ARM Club 3/TheARMClub_PDCD3.iso/programs/comms_networking/netreader/!NetReader/Docs/History

Text File | 1997-10-04 | 17.8 KB | 304 lines

A brief history of !NetReader
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

v1.06     (4th Oct 1997)
          a) Added support for local domains (ie. no email domain will have the local address
             appended to it)
          b) Fixed bug where creating additional users left the 'self ref' code the same.
          c) Added additional support to send local email messages to other users (useful for local
             sites running over Acorn networks). Send emails to xxxx@localsite where xxxx is the
             name of the local user.
          d) Added confirmation warning before deleting entries from the address book.
          e) Changed cursor down from subject icon to go to email address rather than reply window.
          f) Added ability to reply to email addresses in the message text.
          g) Added option to export links and email addresses from the message text.
          h) Added ability to press tab instead of return in 'Subject' and 'Email to' fields.
          i) Added support for interactive help

v1.05     (23rd Sep 1997) *** MAJOR RE-WRITE ***
          a) Supports multiple users and individual choices for each user.
          b) Supports multiple mail mechanisms for different types of mail message.
          c) Networkable to allow multi-users to password protect mail.
          d) Complete overhaul of code.
          e) Added URL hotlinking, so clicking on URLs in email messages jumps to
             the URL (if a browser is loaded and you're online!)

             Too many extra features to list here!

v1.04     (20th Jul 1997)
          a) Added 'Multi user' support for Ant, although I still haven't
             'hacked' their password algorithm, so passwords are not supported! (a bit of a
             security leak really, as you can read anyone else's messages. If I can't hack
             Ant's routine, I may just write my own, so that NetReader uses it's own
             passwords)
          b) Fixed bug in 'Quick Print' routine.
          c) Prevented exporting messages moving the message window to the front.
          d) Added ability to display 'full' headers in exported messages, rather than just
             long or short.
          e) Made detection of Ant suite a bit more intelligent.
          f) Fixed bug where message subject index would get out of step if no subject was
             detected in a message.
          g) Added new title screen.
          h) Fixed bug where , was added to email addresses in mailing lists sent to Ant.
          i) Amended so that full headers are always sent to messages sent to Ant.

v1.03a    (12 Dec 1996)
          a) Added compatibility to Ant Suite for loading Marcel email messages.
             N.B. Only single user support is currently provided. I may change this depending
             upon how much free time I get, as NetReader is on a back burner at present.
             However, Ant mailing lists are supported.
          b) Added short/full header information
          c) Checked StrongArm compatibility
          d) Added ascii "=" code translation. For example, =B0 converts to a degree sign.
          e) Fixed bug where you were occasioanally asked if you want to delete tagged files
             on Quitting, even though you had closed the file.
          f) Fixed bug where closing a file with only one message forgot to ask you if you want
             to delete tagged messages.
          g) Now gives an error message if you try reading a blank file.
          h) Swapped prompt icons around on 'Delete tagged messages' to avoid accidental
             deletion if you double-click by mistake on Close file.
          i) Added additional signature file for Ant messages.
          j) Disabled 'Auto delete before reply' choice when using Ant email messages.
          k) Fixed 'Internal error' bug occuring if non-compatible email files are dragged
             onto !NetReader.
          l) Re-worded some of the warning prompts to make it easier to understand.
          m) Changed flag settings so that loading previous stored files do not become all
             read on loading. (Actual lines are just commented out!)
          n) Made main windows appear at intelligent places on the screen instead of bunched
             in the corner.

          YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COPIES OF V1.03a AS I'M STILL WORKING ON IT. WHEN IT IS WORKING
          IT WILL BECOME V1.04 - UNTIL THEN, PLEASE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE!

v1.03     (18th Sep 1996)
          a) Fixed deleting messages from file bug.
          b) Various house-keeping tidy-ups
          c) Fixed message truncating at 100 lines bug
          d) Fixed exporting bug where sometimes nothing is saved.

v1.02     (29th Oct 1995)
          a) Added X-Organisation and X-Mailer to sending newsmessages.
          b) Tidied bug so that you are no longer asked to delete tagged messages when QUITing
             and you've already closed the input file.

v1.01     (3rd Aug 1995)
          a) Extended length of reply menu slightly so that 'Blind Copies' doesn't overflow
             the end when desktop font is System.

v1.00     (21st Jul 1995)
          a) Amended private replies to include : after command, eg. cc:
          b) Removed ending , after the to: in private replies when also doing a cc:
          c) Fixed minor bug when closing a file (and deleting messages) then quitting,
             you were still asked if you want to delete messages. This no longer happens.
          d) Added name search so that when you enter a name without an @ symbol into the
             name field, !NetReader will scan it's directory of people and fill in the
             full email address for you (if the person is in the list)
          e) Amended newsgroup input so that if a newsgroup already exists, subsequent ones
             can be added to it - to post to multiple groups.
          f) Added support for Followup-to: replies.


