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1993-01-05
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_________________________________________________________________
Msgedsq 2.2b Beta notes. Released 05/01/93.
Copyright (c) 1993 John Dennis. All rights reserved.
_________________________________________________________________
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msgedsq Beta Documentation Page 1
C O N T E N T S
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Reader Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Editor Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Configuration File Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
New Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msgedsq Beta Documentation Page 2
┌─────────────────┐
│ Introduction │
└─────────────────┘
Hi... It's finally here. Thanks to all those people who
supported me & kept up the reports even though there wasn't a new
version in sight. It wasn't going to take this long - but once I
got started I couldn't stop.
This file details (?) most of the new stuff you have to worry
about in the 2.2b version of Msgedsq. There have been *major*
changes throughout the entire program, so I feel it is necessary
to "wide beta" this for a while. The "conversion" is not yet
complete: some of the functions have yet to be "windowized", so
I will continue to make additions and release a non-beta version
when ready. Send all bug reports to me at:
Fidonet : 3:690/668
Internet: john@miyu.DIALix.oz.au
The international MSGED_ECHO and TUB echomail areas are also ok
to send reports. Please don't use MUFFIN because a) it already
has heaps of traffic, and b) I don't read it anymore.
Please do not try to call my node; it is a Mail-Only node and
only available during the national zone mail hour. This will
change in the future, but when is a different question. If
you've sent me mail via an Internet gate before and never got a
reply: then it's likely my reply bounced. This happens at an
alarming rate.
┌──────────┐
│ Notes │
└──────────┘
The documentation "proper" has not been updated yet (and won't be
until the non-beta version). Some features still have not been
re-implemented in this version, including the setting of the
cursor size and bios writes to the screen. There also isn't a
colour set for monochrome screens. If someone could set one up,
will will be included in the final release.
If you're new to this program, the full (outdated) documentation
is available in previous versions that may (or may not) be
floating about the place. Most of the setup should be obvious,
but if you have trouble please refer to an older version.
Since it's quite possible that I have forgotten to put bits in
here, please use the DISTRIBUTED config file. Your old one (if
you have one) WILL NOT WORK! I cannot reinforce this enough.
Msgedsq has never had much config syntax checking and probably
never will, so any errors will probably be on your part...
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msgedsq Beta Documentation Page 3
┌────────────────┐
│ Reader Changes │
└────────────────┘
o Much of the main message sub-system has been changed. This
should eliminate most message creation problems (like
creating a message in an empty fido area).
o V7 Support has been fixed.
o Macros work in almost all areas except inside entry fields
(in the header and dialog boxes). They will work in all
other areas, but please note that templates can be used now
for message entry (sigs and the like).
o Support for UUCP has been improved in areas (tho it still
has a way to go). It now ignores the date in Internet
messages to avoid those traps in OS/2 (the UUCP gate usually
attempts to parse them anyway).
o Massive changes to the display system. Every bit of code
that writes to the screen and talks to the user has been
rewritten. There are now windows/dialog boxes and much more
to boot. Even better: now that this sub-system is in place
I can use it to do some pretty fancy things.
o The way it reads addresses has been changed. It doesn't
rely on ^aMSIGDs and ^aREPLYs anymore, and as a result, the
address should more correctly reflect what it should be.
You also won't have trouble changing addresses anymore :-)
o The find bug has been removed. It shouldn't trap any
longer... It also now highlights the line of text in which
the text was found (if it was in the message text).
o The menu sub-system has been re-written to add mouse support
and a little more flexibility.
o The scanned bit is also shown for squish message bases.
o Addressing has been fixed as best as this author knows how
(with advice from a very helpful david nugent). Addresses
should now show up as they are, rather than being a copy of
what was in ^aMSGIDs and ^aREPLYs. Addressing information
is now obtained in an order of importance corresponding to
the kind of information obtained.
o Many other numerous bug fixes.
┌─────────────────┐
│ Editor Changes │
└─────────────────┘
o The editor has been re-built from the ground up. It
functions in the same manner but is different internally in
the way it displays, wraps and other general text handling
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msgedsq Beta Documentation Page 4
operations. It should now be possible to wrap other
character sets (Russian etc etc).
o The whole thing should be more predictable and look better
when wrapping (not so much jumping around).
o The pause bug is dead.
o Qedit-like blocking (without the follow-me cursor bit). You
can use the block key to resize the block and generally
stuff around until you're satisfied with the block. The cut
and paste operations work in the same manner, however. An
"unblock" function has been added to deselect the current
block.
o You can decide what you want to export - the message, the
currently selected block, or the clipboard, depending on
what is there.
o Template support is integrated with template lines showing
up as a different colour (configurable). The action of
chopping the end off quotes is also now configurable (see
the "chopquote" switch).
