Magazyn Amiga Shareware Floppies/ma07.dms/ma07.adf/aqwik/aquick.doc

Text File | 1992-04-05 | 24KB | 624 lines

                  AQuick User's Reference Manual

                           Version 2.0b
                            April 1992



                   THE Amiga Offline Mail Reader










              Copyright (c) 1991,92 Andrew Westacott
                       All Rights Reserved

LICENSE:

   AQuick is a shareware product.  You  are  free to make  copies
of this program and  pass  it onto others for  evaluation as long
as  you  do  not charge  for anything  other than  minimal  costs
such as disk duplication and distribution.

   You are allowed to use this program ("AQuick") for  evaluation
purposes only for a maximum of 14 days.  If after this period you
are still using the program than you are expected to register the
program by sending a cheque, postal  order or IMO for £15  pounds
sterling to:

                         Andrew Westacott
                         4 Crest Avenue
                         Pitsea, Basildon
                         Essex
                         SS13 2EF
                         ENGLAND


   Upon  receipt  of your  registration  fee  you will be sent  a
disk  containing a  serialised  copy of the  software, a  printed
manual and automatic  notification of updates through a dedicated
conference on my bulletin board.

   If you require any more information  about AQuick then you can
call me on [phone] or you  can call  my bbs which is on
[phone].  You can also contact me through the following
email networks:

          Ilink  - Amiga conference as ANDREW WESTACOTT
          TheNet - Amiga conference as ANDREW WESTACOTT



                                                Table of Contents

                                   AQuick User's Reference Manual

Chapter 1. What is AQuick For?..................................1
   1 Program Features...........................................1
   2 Future Enhancements........................................2

Chapter 2. Installing AQuick....................................5
   1 Running AQuick.............................................7
   2 Configuring AQuick.........................................8
   3 Recommended Configurations.................................9

Chapter 3. The "Messages" Menu.................................10
   1 Conference Selection......................................10
      1 Full Conference list...................................10
      2 Short Conference list..................................10
      3 Select by Number.......................................10
   2 Select a Message to read..................................11
      1 The message screen.....................................11
      2 Replying to a message..................................12
      3 Entering a new message.................................12
   3 Read Personal mail........................................13
   4 Re-Edit A Reply...........................................14
   5 Save Message as text......................................14
   6 Set Message Highlighter...................................15

Chapter 4.    The "Read" Menu.....................................16
   1 Read A Bulletin...........................................16
   2 List New Files............................................16
   3 Show Welcome Screen.......................................16
   4 Show Goodbye Screen.......................................16
   5 Read The News file........................................16

Chapter 5. The "Misc." Menu....................................17
   1 Taglines..................................................17
      1 Editing a Tagline......................................17
      2 Adding a Tagline.......................................17
      3 Grabing a Tagline......................................17
   2 Addresses.................................................18
      1 Editing an Addresse....................................18
      2 Adding an Addresse.....................................18
      3 Grabing an Addresse....................................18



                                                        Chapter 1

                                              What is AQuick For?


   AQuick  is a  program which  allows you read  electronic  mail
(email)  packets that have  been previously downloaded  from  any
bulletin board system  (bbs) that  runs  a 100%  Qmail compatible
mail door.  Examples of  popular Qmail  compatible mail  programs
are Tomcat and MKqwk.

   The main advantage of using a mail door is that downloading  a
single file which contains all of your  messages  and information
such  as new  files which  are available for download, is in most
cases, much  quicker and less  expensive than  reading  the  mail
online.

   To illustrate  and how convenient it is to use an offline mail
reader I  have  made a  list  of the  various stages  involved in
downloading an email packet from a typical bbs.  The bbs involved
is a  Wildcat system which usually runs the Tomcat mail door.

   1. Logon to the bulletin board.
   2. From the main menu type 'M' to get to message menu.
   3. Now type 'T' to load the Tomcat mail door
   4. Type 'D' to download your email packet.
      At this stage you could also choose which mail
      conferences you would like to read mail from and  also
      which  compression  method you would like to be used
      on the email packet.
   5. If you have any replys to a previous email packet then
      you would type 'U' to upload the replys created using
      AQuick.
   6. Once you have finished with the mail door you can then
      either return to the bbs or logoff.
   7. You can now use AQuick to read your email packet in your
      own time without lining the pockets of the phone companies.

   As you can see its very easy and convenient to use email.

