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The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00
Copyright (C) 1992-1996 by Cutting Edge Computing
All Rights Reserved
Reference Manual for the Use and
Operation of The Blue Wave Mail Doors
Written by George Hatchew and Martin Pollard
Cutting Edge Computing
P.O. Box 90476
Burton, Michigan 49509-0476
USA
BBS Support Number: +1-810-743-8464
FAX Support Number: +1-810-743-5910 (REGISTERED users only)
Internet E-Mail : bluewave@concentric.net
World Wide Web : http://www.concentric.net/~bluewave
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
Chapter 1
ABOUT THIS DOCUMENTATION 3
Section 1.1 Purpose of this Documentation 3
Section 1.2 Printing this Documentation 3
Chapter 2
ABOUT THE BLUE WAVE MAIL DOOR 5
Section 2.1 History of Offline Mail Systems 5
Section 2.2 What Are E-Mail Networks For? 6
Section 2.3 What Features are in Blue Wave? 6
Chapter 3
GETTING STARTED 8
Section 3.1 Locating and Installing a Mail Reader 8
Section 3.2 Using the Mail System for the First Time 8
Section 3.3 Selecting Message Areas for Download 8
Section 3.4 The Configuration Menu 10
Section 3.4 The Download/Bundle Options Menu 13
Section 3.5 The Main Menu 19
Chapter 4
USING THE MAIL DOOR 21
Section 4.1 Downloading Through the Mail Door 21
Section 4.2 Uploading Through the Mail Door 25
Section 4.3 File Requests 26
Chapter 5
THE BLUE WAVE BUNDLING COMMANDS 28
Section 5.1 Bundling Command Description 28
Section 5.1.1 The 'B' Bundling Command 30
Section 5.1.2 The 'L' Bundling Command 30
Section 5.1.3 The '*' Modifier 31
Section 5.1.4 The '!' Modifier 31
Section 5.2 Bundling Command Considerations 31
Chapter 6
USING THE DOOR IN QWK MODE 33
Section 6.1 Offline Configuration 33
Section 6.1.1 The "ADD/DROP" Method 33
Section 6.1.2 The "Single-Message" Method 34
Section 6.2 File Requesting 35
Section 6.3 Entering FidoNet NetMail Messages 36
Section 6.4 Entering Internet E-Mail Messages 36
Section 6.5 Entering FidoNet-Gated Internet E-Mail 36
Section 6.6 Extended Message Header Fields 37
------------------------------------
Chapter 1: ABOUT THIS DOCUMENTATION
------------------------------------
Section 1.1 Purpose of this Documentation
The documentation presented in this file is designed to:
* Provide a description of offline mail systems in general,
including a brief history of E-Mail networks and how they can be
both entertaining and useful.
* Provide an overview of the operation of The Blue Wave Offline
Mail Door from the End User or Client point of view.
* Describe the features available in all Blue Wave Mail Doors with
a version number of v4.00 or higher, and how you can use these
features effectively.
The documentation in this file is not meant as a reference for the
installation and maintenance of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door. If
you are a SysOp or system administrator, please consult the file
BWMAIL.DOC, which should have been enclosed with your copy of the mail
door archive.
If you are an end user or client of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door,
you will also need a copy of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader, or a
mail reader that is Blue Wave compatible, in order to operate the mail
door in "Blue Wave" mode. If the mail door you are using has been
registered (the license fee has been paid), and the mail door version
is 4.00 or higher, you may enable QWK packet mode. There are many QWK
compatible mail readers available, including The Blue Wave Offline
Mail Reader. The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader should be available on
the same BBS from which you received this file. The file name as
distributed by Cutting Edge Computing is BWnn_DOS.ZIP, BWnn_386.ZIP,
and BWnn_OS2.ZIP, where 'nn' is the current version number. The
latest version as of this writing (15 Jun 96) is v2.30. Any version
of the reader claiming to be "v3.00" are hacked copies of the reader,
and should be avoided.
This documentation provides a Table of Contents; use this to help you
locate items of interest in this file, or use a file viewer/editor to
search for items you may be looking for.
Instructions for printing this documentation file can be found in the
following section.
Section 1.2 Printing this Documentation
This documentation is formatted with Form Feeds for printing on all
Personal Computer printers. This documentation file contains no IBM
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 3
Extended ASCII characters, so it should print fine on all printer
models - even non IBM ProPrinter compatibles.
To print this documentation in hard copy, simply execute the following
command from the DOS (or OS/2) command line:
COPY BWMAIL.DOC PRN
If you would like to print this documentation using the PRINT.COM
print spooler provided with most versions of DOS (and all versions of
OS/2), simply execute this command at the DOS or OS/2 prompt:
PRINT BWMAIL.DOC
The documentation is formatted to 60 lines per page so that printing
on laser printers should also work with no problems. If, when you
attempt to print this documentation, your printer begins ejecting
pages which are not complete (the page number is not at the bottom of
the page), you should cancel the print job and configure your printer
to accept at least 60 lines per page. You will need to consult your
printer's user manual for information on how this can be done.
The documentation was written by George Hatchew and is Copyright (C)
1992-1996 by Cutting Edge Computing. It may be distributed freely, so
long as it is has not been modified.
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 4
-----------------------------------------
Chapter 2: ABOUT THE BLUE WAVE MAIL DOOR
-----------------------------------------
Section 2.1 History of Offline Mail Systems
Back in the early to mid 1980's, many people were beginning to get
home computers and modems. People began communicating in several ways
through Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's). BBS systems began offering
message bases where people of similar interests could communicate with
each other through electronic means. As the technology grew, people
started sharing message bases between different BBS systems across the
city, then across the country, and eventually across the world. Mail
conferencing was born, and nothing was going to stop it.
At about the same time, commercial online services began offering E-
Mail services which could transmit a message to a recipient several
thousands of miles away in a matter of hours, minutes, or even
seconds. In the early stages, however, these commercial online
services were very expensive. E-Mail on commercial services normally
could only be afforded by businesses and a handful of individuals.
Many people became hooked, many others dependant, on E-Mail.
While the commercial companies were developing newer, faster, and less
expensive ways to transmit E-Mail across the world, so were the
amateur BBS operators. Several amateur E-Mail networks and
technologies were formed. One of the largest amateur E-Mail networks
still popular today is FidoNet.
Don't let the term 'amateur' fool you. Many of the people that are
responsible for keeping FidoNet up and running may be classified as
amateurs, but years of experience and knowledge, and usually thousands
of dollars in equipment, have earned them a very respectable name.
Today, FidoNet is nearly 35,000 nodes strong and still growing! As
the networks and the number of home computer users has grown, the use
of technology for reading and replying to E-Mail offline has become
more and more essential. When BBSing was young, there was plenty of
time to read and reply to messages online. Today, with more users
than ever and more E-Mail flowing than ever, there just is not enough
time for every user to spend a half-hour, an hour, or even two hours
online to their local BBS. Long distance phone rates can also get to
be outrageously expensive after just a few of these sessions per
month.
This is where offline mail reading comes into play. With today's
innovations in offline mail processing, you can spend just a very few
minutes per day online to your favorite BBS system(s) and do all of
your work OFFLINE, where there is no system time limit to run up
against, and where the phone company's meter is not running. This
also frees up the host system's phone line(s) for access by more users
and helps to alleviate the dreaded 'busy signals'.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 5
Best of all, you can read your mail at any time of the day or night --
whenever your have free time. Today's communications software allows
users to build "smart" script files, which in turn allows you to
retrieve your mail automatically at even the oddest times of the day
or night (especially when long distance phone rates are low). Since
mail 'packets' are compressed into a single file, you can easily copy
your mail to a floppy disk and take it with you to work, school, or
anywhere else you have access to a computer system.
