Software Vault: The Gold Collection

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Text File | 1993-06-28 | 15KB | 307 lines

Presently there is no documentation for EZ-Reader 2.0. If you have worked with mail readers and/or EZ-Reader 1.xx in the past you shouldn't have any trouble with version 2.0. If you are new to mail readers drop in on the EZ-Reader or Offline conference(s) and ask any questions you wish. You'll find plenty of support. This is a BETA release. It isn't perfect. This is a list of some of the known problems: 1) You can't read mail in a conference that has only one message. 2) If you use the [F]ind and [N]ext commands for text searches, the read counter can become confused and report that you have read more messages than you actually have. Simply exit the conference (press Esc) and re-enter the conference. 3) Occassionally some lines in the the Message Index Window will be blank. 4) ANSI messages may not be displayed correctly. News, Bulletins, and New Files with ANSI codes are displayed correctly. 5) The Address Book does not work correctly. 6) The Files database does not work correctly. Turn off the flag to keep a database of new files in EZCONFIG. GETTING STARTED --------------- First run the program EZCONFIG. This will create a file named CONFIG.EZ2. EZCONFIG has extensive on-line help. The files are not complete, but there should be enough information in the help to get you well aquainted with setting up EZ-Reader. PROGRAMS & WHAT THEY DO ----------------------- EZ-RDR Program that views messages, new files, bulletins, and news. Reply and Enter new messages. EZCONFIG EZ-Reader's configuration program. This program must be run prior to running EZ-RDR. IMPORT A shell program that determines new mail packets and runs the correct import format program based upon the mail packet's file extension. IQWK Import program for the QWK format mail packets. This program moves mail, news, bulletins, and new files from the mail packet into EZ-Reader's internal databases. EQWK Export program for QWK format reply packets. This program moves new messages and replys from EZ-Reader's internal database to a QWK format reply packet. ICIS Same as IQWK, except it's for Compuserve. (Not available yet) ECIS Same as EQWK, except it's for Compuserve. (Not available yet) IPCB Same as IQWK, except it's for PC Board capture files. (Not available yet) EPCB Same as EQWK, except it's for PC Board capture files. (Not available yet) IXRS Same as IQWK, except it's for the XRS format. (Not available yet) EXRS Same as EQWK, except it's for the XRS format. (Not available yet) SQUEEZE This program reduces the size of EZ-Reader's database files by squeezing out empty space. This helps control the size of the database files. EZ-READER 2.0 OPERATION ----------------------- EZ-Reader 2 operates a little differently that version 1.xx. EZ2 uses it's own internal format to provide flexibility across many mail formats. From the QWK format to CIS to MCI Mail. The first step is to obtain a mail packet from a BBS (presently only the QWK format is supported and others are in the works). Step two is to "import" the mail into EZ2's internal databases. This can be done by running the import program for each specific mail format and mail packet. For example, IQWK will Import QWK formatted mail packets, while ICIS will Import mail from Compuserve (CIS). Run IQWK without any command line parameters to find the options available. Two alternative methods are to using the IMPORT program shell or turn on the Auto-Import flag in EZCONFIG. Both methods will sense new mail packets and their format (based on the file's extension) and run the appropriate format import program. The preferred method is to obtain your mail packets in batch mode (a nightly unattened script run from you communications program). Then have the batch file run IMPORT. Now the mail, news, bulletins, and new files are updated. Using the Auto-Import feature will delay entry into the reader portion while you wait for all new mail packets to be imported. Step three is to run the reader portion, EZ-RDR. Here you can read, reply to, and compose new messages. Messages can be quoted across BBSes and mail networks. Step four is to "export" you newly composed messages. For each mail format's import program there is a corresponding export program. For example EQWK is the export program for QWK format mail and ECIS is for Compuserve (CIS). You can run each corresponding export program for each BBS or turn on the Auto-Export flag in EZCONFIG. We recommend using the Auto-Export flag. This is the simplest and fastest way to operate. EZ-Reader 2 handles existing reply packets differently than version 1.xx. In version 2 if EZ-Reader detects a reply packet it will ask if you want to DELETE the old reply packet. If you answer YES the reply packet will be deleted and a new one will be created. If you answer NO, then the new messages will be appended to the reply packet. This should eliminate a lot of the confusion about the mail packet flags in version 1.xx. The last step is to upload any reply packets to the appropriate BBS or mail service. IMPORT ------ The program IMPORT is shell for ALL the import programs. It will detect all new mail packets and run the appropriate import program based on the mail packet's extension. These are setup in the program EZCONFIG. IMPORT pauses for 2 seconds between running import programs so that you might interrupt the import process and get directly on with reading the mail. The importing of mail may resume at any time. EZ-RDR ------ The basic operation of EZ2 is the same as EZ1. The difference being that EZ2 manages mail by keeping a database of messages and EZ2 has new commands and new features. In the BBS Select Window you will notice four flag fields, MBFN, which stand for new Mail, Bulletins, Files, and News. The first flag could be P (meaning you have unread personal mail), M (meaning there is new mail) and * (meaing there is unread mail). This is a list of the message viewer commands: / Popup menu of commands. F10 Popup menu of