1-1 Program Features

   There  are  several features of AQuick which  make  it one  of
the easiest and most  comfortable mail readers  available for the
Commodore Amiga range of computers, these include:

   - Fully Qmail compatible.
   - Provides a common easy to use front-end across both the
     Kickstart 1.3 and 2.0 operating systems.
   - Can automatically decide if an email packet had been packed
     with either PKzip or LHarc and run the appropriate unpacker.
   - All messages/conferences can be chosen from easy to use
     picklists.
   - Fast message processing.
   - Allows you to leave a session in AQuick and when you return,
     aquick will reconstruct the message lists,  marking any that
     you have already read or replied to.
   - Easy to use configuration allows you to setup your directory
     preferences and your PKzip/Lharc programs.


1-2 Future Enhancements

   There  are a few  things I would  like to  add in the  future,
these include:

   - An Arexx interface.
   - Built-in text editor.
   - Add more support for Workbench 2.0 such as text snapping.

   If there  is anything I  have missed  out then please  contact
through the above channels.


                                                        Chapter 2

                                                Installing AQuick

   To install AQuick for the first time run  the AQinstall script
file:

       EXECUTE AQinstall

   This will create the neccesary  directorys and copy the  files
there in the following steps:

   1. Creates SYS:AQuick, SYS:AQuick/work, SYS:AQuick/mail
   2. Copys AQuick to SYS:AQuick along with the AQ_taglines &
      AQ_address datafiles.
   3. Copys the CleanIBM font to the FONTS: directory
   4. Copys a sample Configuration file to the S: directory

   Once this has completed you are ready to go after reading the
next section.



2-1 Running AQuick

   To start  AQuick first make sure  you are in the  directory in
which  you installed the AQuick  program file and that there  are
some mail packets in your  mail directory, then type "aquick"  to
run the program.

   When AQuick has loaded  you will be  presented with a list  of
email  packets that are present in the directory that you entered
in the initial installation.  To choose a mail packet click on it
using the  left mouse button.  Aquick will now inspect the  email
packet to  determine if it was packed using  PKzip  or Lharc  and
then run  the appropriate  unpacker  using the  options  that you
specified in the initial installation.

   Once the  email packet has been unpacked you will be placed in
first  conferance in  the  packet and a list of messages in  this
conference  will be displayed (see section 3-1 for more details).

2-2 Configuring AQuick

   To configure AQuick select the "Configure AQuick" option  from
the  "Project" menu.  You will  then be  presented with a  window
which contains the following gadgets:

   "AQuick Directory" - In this field you should enter the
                        location of the AQuick system files.
                        ie. "DF0:AQuick"
   "Mail Directory"   - This is  the directory  where you will be
                        storing the uncompressed email packets.
                        ie. "DF1:mail_packets"
   "Work Directory"   - This  is a  directory which  AQuick  will
                        unpack  the email packets  and store  its
                        temporary files. It is vital that nothing
                        else is stored here as it will be deleted
                        after the end of each session.
                        ie. "RAM:messages"
   "Editor Path"      - This field should contain the path of the
                        text editor  you would like to  use.  You
                        can use any text editor  you like as long
                        as  it can  save in  plain ASCII  format,
                        the  MicroMemacs supplied with the  amiga
                        can save in this format.
                        ie. "SYS:system/memacs"
   "Show Welcome..."  - With this option  turned  on AQuick  will
                        automatically  display the  bbs  title
                        screen  if  it is  present in  the  email
                        packet.

   There  are also  two buttons  which lead you  to the  unpacker
options.  Here you  would enter  the command line parameters  for
your preferred Zip and Lharc packers/unpackers.

   ie. for the Zip packer

       Packer Path   = "c:zip a"
       Unpacker Path = "c:unzip"

   and for the Lharc packer

       Packer Path   = "c:lha a"
       Unpacker Path = "c:lha x"

   If you  want to save  the new configuration  click on  the  OK
button  and the new  settings will  be saved in the  file  called
AQCONFIG.CFG which is stored in the S: directory.



2-3 Recommended Cofigurations

   AQuick will run quite happily on a standard Amiga A500 but you
will  be able to  cope with  only very small  email packets.  The
recommended minimum  configuration would be a single  floppy A500
with 1meg of memory.  With this setup you could quite easily have
AQuick unpack your email packets to the ram  disk which speeds up
processing by quite a bit.

   For the power users out there a hard disk and 2 megs of memory
would allow you to cope with all but the biggest of email packets



                                                        Chapter 3

                                              The "Messages" Menu

3-1 Conference Selection

   AQuick  allows you to select a  conference from which you wish
to read mail in one of three ways.

Full Conference List

   When you  select this option you will be presented with a list
of all of the available email conferences.  You  can now use  the
scroll  arrows or  cursor keys to move around this list.  You may
notice a number in braces to the right of some conferences,  this
is the number of messages available in this area for you read.
To select an area double click on the text with left mouse button

   You would typically  use this option  when you need to enter a
new message in an area which does not have any messages.