v0.10     (7th Jun 1995)                 **** MAJOR UPDATE ****
          a) Amended goto message by subject to a window rather than a menu.
             This is very much faster and can be open all the time.
          b) Newsgroups are automatically added to a file
             (!NetReader.Stored.Newsgroups) as they are seen for the first time.
             When sending a message a newsgroup can be selected from a menu
             by pressing MENU over the newsgroup icon in the control window.
          c) Facility to change window colours added. (from Choices window)
          d) Tidied up some error messages and the way NetReader copes with
             quits and abort loads.
          e) Changed icon colours to give a more 'professional' look.
          f) Changed stored messages filename from msgsfile to Usenet.
          g) When importing private messages, a list of email numbers is also
             build up in a similar fashion to the newsgroups. This file is
             called !NetReader.Stored.People
          h) Speeded up loading of messages slightly.
          i) Wimpslot increased to rectify occasional 'heap full' errors.
          j) Separate message files to store 'Usenet' and 'Private' messages.
          k) Ability to send to more than one newsgroup added.
          l) Added additional signature file so that newsgroup messages and
             private messages can have different long signatures (if req.)
          m) Re-designed control window slightly (wider) with pointer display
             added.
          n) Added checking for Reply files on startup. Warning given if dodgy
             filenames are detected. Useful if !NetReader has been copied from
             one machine to another and Reply files had already been setup in
             the choices window.
          o) Added Misc directory in which to store miscellaneous files which
             may be useful to !NetReader users. See Docs.MiscDir for details.
          p) Cleared subject lines from control bar when new message is loaded.
          q) Fixed bug where 'from' details in subject index were sometimes
             repeated in the following entry.
          r) Bug fix: When exploding messages, null filenames are converted to
             "NoSubj".
          s) Added 'Skipfile' facility to skip over messages from certain people.
          t) Added facility to add date when quoting from messages.
          u) Added 'approx number of messages' calculation to loading window.
          v) Tidied up sensing of msgtype slightly to avoid confusion.
          w) Subject index window can only be opened when the whole input file
             has been loaded.
          x) Added ability to handle mailing lists, so you can send a message to
             a specified group of people without having to keep entering the list.
             These are stored as text files in the directory !NetReader.Stored.MailLists
             (More instructions in the manual)
          y) Hourglass now comes on when Importing text into the reply window.
          z) Added 'Quick print' option to do a quick (VDU 2 type) print on line
             printers, either the current message or the current reply (depending upon
             which menu you select it from)


v0.09     (6th Apr 1995)                 **** MAJOR UPDATE ****
          a) Extended wimpslot size to 416k.
          b) Quotes now miss out blank lines rather than saying "line skipped".
             N.B. Still gives lines skipped if textual lines actually are
             skipped.
          c) Lines now correctly wrap when quoting long lines (making quoted
             lines look a bit more tidy).
          d) Amended reply editor slightly, so that if you click past the end
             of the text, the caret is positioned correctly at the end of the
             line, rather than in the middle of a blank area.
          e) In case of emergency, pressing ESCAPE will now abort loading a
             message, part way through. Use with care!
          f) Removed bleep from sounding when the thread window opens, as it
             was rather annoying.
          g) A message is now stored if the 'store' is set, irrespective of
             whether the message has already been read or not. This allows
             you to go back to previous messages and store them. However,
             it doesn't stop you from storing a message more than once. This
             action was changed due to popular demand.
          h) Irritating window added, to encourage people to register.
          i) Set loading flag to FALSE if the load is aborted on message 1.
          j) Speeded up loading of messages a tiny bit.
          k) Amended Lines: value in reply messages to give the correct value.
          l) Tidied up some of the windows a bit.
          m) Added 'Back' icon to thread window, to take you back through the
             threaded messages you've just read. A pointer bar also gives you
             a graphical representation of the approx position in the file.
          n) Amended delete time to allow deletion after 0 days, allowing for
             deletion of all messages (previous versions had 1 day min)
          o) Fixed but where typing in a new value for delete after was
             ignored.
          p) Added 'New message' option to icon bar menu, so that you don't
             have to have a file loaded in order to send a message.
          q) Tidied status window up a bit to allow cursor movement and re-draw
             after sending a new message. Previous settings are now restored.
          r) Keyboard handler now correctly recognises f12 being pressed from
             any position.
          s) Added name to messages file for improved detection of messages
             mentioning your name.
          t) Amended bug in explode routine so that "Re:" is removed from the
             beginning of filenames.
          u) Added origin verification to check NNTP-posting-host with message ID
             ??? is displayed to the left of 'From' is there is a discrepency.
          v) Re-arranged directory structure to make NetReader's internal
             organisation a bit easier to understand.