Section 2.2 What Are E-Mail Networks For?
At this point, you may be asking yourself, "What exactly are E-Mail
Networks for?". Some people unfamiliar with mail networks and E-Mail
sometimes cannot understand the enjoyment and knowledge that can come
out of being an active participant on an E-Mail network. Not only can
you communicate with people from all corners of the world, but you can
learn more about your favorite computer software, share recipes with
others, learn how to repair your leaking roof, get advice from others
on product quality ratings, or just join in a chat between long
distance friends. As a matter of fact, FidoNet alone offers well over
500 E-Mail topics (sometimes called 'echos' or 'conferences') ranging
from Aardvarks to Zymurgy.
Many businesses now use internal E-Mail networks for communications
between employees just down the hall, across town, or even half-way
around the globe. Many software and computer hardware companies now
have a support BBS which allows users to dial in and exchange messages
and files between users. Technical support is nearly always offered
through these types of support systems.
If your favorite BBS system is not currently part of an E-Mail
network, don't worry. The Blue Wave Offline Mail System will still
provide you with all of the features described. And, if that system
later decides to join an E-Mail network, you will have already
mastered the use of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door. Very few, if
any, changes will be necessary to integrate the offline mail system
into the E-Mail network.
Section 2.3 What Features are in Blue Wave?
The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door is unlike many offline mail systems
available today.
The Blue Wave Mail System will allow you to actively participate in
this fun and fascinating hobby to any extent you like. You can
retrieve mail from your favorite BBS system to your own computer,
where you are free to take your time and enjoy yourself. When the
mail door is coupled with a Blue Wave compatible mail reader, you have
access to one of the most powerful mail systems available today. The
Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader is a complete mail manager, which allows
you to reply to messages, save messages to disk in a text file, print
messages to your printer, and help you search out only the messages
that interest you through the use of keyword searching. Additionally,
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 6
the mail system provides full filtering capabilities as well as an
internal tagline manager.
Full compatibility with FidoNet EchoMail and NetMail message areas is
one of the greatest features of the mail system. If you are a member
of a FidoNet-style network, the mail door and reader offers full plug
and play compliance with FidoNet standards. Those BBS systems that
support a direct interface for Internet E-Mail and Usenet Newsgroups
are also supported directly by The Blue Wave Mail Door. (Note that
you must use version 2.20 or higher of The Blue Wave Offline Mail
Reader, or a third-party reader which supports Blue Wave Version 3
mail packets, in order for Internet/Usenet support to work properly.)
The Blue Wave Mail System offers a unique Offline Configuration
system. If you are using a Blue Wave compatible mail reader, you can
configure all aspects of the mail door's behavior while offline. When
you upload (send) the offline configuration information to the mail
door, the door automatically adjusts itself to your new configuration
settings. There is absolutely no setup required to enable this
feature.
File Requesting is yet another option available to you. While offline
you may input a list of files that you would like to download from the
BBS to your system. The next time you use the mail door to upload
your mail packet, the door automatically senses the request for
specific files and will send them to you as part of your next mail
packet. (This is an option which may be disabled by the SysOp of the
host BBS system.)
As a complement to the file requesting feature, the mail door will
also perform "new file scanning." If you enable the new file scan
feature, The Blue Wave Mail Door will automatically scan for new files
on the BBS since your last mail download. This new file listing is
included in your mail packet, and can be read through your mail
reader.
One of the more powerful features available to you is the Blue Wave
Bundling Commands. Bundling commands allow you to selectively
include, exclude, and manipulate the messages that are packed before
you actually perform a mail download. There is an entire chapter in
this documentation dedicated to the use of these Bundling Commands.
The Blue Wave Mail Door is one of the most exciting and useful
utilities that a SysOp offers you as a part of their BBS system. It
provides many benefits for both SysOps and users alike. After a
while, you will wonder how you ever managed without it!
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 7
---------------------------
Chapter 3: GETTING STARTED
---------------------------
Section 3.1 Locating and Installing a Mail Reader
Before you can use The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door to read mail on
your own computer, it will be necessary to locate and install a mail
reader. There is a very wide variety of mail readers available, so it
is well beyond the scope of this documentation to attempt to describe
them all. In order to utilize the features of The Blue Wave Offline
Mail System fully, you should attempt to locate a Blue Wave compatible
offline mail reader. Search your local BBS systems, the Internet, or
other sources of ShareWare for "Blue Wave" or "Bluewave" (people often
omit the space in "Blue Wave"). If you are running DOS, Windows, or
OS/2 on your computer, we (naturally) recommend The Blue Wave Offline
Mail Reader. However, any Blue Wave or QWK compatible mail reader may
be used with The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door.
Section 3.2 Using the Mail System for the First Time
The first time you enter The Blue Wave Mail Door, you will be
presented with a few "welcome" and help screens. The SysOp or
administrator of the online service you are using has the ability to
set several system defaults for new users.
You will be presented with the ARCHIVER (compression system), PROTOCOL
(file transfer system), and possibly a few message areas that the
SysOp has selected as default settings. Most of the time the default
settings the SysOp has chosen are the best options to use. However,
you can change these default settings once you reach the door's
CONFIGURATION menu. The configuration menu allows you to change many
aspects of the door's operation. All of these optioins are described
in detail in the section of the documentation titled "The
Configuration Menu."
The first order of business, however, is to select the message areas
that you would like to download (receive) from the host system. You
do this by selecting "C)hoose Message Areas to Download". The
procedure for selecting message areas is detailed in the next section.
Section 3.3 Selecting Message Areas for Download
Selecting the message areas that you would like to receive or download
from the host system is done by selecting "C)hoose Areas to Download"
from the mail door's configuration menu. Immediately after selecting
this option from the menu, you are presented with a listing of message
areas that are available to you.
In the left-most column you will find the AREA NUMBER (or on some
systems, the "area number" could actually be a word of up to 9
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 8
characters), followed by the current STATUS of the message area. The
right-most side of the screen contains the area's full name or
description. The display on all Blue Wave Mail Doors that have a
version number of 3.00 or higher looks similar to the following:
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Area # | Status | Area Description |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
1 All Local Message Base - User Chatter
2 Forced Comments to and from the SysOp
3 Role Playing Games
4 Persnl FidoNet NetMail Messages
5 P+All FidoNet For-Sale Echo
The "Status" column tells you how the mail door is going to handle
that message area when you instruct the door to download your
messages. Areas with no status displayed are not active and will not
be included in your downloaded mail bundles.
There are 4 different types of "Status" displayed.
All - Indicates that you have told the mail door to download ALL
NEW messages in the area each time you perform a mail
download.
Persnl - Indicates that you have told the mail door to download ONLY
"Personal" messages in that area each time you perform a
mail download. Personal messages are those messages that
someone has entered with your name in the TO: field.
P+All - Indicates that you have instructed the mail door to download
ONLY messages in this area that are addressed to you, or
messages that have been addressed to "All".
Forced - Indicates that the SysOp has FORCED this message area on.
You will not be able to turn this area off through the mail
door. SysOps and administrators usually use FORCED message
areas for important system announcements and bulletins.
At the end of each screenful of message areas, you are presented with
a prompt: Area#(s) or More [Y,n]?
If you would like to change the status of any message areas on the
screen, simply type in the area number (or name) listed in the "Area
#" column of the display. HINT: You can type more than one area
number or name at this prompt. Simply separate the areas with <Space>
characters, and the mail door will process all of the areas listed at
one time.