Short Conference List

   When you  select this option you will be presented with a list
of only the conferences which have messages waiting in them.  You
can now use the scroll arrows or  cursor keys to move around this
list.  To select an area double click on the text with left mouse
button.

Select By Number

   After choosing this item you will be asked to enter the number
of  the conference  you require.  You would then click  on the OK
gadget to confirm your selection.


3-2 Select a Message to read

   When you select the "Select a message to read" option you will
be  presented with a picklist containing details of all  messages
contained  in this  conference,  the information displayed is  as
follows:

       - Read/Replied indicator
         A full stop will  be displayed here if you have  already
         read this  message and a lower case r will be  displayed
         if you have also replied to this message.
       - To
         Who the message is addressed to.
       - From
         Who the message is from.
       - Subject
         A rough guide to the contents of the message.

   To choose a message  use the mouse and  double click using the
left mouse button on the message you wish to read.



The Message Screen

   After  you have  selected a message  which you  would like  to
read,  the message contents  will then be  displayed on the  main
screen along with full  details of the message such as its date &
time of creation.

   There are several functions you can invoke from here using the
keyboard, these are as follows:

       - Cursor-Left & Cursor-Right, 'P'revious & 'N'ext
         Pressing either of these keys will move you to the  next
         or previous message.
       - Cursor-Up & Cursor-Down
         Pressing either of  these keys will allow you to  scroll
         any long messages up & down.
       - 'R'
         This will allow you to reply to the current message.
         See the relevent section of this manual.
       - 'E'
         This will allow you to enter a new message.
         See the relevent section of this manual.

Replying To a Message

   When you have selected this  option a window will be displayed
which several fields:

       - Message To
         This field will default to the name of the person who
         sent the original message.
       - Subject
         This field will default to the subject of the original
         message.
       - Tagline
         Here you can enter a comment that will be added to the
         bottom of the message when it is finally saved.
       - Private Message
         This is a toggle gadget  which allows you to make  the
         reply  private and so  only visible to the person  who
         the message is intended for.   If the original message
         was private then the gadget will default to private.

   Note  there  gadgets next to  the  "Message To" and  "Tagline"
fields.  These allow  you to invoke their associated picklist and
choose an item from a list that you have previosly setup.

   When you have filled in the reply details and selected OK your
chosen text editor will be loaded.   Once loaded the text  editor
will contain  the text of the  original message quoted using  the
initials of the message authors name.  You  can now go ahead  and
write your reply.

   When you have finished editing your reply, make sure you  save
it as a plain ASCII file and quit your  text editor to return  to
the  AQuick  message screen.  Now the message will be  marked  as
"Replied" on all of the message picklists and you can re-edit the
reply by either pressing  the 'R' key while viewing this  message
or  using the  "Re-Edit A Reply" menu  option to choose the reply
from a picklist.

   After you have  entered all of the  replies that you want  you
will need to select the "Save Replies" option from  the "Project"
menu.  This will run the  packer and  create a file <bbsname>.REP
in your mail directory, ready to be uploaded to your bbs system.



Entering a New Message

   To enter a new message follow the guidelines for replying to a
message but note the following differences:

       - The  "Message To"  field will default to  "ALL" you  may
         need to edit this.
       - The  subject  field will be  blank and you will need  to
         enter your subject here.
       - The text editor will be invoked  with a completly  blank
         file.
       - The only way to re-edit the  message will be to use  the
         "Re-Edit A Reply" menu item from the "Messages" pulldown
         menu.

   After you have  entered all of the  replies that you want  you
will need to select the "Save Replies" option from  the "Project"
menu.  This will run the  packer and  create a file <bbsname>.REP
in your mail directory, ready to be uploaded to your bbs system.

3-3 Read Personal Mail

   Reading  personal mail is  exactly the  same as reading  other
mail except you would  use the "Read Personal Mail" menu item  to
display  a  picklist contaning  only the messages that  have been
addressed to you.

3-4 Re-Edit A Reply

   This  menu item allows you to reload your  chosen text  editor
with the text of your reply or entered message.  After  selecting
the option you  will be presented  with a picklist contaning  the
details of any replies you may have entered.  You can then choose
a reply and the text editor will be loaded with the text of  your
reply ready to be edited.

3-5 Set Message Highlighter

   The message highlighter is an AQuick feature which allows  you
to easily spot any  messages, in the picklists, which match a set
of  criteria that you have entered.  When you select this  option
you will be presented with a window containing several gadgets.
These are as follows:

       - To
         Text to search for in the TO field of any message.
       - From
         Text to search for in the FROM field of any message.
       - Subject
         Text to search for in the SUBJECT field of any message.
       - Should the filter affect all conferences?
         This toggle gadget will cause AQuick to check against
         your criteria no matter which conference you are in.
         By default AQuick will turn of the highlighter when you
         change conference.