commands. A Address book. B Bulk command prefix enables you to perform one command on multiple messages. This command can preceed [D]elete, [M]ark, [P]rint, [S]ave, and [U]n. C Copy this message to another conference and/or BBS. D Delete this message. E Enter a new message. F Find text. G Go back to the previous unread message. H Cycle through the Hint line if the flag is turned on. I Brings up the Message Index Window. Same as Ins. M Mark this message. N Find the next occurance of the find text. O Brings up the Options menu for this specific conference. P Print this message to a file, printer, or fax. (The fax portion is not implemented yet). R Reply to the current message. S Save this message. Cannot be deleted until it is [U]n-[S]aved. T Change the order of the thread U Un command prefix. This command can preceed [B]ulk, [D]elete, [M]ark, [P]rint, and [S]ave. W Window toggle. Switched between viewing one and two messages on the screen at one time. X Exit the message viewer. Y Yank the tagline. Steal the tagline from the current message and insert it into the present tagline file. Tab Switch between message windows when there are two on the screen. Ins Brings up the Message Index window. PgDn Go forward one screen in the message. PgUp Go back one screen in the message. Space Go forward one screen in the message. If you are at the end of the message then you will be taken to the next unread message. + Go to the next message ignoring any Read flags and changes the read direction. - Go back one message ignoring any Read flags and changed the read direction. Enter Go to the next unread message. Esc Exits the message viewer. Not only does EZ2 have hot keys to run external programs, but you can have EZ2 dump the keystrokes into EZ2's internal keyboard buffer. To do this simply enter the character '%' as the very first character in the command string. You can add function keys to the macros with @F1, @F2, ..., @F12. You cannot nest macros, but you can chain them. F1: %This is macro one F2: %This is macro two F3: %@F1@F2 If you need more memory to run a program make add a '!' to the beginning of the command string. This will tell EZ-Reader to use the Switch! feature (originally by Curtis ?? and now sold by South Mountain Software as Hold Everything!) EZ-Reader 2 supports a wide number of variables. The variables may be UPPER CASE, lower case or Mixed Case. By default all replacement text is lower case. If the 2nd character of the variable is upper case then the replacement text is all upper case. If the 1st character is upper case and the 2nd is lower case then the replacement text is all lower case except the 1st character. The EZ-Reader variables are: @DAY@ Day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc) @DATE@ Today's date in the current format (12/24/91) @TIME@ The present time (10:31 AM) @EZDIR@ The EZ-Reader Directory (C:\EZ\) @TOFIRST@ The first name of the message addressee @TOLAST@ The last name of the message addressee @FROMFIRST@ The first name of the message sender @FROMLAST@ The last name of the message sender @CONFNAME@ The name of the conference @CONFNUM@ The number of conference as assigned by the BBS @BBSID@ The ID of the BBS Just like version 1 of EZ-Reader the function key F1 is ALWAYS the Help key. Version 2 adds a system menu that is ALWAYS F2. The system menu gives you access to a list of your defined Hot Keys, File Viewer, Calendar, DOS Shell, Help, EZ Information, an Alarm, and a Tiles game. F3 is the default pick list function key. Whenever a field could have multiple inputs press F3 to select from a list of possible inputs. Such fields at the TO and tagline fields when addressing a message. Anyplace EZ-Reader asks for a filename you can press F3 for a pick list of the most common files and/or wildcards. These are hard coded so new files cannot be added, but you can enter DOS wildcards for the filename and EZ-Reader will provide a file pick list. Once in this pick list you can change the file mask and the drive. EZ2 supports two font for those who have EGA or higher video. The first font is tied to the lower 8 colors and the second font is tied to the upper 8 colors. You can modify the palette so that two distinct fonts will appear as the same color. I would leave colors 0, 7, and 15 as they are. EZ2 has extened support for taglines, provideing for three levels of tagline files. The first level is the EZ-Reader tagline file named EZ-RDR.TAG and is placed in the EZ-Reader directory. The next level is a BBS tagline file and is placed in the BBS subdirectory under the EZ-Reader directory. The BBS tagline file is formed with the BBS ID and an extension TAG (i.e. A tagline file specifically for Thumper's Den would be D:\EZ2\THUMPER\THUMPER.TAG) The third level of tagline files is the conference tagline file and is formed by using up to the first eight characters of a conference name (spaces are replaced by an underscore '_', e.g. Main Board becomes MAIN_BOA.TAG). The conference tagline files are placed in the BBS subdirectory underthe EZ-Reader subdirectory. TIPS ---- The more mail you import and keep the larger the mail database becomes. EZ2 employees an excellent garbage collection routine to manage the size of the database file. This does slow down the import operation at times as it searches the list of available space for one large enough to hold the current message. To keep the size of the mail database manageable and the import speed up, use the [O]ptions command (a default can be set in EZCONFIG) in each conference to limit the number of days to keep read mail and whether or not you want to keep around unread mail. Using the digital sound drivers while on a network or under DESQview may lockup your machine. SUPPORT ------- Support is provided in the EZ-Reader conference on ILINK, RIME, Intellec, and other echo mail networks. If there is no EZ-Reader conference, we can be found in the Offline Mail/Reader conferences. We are moving the support BBS to The Hub at (918) 627-0923, running Intel 14.4K V.32. Thumper's Den, our local support BBS, will close on July 31st.