If you do not want to change the status of any of the areas on the
screen, either enter "Y" to see more message areas, or "N" to stop the
area listing.
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 9
If you have chosen to change the status of any of the areas on the
screen, the door will present you with the following prompt:
Area 1: P)ersonal msgs only, +)Personal+"All", [ENTER]All Msgs:
If you want the mail door to only bundle personal messages in the
message area shown, enter a "P" here. If you want to receive your
personal messages, and messages addressed to "ALL", enter a "+" here.
The default action of pressing [ENTER] will download all new messages
that have been received into the message base since your last
successful mail download. (This also implies that you will receive
any personal messages that arrive in the message area.)
Simply repeat this prcoess until you have selected all of the message
areas that you would like to receive in your mail packet downloads.
You can turn message areas OFF in the same way that you activate them.
Enter the number of the message area that you would like to turn off,
and the door will present you with a prompt similar to the one shown
above. The default action of pressing [ENTER] will then turn the
message base off, and you will no longer receive messages from that
area in your mail downloads.
After all message areas have been listed, you are given an opportunity
to QUIT the area selection system, to re-list all of the available
message areas, or to list ONLY those areas that you have activated.
When you are done choosing your message areas, press [ENTER] at this
prompt, or "!" followed by the [ENTER] key. You will then be taken
back to the door's configuration menu, where you can make other
changes to your online configuration profile. A complete description
of the other options available on the door's configuration menu
follows in the next section.
Section 3.4 The Configuration Menu
When viewing the door's Configuration Menu, it may seem a bit
overwhelming to novice users. Please do not let the menu intimidate
you, as most of the options available here are nothing more that
preferences that you can turn ON and OFF.
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 10
Here is what the Configuration Menu in The Blue Wave Mail Door looks
like. Please note that a couple of the options are unique to mail
doors with a version number of 4.00 or higher. (The version number of
the door that you are using is displayed above the door's Main Menu.)
+-----------| The Blue Wave Configuration Menu |-----------+
| |
| C)hoose Areas for Download P)rotocol (Zmodem) |
| A)rchiver (ZIP) |
| R)eset Lastread Pointers S)et Password Options |
| * G)raphics (Color) On/Off |
| * H)otkey Menu Selections X)pert Menu Mode |
| ?)Help |
| D)ownload/Bundle Options Q)uit to Main Menu |
| |
| * Indicates Option is ON |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
The remainder of this section will discuss the various options that
are available on the Configuration Menu.
Reset Lastread Pointers - Selecting this menu item will allow you to
alter the records that both the BBS and the mail door record to
disk. These records are updated each time the mail door is used
to perform a successful download. The "lastread" records store
information which tells the software what message # was the LAST
one that you have read in each message base or conference.
Once in a while it is possible for these records to become
corrupted. Sometimes, after a successful mail download, you may
accidentally delete the downloaded mail packet or the mail packet
gets corrupted during transmission. In any case, if you ever
have a need to change your message read pointers, this is where
you should do it.
Because each BBS system stores messages and lastread pointers in
different ways, the procedure to use this option also varies from
one door version to another. Explicit instructions are given on
the screen when using this option, so it should be self
explanatory. As long as you understand the concept of what this
menu item does, you should be able to navigate the "Reset
Lastread Pointers" prompts with little or no difficulty.
Graphics (Color) On/Off - The Blue Wave Mail Door is capable of
sending your terminal program ANSI and AVATAR escape sequences in
order for you to view the mail door in full, living color. If
your communications program does not support these escape
sequences, you will want to turn this option OFF.
When this option is turned off, only text will be sent to your
terminal program, resulting in a "monochrome" display.
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 11
Hotkey Menu Selections - If "Hotkey Menu Selections" is turned on, the
door will accept menu input from you without having to press
[ENTER] after each command. When this is off, you must enter
your command followed by the [ENTER] key.
Even when hotkeys are enabled, there are some prompts in the mail
door that will still require you to press [ENTER]. If the door
needs more than one character of input at any prompt, you will
need to press [ENTER] in order to get the door to process your
input.
Download/Bundle Options - Selecting this menu item will take you to a
sub-menu, which allows you to further configure the mail door to
your liking. A full discussion of the Download/Bundle Options
Menu can be found in the next section of this documentation.
Protocol - Selecting this menu item will allow you to change the
transfer protocol used to send mail packets to your system and to
receive uploaded mail packets from your system. You will be
presented a list of available protocols on the host system.
Simply press the letter that corresponds to the transfer protocol
you would like to use, and the door will use that protocol in all
future file transfers.
Archiver - Selecting this menu item will allow you to change the
compression system that is used to build your mail packets and to
decompress the mail packets that you upload. You will be
presented a listing of all available archivers on the host
system. Simply press the letter that corresponds to the
compression system you would like to use. Please note that you
must have a copy of this compression system on your system, and
your mail reader must be properly configured to use this
archiver. Consult your reader documnetation for more
information.
Set Password Options - The password option is unique to The Blue Wave
Mail System. Although some may question its usefulness, there
are several situations where you may wish to enable this feature.
There are 4 levels of security offered:
* Password prompting in the DOOR only.
* Password prompting in the READER only.
* Password prompting in the READER and DOOR.
* No password prompting (the default).
In a situation where you download sensitive areas from the BBS,
and use The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader on a machine that is
shared by several other users, you may wish to add the secure
option to the READER only. Each mail packet will then be
encrypted with a password. If a user tries to read a packet
encrypted with a password, they will be prompted to enter it. If
the user does not get the correct password after three tries, the
reader will NOT allow them to read the mail packet.
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 12
Another situation may occur where Father downloads sensitive
mail, and does not which for Daughter, Son, or Wife to read it.
It may be useful to set the secure option in both the READER and
DOOR, since it is possible that the family knows Father's BBS
password. By prompting for a password when entering the mail
door (obviously one that is different from the BBS password), he
has another layer of security.
Xpert Menu Mode - The Blue Wave Mail Door has two menu modes: Full
Help Menus and Xpert Mode Menus. When Xpert Menus are enabled,
you will receive a very short menu prompt listing the valid keys
that may be pressed while the mail door is processing the Main,
Configuration, or Bundle/Download Options menus. Unless you are
very familiar with the operation of The Blue Wave Mail Door, it
is suggested that you leave the Xpert Menus turned off.
?Help - Displays a help screen which contains very abbreviated
portions of this documentation. This gives you a quick reference
to the mail door's functions while you are online with the BBS.
Quit to Main Menu - Selecting this option will leave the door's
Configuration Menu, and return you to the door's Main Menu.
Section 3.4 The Download/Bundle Options Menu
The Download/Bundle Options Menu allows you to fine-tune the behavior
of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door. You can access the
Download/Bundle Options menu by selecting "D)ownload/Bundle Options"
from the mail door's Configuration Menu. A depiction of the
Download/Bundle Options Menu is given below.
+------| The Blue Wave Download/Bundle Options Menu |------+
| |
| P)acket Type (Blue Wave) K)eyword Selection |
| * N)ew File Listing in Packets F)ilter Selection |
| T)agged Areas Only in Packets M)acro Definitions |
| * B)undle Messages From You |
| U)se Numeric Packet Extensions X)pert Menu Mode |
| E)xtended Msg Information ?)Help |
| L)imit Download Packet Size Q)uit to Config Menu |
| |
| * Indicates Option is ON |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Each item available on the Download/Bundle Options Menu will now be
discussed in detail.