v0.08     (3rd Mar 1995)
          a) Fixed minor bug in loading routine, to work on RISC PC's.


v0.07     (8th Dec 1994)
          a)  Fixed small bug in date evaluation routine.
          b)  Fixed bug in 'Purgefile' routine, so that (hopefully) the read,binned
              files should be deleted ok.
          c)  Added basic thread following to messages.
          d)  Added support for archived source files.

v0.06     (1st Dec 1994)
          a)  Made loading of messages multi-tasking if required (so you can
              carry on working when loading large files)
              For those who want to run at maximum speed (but not do anything in
              the meantime) you can turn it off if required.
          b)  Re-designed 'Choices' window again.
          c)  Amended 'Goto' menu to include subject and user. These have now been
              truncated (subject to 38 chars, name to 20 chars) to fit them into
              the menu structure.
          d)  Added extra 'confirmation' error messages when about to quit or close
              the file.
          e)  Fixed bug where 'Explode' gave 'directory full' error if the directory
              was already ready nearing completion when Exploded.
          f)  Extended message statck slightly to cater for up to around 1000 messages
              in a single file.
          g)  Added ADFS/DOS format to explode filenames. ADFS truncates names to 10
              characters, whereas DOS truncates to 8 characters.

v0.05     (21st Nov 1994)
          a)  Modified age routine to bin messages older than OR EQUAL to the
              age set in choices.
          b)  Amended quotes so that they wrap words to the start of the next
              line, rather than truncating half way through a word.
          c)  Added short 'bleep' to notify when long messages have been
              truncated.
          d)  Amended title page to load at the correct sprite allocation area,
              rather than at 20*1024*1024, thus allowing for !SparkFS etc to
              be already load.
          e)  Caret auto-positions when you select send new message.
          f)  'Space' now works correctly at the beginning of reply lines.

v0.04    (7th Nov 1994)                 **** MAJOR UPDATE ****
          a)  Reset no. of deletions when loading new file (bug fix)
          b)  Modified loader routine to automatically distinguish between
              cr,lf and lf separated lines in the message input file.
          c)  Changed warning icons from simple 'OK' and 'Cancel' to slightly
              more descriptive ones.
          d)  Added 'Private' reply facility.
          e)  Facility to choose the line separators of reply files.
          f)  Added the ability to change the value of tab stops used to
              display messages. (usually only relevant to signatures)
          g)  Added explode feature (see !Help for more info)
          h)  Amended purge routine so that when deleting messages, only
              those that have been read will be deleted. Not those that
              haven't.
          i)  Added 'Utils' menu (see !Help for more info)
          j)  Fixed bug in message reader so that ctrl codes below 32 are
              filtered out.
          k)  'Find self' option added (see !Help for more info)
          l)  References to your user ID are automatically highlighted.
          m)  Fixed a whole host of minor bugs in the reply editor - mainly
              where the cursor position got confused resulting in corrupted
              window data occasionally.
          n)  Added 'Reference to self' led to main control window.
          o)  Removed bug whereby 'Explode' routine gave filename error if
              the subject contained an invalid character.
          p)  Fixed bug where too many lines were added between reply text
              and signature (maxry%) when multiple replies were sent.

v0.03    (27th Oct 1994)
          a)  Speeded up deletion of messages by doing multiple messages in
              one go.
          b)  Changed 'Continue' icon to 'OK' icon in warning window.
          c)  Changed colour of hourglass (only on RISC OS 3) when storing
              message.
          d)  Fixed bug where multiple deletes didn't work correctly.
          e)  Rearranged 'Choices' window to provide options for private
              replies.

v0.02     (23rd Oct 1994) - SENT TO ACORN COMPUTING MAGAZINE
          Bug fix - Floating point exception when a message with 0 lines is
                    decoded.
          Feature - ... line(s) skipped ... added to reply file where a
                        non-continous section of text is being quoted.
          Feature - To quote <name> added when quoting messages, together
                    with 'to quote again' when making subsequent quotes from
                    the same message.
                    The exact wording can be changed by editing the
                    !NetReader.Resources.Messages file. BE CAREFUL THOUGH!
          Bug fix - File open errors now cause !NetReader to suffer a
                    recoverable error instead of quitting.
          Feature - "Lines: x" now added automatically to reply headers.
          Feature - Reply routine re-written to fix a few bugs and include
                    long signatures.
          Feature - "Re:" added automatically to subject line if you reply
                    to a message that is not already a reply.
          Feature - References: header line added to replies to thread reply.
          Feature - The ability to delete 'tagged' messages.
          Feature - Ability to drag text files into the reply window.
          Feature - Ability to enter 'new' messages.

v0.01     (6th Oct 1994) - UPLOADED TO CIX
          Original release version (just about working)
          - probably quite a few bugs, but I thought I'd let people see what
            I was writing, and offer any comments.

©Paul Vigay