................ Glossary
MaxMBnr....................................................... Glossary
MaxMBsize..................................................... Glossary
Menus......................................................... 5.0.0
MessageBuffer................................................. 8.5.0
Message Menu.................................................. 5.4.0
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Message-file.................................................. Glossary
Miscellaneous................................................. 8.0.0
Moderator..................................................... Glossary
MSG Info...................................................... 5.4.12
NamesMenu..................................................... 4.2.0
Namesmenu..................................................... Glossary
NamesMenu Config.............................................. 5.2.14
Net........................................................... Glossary
Netmail....................................................... Glossary
Node.......................................................... Glossary
Nodenumber.................................................... Glossary
Open/Close lines.............................................. 7.0.0
Openings Edit................................................. 5.2.10
Origin........................................................ Glossary
Origin Edit................................................... 5.2.9
OutdirOutbound................................................ Glossary
Packet........................................................ Glossary
Path.......................................................... Glossary
Point......................................................... Glossary
PointNr....................................................... Glossary
Politics...................................................... 9.0.0
Poll.......................................................... Glossary
PrivUser...................................................... 5.2.6
PrivUser...................................................... Glossary
PrivUser Add.................................................. 5.2.6.0
PrivUser Edit................................................. 5.2.6.1
PrivUser Move................................................. 5.2.1.3
Project Menu.................................................. 5.1.0
Quit.......................................................... 5.1.11
ReExport...................................................... 5.1.7
Rescan Areas.................................................. 5.1.8
Region........................................................ Glossary
Register...................................................... 5.1.10
Registration.................................................. 9.1.0
Reply MSG..................................................... 5.3.2
Reply & Forward............................................... 5.3.6
Reply as Netmail.............................................. 5.3.7
Requirements.................................................. 2.1.0
Rip Origin.................................................... 5.4.10
Save 'to quote'-part.......................................... 5.3.8
Save Configs.................................................. 5.2.16
Screen Config................................................. 5.2.4
ScreenTitles.................................................. 4.4.0
Search (in) a MSG............................................. 5.4.1
SeenBy........................................................ Glossary
Select All.................................................... 5.4.4
Select Marked................................................. 5.4.3
Select MSG.................................................... 5.4.2
Select None................................................... 5.4.5
Set MSG Flags................................................. 5.4.7
ShowMSG....................................................... 4.3.0
ShowMsg Config................................................ 5.2.15
ShowMsgMenu................................................... 4.3.0
Software...................................................... 2.2.2
Sysop......................................................... Glossary
Tearline...................................................... Glossary
TempDir....................................................... Glossary
Tosser........................................................ Glossary
Tosser Config................................................. 5.2.2
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Tosser window Import options.................................. 5.2.2.1
Tosser window Import stringgadgets............................ 5.2.2.1
Write MSG..................................................... 5.3.1.0
Zone.......................................................... Glossary
ZoneGate...................................................... Glossary
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