Packet Type - Any Blue Wave Offline Mail Door with a version number of
4.00 or higher supports "Blue Wave" and "QWK" formatted mail
packets. QWK mail packets can be read by any mail reader which
indicates QWK-compatibility. Likewise, Blue Wave mail packets
can only be processed by mail readers that indicate "Blue Wave"
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 13
compatiblity. If you have never installed an offline mail
reader, it is recommended that you attempt to locate a Blue Wave-
compatible mail reader in order to use The Blue Wave Mail Door to
its full potential. However, if you have already purchased or
installed a QWK-compatible mail reader, you need to enable "QWK
mode" in the mail door. Simply type "P" at this menu to toggle
between QWK and Blue Wave modes.
The Main Menu of the mail door also contains this menu item,
allowing you to switch modes without having to enter the
Bundle/Download Options Menu.
New File Listing in Packets - NOTE: The SysOp or administrator of
your host system has the ability to turn this menu item OFF.
Therefore, this menu item may not be available on some systems.
Additiionally, this feature was added to mail doors with a
version number of 3.00 and higher. If the mail door you are
using is less than v3.00, this option will not be available.
The "New File Listings in Packets" option has 3 possible
settings: You can choose NOT to receive new file listing
announcements in your mail packet, or you can have 2 different
types of listings.
The two possible types of listings are "COLOR" and "TEXT". Some
mail readers may not be able to display color file listings
properly (any version of The Blue Wave Offline Mail Reader above
v2.10 will display them properly). When you choose to receive
color file listings, ANSI escape sequences will be placed into
the new files list, resulting in a nice color display on systems
that have a proper viewer. If your mail reader cannot handle
ANSI file listings, you can turn this item ON, but do not tell
the door to create color lists.
This option is very useful when combined with The Blue Wave
Offline Mail System's "file request" capabilities. The Blue Wave
Offline Mail Reader (v2.11 and higher) will allow you to
simultaneously display the new file listing and enter file
requests to the host BBS. You can use this powerful feature to
keep updated on all of the latest utilities uploaded to the host
BBS.
Tagged Areas Only in Packets - Each time you download messages from
The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door, a mail packet is created which
contains information about each message area that is available to
you on the host mail system. On systems that contain several
hundred to several thousand message areas, your mail packet can
be quite large due to the simple fact that you are downloading
information about EACH message area. Additionally, many mail
readers cannot handle more than a couple hundred message areas
without crashing or running out of memory.
If you find that the system you are downloading mail from has
several hundred message areas or conferences available, you may
want to enable this option. When enabled, only a description of
-----------------------------------------------------
Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 14
the message areas that you are actually downloading, that is
areas that you currently have tagged, will be included with your
mail packet. If you have used other QWK-style mail doors in the
past, you may be familiar with similar options in those mail
doors. These similar options are sometimes labeled "Send Short
CONTROL.DAT" or "Include Only Active Message Areas".
There can be several drawbacks to enabling this option, however.
The first is that you may not be able to perform Offline
Configurations in your mail reader to enable specific message
areas. This is due to the fact that the mail reader does not
have a description of additional message areas that may be
available to you. The second is that you will not be able to
enter messages through a mail reader to areas that you do not
currently have tagged. Again, this is due to the fact the the
mail reader will not know that additional message areas exist on
the host.
Before enabling this option, you must weigh the advantage of
receiving a smaller mail packet with the disadvantages listed
above.
Bundle Message From You - This menu item has two different states; it
is either ON or OFF. When "Bundle Messages From You" is turned
OFF, the mail door will not pack messages with your name in the
FROM: field. If you are a very active participant in the BBS
message bases, it is very possible that turning this option off
will substantially decrease the size of the mail packets that you
download.
When this option is turned ON, all messages that you have entered
into the BBS's message base will be downloaded and placed into
your mail bundles. When this option is on you will be able to
read the messages you have entered through your mail reader.
This could also serve as a "confirmation tool". If you receive
your own messages on your next mail download, you are assured
that your mail upload was successful.
Use Numeric Packet Extensions - When your SysOp or system
administrator installs The Blue Wave Mail Door, they have the
ability to specify (up to) an eight character "Mail Packet Name".
This mail packet name normally corresponds to the name of the BBS
System. For example, the name of the Cutting Edge Computing
support BBS is "Wild! Blue". Our mail door is configured to
generate mail packets beginning with the root name of "WILDBLUE".
All mail packets downloaded through The Blue Wave Mail Door use
this root name as a basis for generating file names for the mail
packets that you download. Each time you download a mail packet,
the root name will remain constant, but the file extension will
vary.
The default behavior of the mail door is to generate a mail
packet extension that begins with the first two letters of the
day of the week (the day the mail packet was created). For
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 15
example, "MO" is used for Monday, and "FR" is used for Friday.
The third character of the file extension is the number of the
mail packet downloaded that day. These numbers range from 1 to
9. If today is Thursday, and you are downloading the second mail
packet of the day from the Wild! Blue BBS, your mail packet would
be named WILDBLUE.TH2.
When "Use Numeric Packet Extensions" is turned ON, and you have
configured the mail door to create "Blue Wave" style mail
packets, it will create a unique 3-digit extension for your mail
packet. Each time you successfully download a mail packet, this
number will be increased by 1. The first mail packet you
download with this option turned on would be called WILDBLUE.001,
the second mail packet (even if downloaded on a different day)
would be named WILDBLUE.002. If you reach the point where you
download a packet called WILDBLUE.999, the next mail packet
created would be called WILDBLUE.001 again.
Similarly, if this option is enabled and you have configured the
mail door to create "QWK" style mail packets, it will create a
mail packet extension that always begins with the letter "Q" (to
indicate that this is a QWK style mail packet), followed by a 2
digit number. This number will increment each time you download
a mail packet until you reach ".Q99". At this point, the mail
door will start over with ".Q01".
Please note that the mail door will never create a mail packet
name with a numerical extension of ".000" or ".Q00". This may be
useful if you use a "mail packet merge" utility. You can force
your packet merge file to be called <BBSNAME>.000. As this is a
unique number, you will not have to worry about the file being
overwritten when downloading new messages.
Enabling this option has many advantages. The first is that you
will never encounter a problem with duplicate file names being
downloaded (which causes many protocols to go into convulsions).
Another advantage is that you will be able to look at a listing
of mail packets and immediately determine which was the first and
the last one that you have downloaded.
The SysOp or administrator of the host system has the ability to
edit the current download extension number through the door's
User File Editor. If, for some reason, you need to change the
number that is currently stored in your user record, you may be
able to ask the SysOp (very nicely!) to alter the current
extension number.
Please note that some Blue Wave-compatible mail readers may not
be able to digest the purely numerical packet extensions. If
your mail reader will not load the file properly, turn this
option off.
Extended Message Information - NOTE: This menu option may or may not
be available to you. The SysOp or system administrator has the
option of turning this menu item off.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 16
Under normal circumstances, you will probably NOT want to enable
this option, even if it is available to you. Many of the E-Mail
networks (FidoNet especially) use certain "Control" information
which is embedded into the message text. This control
information is useless to most people (humans in general).
Leaving this option off will greatly reduce the size of the mail
packets that are generated by the door, because all of this
information will be strippped from the message before it is
bundled into your mail packet.
If you are a SysOp or system administrator, you are probably
familiar with what are called "Control-A" or "kludge" lines in
network messages. When this option is on, the mail door will not
strip this control information (including SEEN-BY lines), and you
can then view it when reading messages through the reader.
If you are a general user of the mail door, and you are seeing
lines that start with "Happy Face Characters" (ASCII 01), you
probably have this option turn on unintentionally. Turning off
extended message information will remove this unwanted text from
your downloaded mail packets.
