MacWoof allows you send a special file to your boss node that contains the names and, if necessary, passwords of files that he has available on his BBS. This process is referred to as File Requesting (often abbreviated f'reqing).
To request a file, select the File Requests item on the File Transfer menu. This brings up the following dialog that allows you to enter the name of the file and any associated password. This dialog will stay open until you click the close box in its window or press the Done button.
 
Basically, the window consists of two parts, a list of the files you are requesting and two text entry fields and four buttons. The two text entry fields are used to enter the name and password for a file you wish to request. The Add button, which is the "default" button, adds the file information to the list. The Remove button, will remove one or more selected files from the list. The Done button closes the dialog and saves your file requests. The Cancel button can be used to undo all of the requests you have made since you opened the dialog.
When you have made file requests and closed the dialog, MacWoof creates a specially formatted ".REQ" file that contains the requests. The front part of the name of the file is based upon the address of your boss node. The next time you connect to your boss, the request is sent up to him and, normally, the requested files are sent back down to you during that session.
MacWoof will automatically detect files that have been sent using the "MacBinary" protocol and will convert them upon receipt.
IMPORTANT! File Requesting is a privilege and as such should not be abused!
Please respect the wishes of your boss and of any other Sysop you f'req files from as to how many and how often. Failure to be courteous in this could result in Sysops restricting f'req access to their systems.
Sending Files to your Boss:
MacWoof, in addition to being able to request (download) files from your boss or another Fidonet system, can send files to your boss or another Fidonet system. This, in Fidonet parlance, is referred to as File Attaches.
When you select File Attaches… from the File Transfer menu, you see the following dialog:
 
When you click on the Add button, a regular "Get File" dialog box appears and you use it to select the file to be sent. After you click the Open button in the Get file dialog, you are returned to the above dialog and the file name with complete path information appears in the list in the dialog.
You can use the Remove button to delete selected items from the list either singly or in a group.
When you have selected all the files you wish to send, simply press the OK button and the list of files to be sent will be saved in a file in the same folder as your messages file using a filename based on the address of your boss with a ”.CLO” extension on the end.
The next time you connect to your boss, the files listed in the .CLO file will be automatically sent and the .CLO file will be deleted.
MacBinary:
Files on the Macintosh are actually two files in one. The two parts, or forks as they are called, are used to store not only the data, as in most other systems, but resources that are used with that data. Some files are, in fact, just resources. A good example is almost any application program like MacWoof, MacWrite, etc. Other files are just data and some have both such as the MacWoof messages file.
Most computers only know about single forked files. So when we transmit Mac files and programs to these systems we have to combine the two Macintosh forks into a single file for them to receive and store. Logically, we also need to be able to extract the two forks when we receive such a file on our own Mac. The file format/protocol to do this is called MacBinary and has been adopted as a “standard” by Mac telecommunications programs.
MacWoof will automatically detect an incoming MacBinary file and convert it for you. It will also normally convert most files you send (attach). The exceptions to this are files of type TEXT and GIFf. Both of these files are usable as is on both Macintoshes and other computers and normally you don't want to add the MacBinary format to them. You can, however, override this by setting the “Always MacBinary” check box in the Preferences… submenu. Then, all files including TEXT and GIFf types will be sent using MacBinary.