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ Configuration File Changes │
└───────────────────────────────┘
o All of the parsing routines have been re-written, with a
common set of functions providing parsing functionality for
all config files.
o The switch format has changed; switches may be set on or off
in the configuration file. The default settings along with
all available switches are listed in the configuration file.
o Colours are of course configurable, but the syntax has
changed, as has the available colours. See the msq.col file
for instructions.
o There are many new switches... Some have been waiting to be
added for a long time - please check them out.
o You can now specify the UUCP gate name (so you can use
"FredGate" or similar). See the "UucpName" config verb in
the config file.
o The format of aliases has changed; you can now specify an
attribute for that message (doesn't apply to use in CC:'s).
You CANNOT use your old configuration file aliases... You
will have to convert them - see the distributed config file
for the format. It should be pretty obvious.
o The format for message area definition has changed! The
changes are relatively simple: the area type (uucp, netmail,
echomail etc.) has been combined with the switches to form
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msgedsq Beta Documentation Page 5
one block of characters.
u = uucp e = echomail
n = news m = netmail
l = local h = hold
p = private k = kill/sent
c = crash d = direct
o Blind CC:'s are now supported; The message only (minus the
cc: text) sent to the recipients. Use "bc:" to activate
this feature.
o Verbose CC:'s are also supported. The full address of every
person is given rather than just the name. Use "vc:" instead
of "cc:" to activate this feature.
o Response files are also now supported when entering CC:s (of
any kind). There can only be one response file per CC: line
- and it must be the first item on the line, for example:
cc: ~beta.rsp
Any other information on the line will be ignored. The
format of the file is exactly the same as that used on CC:
lines, except that there may only be one destination per
line. Comments are delimited by a ';'. NOTE: you can use
blind, normal and verbose CC:s with this feature.
o Templates have replaced the use of the old attribution
lines. See the distributed template for documentation on
it's use. (There is also a section in here describing them).
┌───────────┐
│ New Bits │
└───────────┘
The most obvious change is the look & feel. All keypresses are
exactly the same as before. When in reader mode there are a
number of hotspots, or active screen portions, these are:
bottom 2 lines : This will respond to a down-press of the
left mouse button, and will go down the
message until you release the button.
top 2 lines : Same as above, but will go up the
message.
Left & Right sides : These will move left and right one
message if a left click is received, or
continuously move through messages until
the left button is released.
Note, the above top and side HotSpots are relative to the message
text portion of the display (that is, underneath the text/header
divider line).
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msgedsq Beta Documentation Page 6
Link Arrows : This responds to clicks of the left
mouse button only, and will go to the
indicated linked message. If there is
more than one link in that direction
(indicated by two arrows), a menu (also
mouse operated, see below) will appear
so a choice can be made.
Pop-Up menus : Pop-Up menus are simply selection boxes;
any mouse button release on a menu item
will choose that item, any mouse press
above the top-most item or below the
lowest item will cause scrolling in that
direction. Also responds to continued
pressing (ie "dragging" of selection
bar).
DialogBoxes : Dialog boxes are characterized by
buttons (in this app, anyway) and will
also include edit-fields and check-
boxes. Generally, navigation is the
same as SAA/CUA compliant interfaces,
including keyboard navigation (but it's
not perfect yet :-)
Menus : There are menus, but currently they
aren't pull-down - only the menu-bar
options are in use. These can be seen
on the top right hand corner of the
screen. Selection occurs on mouse button
release.
┌───────────┐
│ Templates │
└───────────┘
Some of the other changes include a re-vamped quoting system; a
template file is now used for everything including forwarding and
redirection of messages. The template file replaces attribution
lines of all kinds (so you can remove them from the config file),
but does not replace the function definition section (which is
optional anyway). See the template file for info on how it
works.
One of the nice things about a template is that you can put in a
sig that will be appended for all new (quoted & otherwise)
messages. One of the problems is that the old way of getting rid
of spurious quote lines becomes a little more difficult;
template lines are now specially marked in the editor - if you
change one in any way it becomes a normal line of text.
The benefit of marking them thus is that Msgedsq will first
search for the last line of text (!quote && !blank && !template)
and will then search for the NEXT template line. If found, ALL
lines in between will be deleted, so you can quite easily specify
the *exact* look for you messages (how many lines between the
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msgedsq Beta Documentation Page 7
text, sig and origin line). Again, see the template file for an
example.
End of Document.
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Msgedsq Beta Documentation Page 8