Limit Download Packet Size - If you are running with limited drive
space, this option is extremely useful. If you define a maximum
packet size of 100K, the door will stop bundling messages once
the requested maximum packet size has been reached. The maximum
packet size is the size of the UNCOMPRESSED mail bundle that the
door is building. If you enable this option, you can ensure that
the downloaded mail packet will fit onto the disk space you have
available after the mail packet has been decompressed.
When this option is enabled, the door will perform all of its
functions as usual, until it gets to the mail packing stage. As
the door gathers the mail and places it into your download
packet, it monitors the packet's size to be sure that it does not
exceed your specified size limit.
When (if) the packet limit size is reached, the mail door sends a
message to the screen indicating this fact, and the compresses
the partial mail bundle for you to download. If you wish, you
can then immediately download another mail packet to gather the
messages that were not packed during the previous mail bundling
session.
Keyword Selection - The Blue Wave Mail Door allows you to specify up
to 10 different Keyword definitions. These keywords will be used
during the mail scanning process to inform you of mail in an area
which contains any one of the keyword definitions. To get the
full use out of keywords, you must use the Blue Wave Bundling
Commands, described later in the documentation. The Blue Wave
Mail Door does nothing with the keywords unless you issue a
bundling command instructing it how to handle keywords in certain
areas.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 17
The best way to describe the use of keywords is with an example.
Let's suppose that you are looking for Apple computer equipment
to buy in the National For-Sale FidoNet Echo. Sometimes the FOR-
SALE echo generates more than 200 messages per day. Instead of
downloading all 200 messages, of which (possibly) 199 of them are
of no interest to you, you may define the keyword APPLE.
You would then be informed during the SCANNING process of all
mail containing the keyword APPLE. By using the Blue Wave
bundling Commands, it is possible to ONLY bundle messages with
the keyword APPLE in them. This, of course, saves on-line time,
and time you would have to spend paging through the numerous
(UNWANTED) messages offline when using the reader. Naturally,
there are many other uses to the Keywords option. The idea
behind keywords is to let The Blue Wave Mail Door do the work for
you.
NOTE: The Blue Wave Mail Door, at the present time, will only
look for keywords in the TO:, FROM:, and SUBJECT: fields of the
message. The actual body (text) of the message is not searched.
Filter Selection - Like Keywords, The Blue Wave Mail Door allows you
to define up to 10 Filter definitions. Filters essentially work
just the opposite of Keywords. During the door's scanning
process, you are informed of messages that contain any of the
filters that you have defined. After the mail scan is complete,
you can use the Blue Wave Bundling Commands to filter the
messages that you do not want to receive.
Again, the best way to describe the usefulness of filters is with
an example. Let's suppose that Joe Blow in the FidoNet C
Programming Echo is consistently entering messages which contain
false information, is constantly flaming others, and is being an
all around nuisance. Although you really enjoy reading the
C_ECHO, you get tired of seeing messages entered either from Joe
Blow or to Joe Blow. By defining the filter of JOE BLOW, you
will be flagged if there are any messages containing the Filter.
By using the Blue Wave Bundling Commands, you can then instruct
The Blue Wave Mail Door NOT to bundle messages containing the
Filter JOE BLOW.
Please see the chapter titled "The Blue Wave Bundling Commands"
for information on how to use your Keyword and Filter
definitions.
NOTE: The Blue Wave Mail Door, at the present time, will only
look for filters in the TO:, FROM:, and SUBJECT: fields of the
message. The actual body (text) of the message is not searched.
Macro Definitions - The Blue Wave Mail Door allows you to define up to
3 macros that can be used in the place of manually entering your
bundling commands during each mail download session. The blue
Wave Bundling Commands are described later in the documentation.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 18
For each macro that you define, you can tell the door whether or
not it should automatically be executed after a mail scan. If
you do NOT set the macro to auto-execute, you must enter "M1",
"M2", or "M3" at the bundling command prompt for the macro to
execute.
If the macro is set to auto-execute, the door will execute the
macro for you at the end of a mail scan. If your macro contains
the bundling command "!", it will force the door to not prompt
you for any bundling commands, but rather to immediately start
packaging your mail.
If your SysOp has set up the system to allow "automatic
downloads", the auto-execute function is also very handy. During
an automatic download, you are never prompted for input by the
door. The door performs a mail scan, bundles your mail, executes
the download protocol, and exits back to the BBS system. Because
of this, you do not have a chance to enter any bundling commands,
unless they are defined in a macro that is set to auto-execute.
Xpert Menu Mode - Turns Xpert Menu mode ON or OFF, as described
earlier in this documentation.
?Help - Displays a help screen which contains very abbreviated
portions of this documentation so that you have a quick reference
to the mail door's functions while you are online with the BBS.
Quit to Config Menu - Selecting this option will save all changes that
you have made to your online mail door configuration, and return
you to the door's Configuration Menu.
Section 3.5 The Main Menu
Each time you enter The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door, the first menu
you encounter will be the door's Main Menu. From here you can
navigate to every part of the online mail system. A description of
each menu command follows.
Download New Mail - Selecting tis menu option will cause the door to
enter "Download Mode", and immediately being a new mail scan.
Documentation for performing mail downloads can be found in the
next chapter.
Upload New Replies - Selecting this menu option will cause the door to
enter "Upload Mode", and immediately request that you being
uploading the message reply packet created by your mail reader.
Documentation for performing mail uploads can be found in the
next chapter.
Configuration Menu - Takes you to the mail door's online Configuration
Menu, which was described in detail in the previous two sections
of the documentation.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 19
Packet Type - Selecting this option will switch the mail door between
"QWK Mode" and "Blue Wave Mode". This menu item performs the
same operation as describe in Section 3.4 (The Bundle/Download
Options Menu).
Quit Back to BBS - Selecting this menu item will cause you to leave
The Blue Wave Mail Door and return you to the BBS.
Goodbye - NOTE: This item may or may not be available to you. The
SysOp or administrator has the ability to disable this menu item.
Selecting this menu item will cause the mail door to disconnect
you from the host BBS.
Xpert Menu Mode - Toggles the state of Xpert Menu Mode, as described
in Section 3.3 (The Configuration Menu).
?Main Menu Help - Displays a help screen which contains very
abbreviated portions of this documentation so that you have a
quick reference to the mail door's functions while you are online
with the BBS.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 20
-------------------------------
Chapter 4: USING THE MAIL DOOR
-------------------------------
Section 4.1 Downloading Through the Mail Door
After you have configured the mail door to your liking and you have
chosen the message areas that you would like to receive, it is time to
actually download a mail packet.
Immediately after you select D)ownload New Mail from the door's Main
Menu, the door begins to gather information about the BBS's message
base and presents the information in tabular form. Below is a sample
output screen:
Logon Name: Joe Blow Keyword Scan: ON
Alias Name: Little Joey Filters Scan: OFF
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Area Status Total New Keywords Filter Personal # DL'ing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 GENERAL Pers 100 7 0 0 0 0
2 PRIVATE Pers 257 1 0 0 1 1
3 NETMAIL New 129 0 0 0 0 0
4 FLINT P+All 98 17 4 0 0 17
23 CFORSALE P+All 200 199 19 0 0 86
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand 784 224 23 0 1 104
Totals Total New Keywords Filter Personal # DL'ing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Please enter your Blue Wave bundling commands, R to Relist Scan Table,
Q to abort, ? Command List, D)etailed Help or [ENTER] for ALL NEW mail
:
As you can see from this example, there is quite a bit of information
presented during the mail scan. In this example, we are downloading 5
message areas. The first 2 message areas are being downloaded for
PERSONAL messages only (notice the "Pers" under the "Status" column).