       Note: Text searches are not done on an exact match basis
             i.e.
                 Message Subject         = "This is about AQuick"
                 Subject Criteria Field  = "AQUICK"
                 Message To              = "ALLEN SOMEONE"
                 TO Criteria Field       = "ALL"

                 All these examples would match!

   To  actually turn  on a  criteria  field click  on the  toggle
gadget next  to each of the text  fields.  Once you have  entered
your  criteria,  AQuick  will  rebuild  the message  list in  the
current conference, displaying highlighted messages in yellow.


                                                        Chapter 4

                                                  The "Read" Menu

   The options  on the read  menu allow you  examine some of  the
extra files  that are included in some email packets.  Note  that
you  will normally  have to  tell  your bbs mail  door to include
these files.

4-1 Read A Bulletin

   After selecting this option you will be presented with a  list
of any  bbs bulletin files that  your mail door may have included
in your  email packet.   To select one  double click  on its name
using the mouse  and the left button.  The  text of the  bulletin
will now be displayed along with any ansi graphics that may  have
been included. To pause or stop the display, press the left mouse
button.

4-2 List New Files

   This option will display a list of any new files that may have
uploaded  to your  bbs since you  last logged on.  The  text will
now be displayed along  with any ansi graphics that may have been
included.  To pause  or stop  the display, press  the left  mouse
button.

4-3 Show Welcome Screen

   This option will display  the bbs logon screen  with any  ansi
graphics  or  colour that  may  have been used.  To pause or stop
the display, press the left mouse button.

4-3 Show Goodbye Screen

   This option will display the bbs logoff screen  with any  ansi
graphics  or  colour that  may  have been used.  To pause or stop
the display, press the left mouse button.

4-4 Read The News File

   If a bbs news file  was included in the email packet, you  can
view by selecting this menu item.  To pause  or stop the display,
press the left mouse button.



                                                        Chapter 5

                                                 The "Misc." Menu

   The "Misc." menu contains various options allowing you to edit
the Tagline & Addresse picklists.

5-1 Taglines

   Taglines are user-defined pieces of text that  are added to  a
message just after the AQuick text.  They are  not mandatory  but
are usually used for adding such things as humourous comments  or
bbs adverts.

   i.e
       If you look at the bottom of some messages you will see
       something like:

       ---
        * AQuick (Unreg) * >From here to Here is the tagline<

Editing a Tagline

   After selecting this menu item, you will be  presented with  a
list of currently defined  Taglines.  To choose one  double click
on its text using the  left mouse button.  A  window will now  be
displayed containing a text gadget, you will now be able to  edit
the tagline and confirm or cancel the editing by clicking on  the
OK or CANCEL gadgets.

Adding a New Tagline

   When you need to add a new tagline you will be  presented with
a blank text gadget.  You can go ahead and enter your tagline and
save or abandon it by clicking on the OK or CANCEL gadgets.

Grabbing a Tagline

   This option allows you to "steal" the tagline from the message
that is currently being displayed.  After selecting the menu item
AQuick will attempt to find the tagline and if succesfull it will
be displayed on the screen for you to edit.

   Please note that  taglines can only  be grabbed from  messages
that meet the following requirements:

   1. Must have 3 '-' before the tagline e.g. "---"
   2. The mail readers name must be  delimited by some  character
      that is defined in the second column of the tagline row.

   i.e.

   ---                << The 3 identifying dashes
    * Reader Name * Some tagline text....
    ^             ^
    |             |
    +-------------+----- The delimiters, in this case an asterisk


5-2 Addresses

   AQuick allows  you to keep a  databases of names that you  may
requarly send email to.


Editing an Addresse

   After  selecting this menu item you will be  presented with  a
list of names that you have already entered along with a comment,
to choose one double click on  the text with  the left button.  A
window will now be  displayed along with  two text  fields, these
a field  for the users name  and an optional comment field.  Once
you have entered the users details, you can abort or confirm your
entry by clicking on the OK or CANCEL gadgets.

Adding an Addresse

   After choosing  the menu item you  will be  presented with  an
edit screen the same as  when editing, the only difference  being
that the  fields will be blank.  Once you have entered  the users
details, you  can abort or confirm  your entry by clicking on the
OK or CANCEL gadgets.

Grabbing an Addresse

   This option allows you to  automatically save the name of  the
sender of  the currently  displayed message.  After selecting the
option a message will appear to confirm the saving the name.