The NEWMAIL message area is being scanned for ALL new messages, and
the last 2 message areas are being scanned for personal messages +
messages addressed to "All".
The "Total" column in the scan table refers to the TOTAL number of
messages that the host system has stored in those particular message
areas. Since this is a total count of the number of messages, there
are most likely messages here that you have already read (if you have
performad a mail download before). More often than not, the TOTAL
column will not contain the same number of messages as listed in the
NEW column. If the TOTAL and the NEW column contain the same number,
it means that you have not read any of the messages in that particular
message area.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 21
The numbers in the KEYWORDS and FILTERS column inform you of the
number of messages that contained your defined set of words in each
category. Note that the number in the KEYWORDS or the FILTERS column
will never exceed the number in the NEW column. The number in the
KEYWORDS and FILTERS column is the number of messages that were found
within the new messages on the system.
The number in the PERSONAL column tells you how many messages in each
message area were addressed directly to you. Again, this number
represents the number of personal messages within the new messages on
the system.
And finally, the # DL'ING column tells you how many messages the door
has "queued" for download in each message area. In our example, you
can see that the CFORSALE area (#23) contained 200 new messages, but
the door has only queued 86 of them for download. This is because
when the user turned the CFORSALE area on through the configuration
menu, they chose to only download messages in the area that contained
the word "All" in the TO: field, and his personal messages. Since the
number in the "Personal" column is 0, we can safely assume that all 86
messages queued for download have been addressed to "All".
The number displayed in the "# DL'ing" column will change as you issue
bundling commands to the door to change the number of messages that
will be sent from that particular message area.
While we are discussing the mail scan screen, it would probably be
helpful to know all of the possible phrases that appear in the
"STATUS" column, along with an explanation of each.
Status Description
----------------------------------------------------------------------
New - Indicates that the door is going to send ALL NEW messages in
the message area.
Pers - Indicates that the door will send only PERSONAL messages in
the message area.
P+All - Indicates that the door will send PERSONAL and messages TO:
"All" in the message area.
Kwds - Indicates that you issued a K<area> bundling command for the
message area, and that only KEYWORD messages will be sent.
Filt - Indicates that you issued a F<area> bundling command for the
message area, and the door will not send FILTERed messages.
L 20 - Indicates that you issued an <area#>L<#msgs> command for the
message area, and only the last 20 messages will be sent.
B 100 - Indicates that you issued an <area#>B<#msgs> command for the
message area, and only the first 100 new msgs will be sent.
Force - The message area has been FORCED by the sysop and you cannot
issue any bundling commands for this area.
None - The message area has been deselected from downloading by the
use of a -<area#> bundling command. No msgs will be sent.
After the mail scan has completed, the door is stopped at a command
prompt, waiting for you to give it further instructions. The door is
waiting for either a bundling command to be issued, or for one of the
following selections:
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 22
R Pressing "R[ENTER]" will cause the door to redisplay the
scan table in the case that some information has scrolled off of
your screen.
Q Pressing "Q[ENTER]" will abort the mail download. The door will
prompt you with an "Are you sure" question. If you choose to
abort the mail download, you will be taken back to the door's
MAIN menu.
? Pressing "?[ENTER]" will cause the door to display a list of all
of the bundling commands available to you. This is a very short
display with a one-line description of the bundling commands.
D Pressing "D[ENTER]" will force the door to display a help screen
containing a list of all bundling commands, and an example of
each. This help screen contains much more detail than the
previous help screen, and is several pages long.
[ENTER] - Simply pressing [ENTER] will cause the door to begin a mail
packet. The number of messages displayed in the "# DL'ing"
column will be packed for each message area.
After you have issued any bundling commands or have instructed the
door to begin bundling by simply pressing the [ENTER] key, the mail
system will immediately start packing your mail for download. You
will see a status bar appear on the screen, much like a bar graph,
that indicates the mail door's progress in the packing.
When the mail door has finished packing your mail bundle, it will then
scan the host BBS's file base for new files since your last mail
download (if your sysop allows it, and you have told the door to do
so). After a few seconds you will see the message:
Mashing your mail with <YOUR SELECTED ARCHIVER>. One moment...
At this point in time, the host system is compressing your mail packet
into a compressed mail file for faster transmission. On some slower
host systems, this process could take anywhere from a few seconds to
several minutes. On faster systems, this process will probably take
less than a minute, even on large download packets.
When the mail system is done compressing your mail packet, you will be
presented with a screen similar to the following:
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 23
Your mail packet is ready for download!
File Name: WILDBLUE.001
File Size: 106080 bytes
Est. Time: 1:20 mins
A)bort Download Session
I)nstant logoff after transfer
C)ountdown before logoff
P)rotocol Change (YOUR PROTOCOL)
[ENTER] to begin normal download
Select:
As you can see, the information at the top of the screen tells you the
name of the mail packet you will be downloading, the size of the mail
packet that was created, and an estimated transfer time of the mail
packet. The five menu selections will be described below.
Abort Download Session - Selecting this option will cause the door to
give you an "Are you sure?" prompt. If you answer NO to the
question, you will be given the same screen/menu again, and you
can make another selection.
If you answer YES (you want to abort the download session), the
door will ask you the question "Mark the scanned messages as
READ?". If you answer YES to this question, the door will update
your lastread pointers, indicating that you have already read all
of the messages that were packed for download. If you were to
immediately begin another download session, the door would find 0
new messages for you. Answering NO to this question will not
update your message pointers, and will return you to the door's
MAIN menu.
Instant Logoff After Transfer - NOTE: This option may not be
available on all systems. SysOps and administrators can disable
this menu option if they wish.
Selecting this menu option will cause the door to immediately
begin sending you the mail packet with the protocol that you
have configured. If the download was successful, the door will
then update your lastread message pointers and then log you off
of the system. This is good for unattended download sessions.
Countdown Logoff - NOTE: This option may not be available on all
systems. SysOps and administrators can disable this menu option
if they wish.
Selecting this menu option will cause the door to immediately
begin sending you the mail packet with the protocol that you have
configured. If the download was successful, the door will then
update your lastread message pointers and then give you a
"Countdown before Logoff" screen. That is, door will count down
for 10 seconds - if you press a key, the countdown will be
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 24
aborted and you will not be logged off. If you do not press a
key within 10 seconds, the door will assume that you do not wish
to stay connected to the BBS, and log you off of the system.
Protocol Change - If you decide at the last minute that you cannot or
do not wish to use the protocol that is displayed in parentheses,
you can select this menu item. You will be presented with a list
of all available protocols on the system. Simply choose a new
protocol, and you will be returned to the menu shown above so
that you can make another selection.
[ENTER] to Begin Normal Download - To begin the download of your mail
packet, just press the [ENTER] key. After a successful mail
download, your message lastread pointers will be updated and you
will be returned to the door's MAIN menu.
At this point in time, you have completed a mail download session.
That's all there is to it! In the following section we will go
through the steps to upload reply packets, offline configurations, and
file requests to The Blue Wave Mail Door.
Section 4.2 Uploading Through the Mail Door
Uploading reply packets through The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door is
even easier than performing a mail download. Immediately after
selecting "Upload New Replies" from the mail door's Main Menu, you
will be prompted to begin the upload of your reply packet (which has
been created by your mail reader, whether it be a QWK or Blue Wave
compatible mail system). You will use the same file transfer
protocol that you have configured for downloading mail packets.
Simply start your communications (terminal) program to upload the
packet created by the reader (the reply packet will have the BBS's ID
as the root name, and a .NEW file extension for Blue Wave packets and
.REP extension for QWK packets). If your upload is unsuccessful, the
mail door will report "Unsuccessful Upload. Please try again." You
can then press U from the main menu again to retry your upload.
If your upload was successful, the door will immediately begin
unpacking the reply bundle. Each message that you have entered
through the reader will be placed into the appropriate message area on
the BBS.
For each message that is found in your reply packet, a status display
will be generated on the screen. The display will include the
information found in the FROM: field, the TO: field, the SUBJECT:
field, and the network address (if it is a netmail message). The door
will tell you which message number the message was saved as, and move
on to the next message.
It is possible that some kind of error will occur while processing
your uploaded replies. The most common "error" will be the report of
a "Duplicate Message". If you upload the same message(s) more than
one time, you will see this reported to the screen. This is nothing
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 25
to worry about, as the door will not import the duplicate message into
the BBS's message base.
After all of the uploaded messages have been processed, the door will
then look to see if you performed an OFFLINE CONFIGURATION while in
the reader. If there is an offline configuration to be performed, the
door will do it for you at this time.
Finally, the door will look for any files that you may have requested
through your offline mail reader. If you did not request any files,
you will be returned to the door's Main Menu, and you can then
continue with your online BBS session.
If you have performed a file request through your offline mail reader,
the door will begin processing your request at this point. The next
section will describe the file request function in the door.
Section 4.3 File Requests
If the door has received a file request in your mail upload packet, it
will attempt to process it immediately after processing the rest of
your reply packet. For each file you requested, a display will be
shown indicating the file name, the file size, and the estimated
transfer time of the file. After all of the files have been listed,
the door will generate a total number of files requested, the total
size of all files requested, and an estimated transfer time for all of
the files requested. You will then be presented with a display
similar to the following:
File Request Session
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BW23_DOS.ZIP 483476 bytes, 8:58 mins Added to download queue.
BW23_386.ZIP 705122 bytes, 13:05 mins Added to download queue.
BW23_OS2.ZIP 484646 bytes, 8:59 mins Added to download queue.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Files 1673244 bytes, 31:02 mins
A)bort request session
E)dit file request queue
D)ownload requested files
T)ransfer files with mail download
Select:
Abort request session - Selecting this option, of course, will abort
the current file request session. You will be returned to the
door's Main Menu after choosing to abort.
Edit file request queue - If you want to remove any of the requested
files from the download queue, select this item. You are taken
to another screen which allows you to select which files to
remove from the queue.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 26
Download requested files - If you want to download the displayed files
immediately, select this option. The mail door will enter "send"
mode to begin sending your files. To complete the file request,
simply tell your communications program to begin a download.
Transfer files with mail download - If you will be downloading a mail
packet (*without leaving the mail door*), you may tell the door
to queue the files for later transmission. Later, when you begin
to download your mail packet, the requested files will be sent at
the same time.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 27
-------------------------------------------
Chapter 5: THE BLUE WAVE BUNDLING COMMANDS
-------------------------------------------
Probably the single-most powerful feature of The Blue Wave Mail Door
is the ability to dynamically select messages for download using The
Blue Wave Bundling Commands. New users to the mail door often get
confused and do not understand the use or concept of using these
commands. This is unfortunate, as this ability is very powerful,
convenient, and can save you massive amounts of online time. And,
after you understand the concept of the bundling commands (and how
they can be used effectively), they really are very simple to use.
Section 5.1 Bundling Command Description
With the exception of the "B" bundling command and the "L" bundling
command, all of the bundling commands take the same form. The first
part of the bundling command is the ACTION to take on a certain
message area, and the second part of the command is the area in which
to perform the desired action. Let's take it one step at a time and
list each of the bundling command letters, and the action that they
perform.
SYMBOL ACTION
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Deselects a message area from the scan list. When this command
is used on an area, NO messages in the area will be packed for
download.
+ Reselects a message area from the scan list. When this command
is used on an area, ALL NEW messages in the area will be packed
for download.
A Tells the door that you only want to download PERSONAL msgs, and
those messages that are addressed to "All". This action is the
same as defining an area as P+ALL at the Configuration Menu.
B Tells the door that you only want the BEGINNING 'n' number of
messages to be downloaded from a particular message area.
E Tells the door to "clean the slate" or ERASE all previous
bundling commands for the area. The area is returned to its
original state (before any bundling commands were issued).
F Tells the door that you want to FILTER the messages in a
particular message area. Any message that contains one of your
defined FILTERS will not be packed in your mail packet.
K Forces the door to only send PERSONAL messages, and those
messages containing any of your defined KEYWORDS.
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Blue Wave Mail Door User Documentation, v4.00; Page 28
L Instructs the door to bundle only the last 'n' number of messages
in a particular message area.
M Instructs the door to execute Macro #'n'. You can define
bundling command macros from the door's CONFIGURATION menu.
P Tells the door that you only want to get PERSONAL messages in a
particular message area.
N Instructs the door to NOT update lastread pointers in a
particular message area.
U Forces an update of the lastreads in an area (the mail door does
this by default -- this command is simply used to counter-act an
'N' bundling command).
Each of the symbols described on the previous page requires the
"second part" of the command to be used properly. The "second part"
of the command, as described earlier, is simply the area number to
perform the action on. For example, let's take the sample mail scan
screen that we used earlier:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Area Status Total New Keywords Filter Personal # DL'ing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 GENERAL Pers 100 7 0 0 0 0
2 PRIVATE Pers 257 1 0 0 1 1
3 NETMAIL New 129 0 0 0 0 0
4 FLINT P+All 98 17 4 0 0 17
23 CFORSALE P+All 200 199 19 0 0 86
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand 784 224 23 0 1 104
Totals Total New Keywords Filter Personal # DL'ing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Suppose that we are looking for a particular item through the CFORSALE
echo. Let's say we're looking for FAX machines or FAX modems.
Therefore, we have gone to the configuration menu earlier and defined
the keyword of "FAX". We will also assume this is the only keyword
that we have defined. We can see from the above table that the
CFORSALE echo contains 19 messages that have the word FAX in them.
Since we are running short on time today, we only want to download
those 19 messages that contain the word FAX in the CFORSALE echo, plus
the 17 messages in FLINT and the 1 message in PRIVATE. Therefore, we
could issue the door the following bundling command:
K23
The "K" part looks familiar. It simply tells the door to perform
keyword-only bundling on area #23.
More than one bundling command can be issued at one time, too.
Suppose we wanted the same KEYWORD messages in area #23, but we also
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wanted ALL NEW messages in area #4, instead of just Personal+All
messages. We could enter the following bundling command:
K23 +4
The '+' tells the door to remove the "P+All" status for the area, and
instead download ALL NEW messages in the area. The K23 has the same
effect as before. As you can see, you can enter as many bundling
commands at the prompt as will fit on one line. With the flexibility
of the mail bundling commands, you can easily build custom mail
packets.
As mentioned before, all of the mail bundling commands take the same
form except for the "L" and the "B" commands. These commands need an
additional parameter given to them, since they explicitly tell the
door HOW MANY messages you want to receive.
Section 5.1.1 The 'B' Bundling Command
The 'B' bundling command takes the first 'n' number of messages in the
message area AFTER your lastread pointer. Therefore, when you use
this command, you will always receive the first 'n' messages in the
area that you have not yet read.
Let's examine the bundling command "23B100". This command instructs
the door to bundle the BEGINNING 100 messages in area #23. Or, to
rephrase it, "In area #23, I want the beginning 100 messages." As you
can see, the 'B' bundling command takes the form <area#>B<#of msgs>.
When the door updates your lastread pointers for an area that was
issued a 'B' bundling command, it only marks the last message that was
actually downloaded as being read. Any messages that you did not
receive because of this command are left as "unread", and you can
download them on a subsequent mail download.
Section 5.1.2 The 'L' Bundling Command
The 'L' bundling command is very similar to the 'B' command described
above. The 'L' command instructs the door to bundle the LAST 'n'
number of messages in the message area.
The bundling command "17L50" would take the LAST 50 messages in area
#17 and pack them into your mail download. It tells the door, "In
area #17, I want only the last 50 messages."
The 'L' bundling command does not care what your lastread message
pointer is in the area. If the door tells you that there are only 50
NEW messages in area #77, but there are 500 TOTAL messages in area
#77, a bundling command of "77L500" would take all of the messages in
the area and place them into your packet for downloading.
With the special modifier, the '*' symbol, you can download ALL
messages in an area, regardless of lastread pointer. For example,
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"56L*" would download all messages in area #56. Using the command
"*L*", you would be able to download ALL messages that have been
scanned in EVERY message area. More information regarding the '*'
modifier is given in the next section.
Whenever the 'L' bundling command is used, the door updates your
lastread pointer in the affected areas to the LAST message in the
message base.
Section 5.1.3 The '*' Modifier
The '*' modifier tells the mail door to perform the desired action on
ALL areas that are listed on the scan table. For instance, a bundling
command of "F*" would filter messages in ALL areas. A command of "K*"
would download only KEYWORDS in all message areas.
The '*' modifier is supplied to make global changes to your scan list
quick and easy. But, what if you want to perform an action on all
areas EXCEPT area #23? In area #23 you want to download ALL messages,
but in all of the other areas you only want personal messages, and
those messages addressed to "All". The bundling command you would
issue is:
A* +23
For all areas, the P+All status will be set, and then for area number
23 the door will pack ALL NEW messages.
Section 5.1.4 The '!' Modifier
Normally after you issue a bundling command the door will process that
command, compute a new download message total, and return you to the
bundling command prompt. This allows you to check the results of your
last command, and possibly enter more commands. The '!' command tells
the door that you have finished entering your commands, and you are
ready to begin downloading your mail. If you entered the following
command at the prompt:
A* +23 !
the door would not stop to ask you for more input. It understands
that those are the only bundling commands you want to issue, and it
begins packing the messages immediately.
Section 5.2 Bundling Command Considerations
There are a few things to keep in mind about how the bundling commands
operate. Understanding certain things about the bundling commands
will make them easier to work with.
Bundling commands are evaluated from LEFT to RIGHT. If you entered
the command "-23 A17 +23", you would find that the door saw the -23
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command first, evaluated the A17, and then performed the +23 command.
Therefore, you WOULD have received all new messages in area number 23.
The next thing to keep in mind regarding the bundling commands is that
you can only have one 'action' being performed on an area at any one
time. Unfortunately, due to a limitation of The Blue Wave Mail Door,
a command of "K* F*" would only FILTER messages in all areas. You
cannot yet have KEYWORDS and FILTERS performed on the same message
area.
In a similar way, you cannot only download "P+All" messages, and still
have them FILTERED. Then there are some commands that just do not
make sense when used together. For example, it doesn't make sense to
ask the door for KEYWORD and PERSONAL messages only in an area. (A
P<area> and a K<area> command). Because the behavior of the KEYWORD
action includes bundling PERSONAL messages, this is not a real
concern.
WARNING: If you are already thoroughly confused, reading the next two
paragraphs will do nothing to extend your life expectancy. If your
head is already spinning, please skip reading the rest of this
section. [Seriously.] We cannot be held responsible for medical
bills resulting from exposure to the following material.
Of course, to every rule there must be an exception. The "strange"
bundling command 'N' will cause the door NOT to update message
pointers for a particular message area. Offhand I can think of very
few uses for this action, but there have been instances where creative
people have used it. Since the sign on my desk reads "Creativeness
stops here", I can't for the life of me think of why they needed this
bundling command. Anyway, on to the exception to the rule. You can
issue the bundling command "P23 N23" to get only PERSONAL messages in
a message area, *and* to NOT UPDATE the message read pointers. The
'N' command can be used in combination with *any* of the bundling
commands, except for the 'U' bundling command (which FORCES an update
of the message pointers). [Can you say "Vicious Circle"?]
If you've *really* mucked up your scan list with a bunch of bundling
commands, you do not have to go to the extreme of quitting the mail
scan and starting over. Simply issue an "E*" bundling command, which
clears ALL previous modifications and lets you get a good night's
sleep. Another way is to press the <Alt-H> key in your terminal
program, lay back, turn on that soothing "Ocean Sounds" CD you've
never been daring enough to open, and try again tomorrow. The Blue
Wave Mail Door will recognize that fact that you have dropped carrier
and exit back to the BBS so the next fool can try his or her fate.
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--------------------------------------
Chapter 6: USING THE DOOR IN QWK MODE
--------------------------------------
For the most part, using The Blue Wave Offline Mail Door in QWK mode
is the same as using the mail door in Blue Wave mode; bundling
commands, message area selection, and file uploads and downloads are
performed the same way in both modes. Most of the differences that do
exist are minor, and have already been described. This chapter
describes the remaining differences.
Note that QWK MODE IS ONLY AVAILABLE WHEN THE MAIL DOOR IS REGISTERED.
If the mail door is not registered, you may still upload any reply
packets you may have pending, but you will not be able to download
mail packets in QWK format (you may still download mail packets in
Blue Wave format, however).
Section 6.1 Offline Configuration
Although offline configuration of the mail door is not as easy to
accomplish in QWK mode as it is in Blue Wave mode, it can still be
done with relative ease. The secret is in knowing how your particular
QWK mail reader handles the details.
In QWK mode, adding and removing message areas is done through the use
of "control messages". These are actual messages that are stored in
the reply packet, with special keywords stored in the message headers
that tell the mail door, "Hey, I'm a configuration message!" This is
done by specifying "BWAVE" in the To: field of the message, and the
control information in the Subject: field. Some QWK readers have the
ability to automate these procedures, but many more do not. Consult
your QWK reader's documentation for details.
Section 6.1.1 The "ADD/DROP" Method
The simplest method is also the most widely supported amongst QWK
readers, and is known informally as the "ADD/DROP" method. To add a
message area to your tagged area list, enter a message in the area you
wish to add with the following header information:
From: Your Name
To: BWAVE
Subject: ADD
Similarly, to drop a message area from your tagged area list, enter a
message in the area you wish to drop with the following header
information:
From: Your Name
To: BWAVE
Subject: DROP
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You can place anything you like in the text of the message, because
the door will ignore it. When you then upload the .REP packet to the
mail door, these messages will trigger the offline configuration
mechanism in the door, and the area(s) you have specified will be
added and dropped.
Section 6.1.2 The "Single-Message" Method
If you need to add and/or drop more than a handful of areas, you can
readily see how creating individual messages for each area would
create an unwieldy mess in your .REP packet. Fortunately, there is a
more advanced method available, where all configuration information is
stored in a single message. To use this method, enter a message in
any message area with the following header information:
From: Your Name
To: BWAVE
Subject: CONFIG
In the text of the message, you would place lines of text that specify
offline configuration commands. The following configuration commands
are available:
Command : ADD <area#> [<YOUR> <ALL> <YA>]
YOUR <area#>
YA <area#>
YOUR ALL <area#>
Description: Add Message Area to Tagged Area List
The ADD command adds the specified message area to your
tagged area list. You can optionally place YOUR, ALL,
or YA after the area number, to tell the mail door to
bundle only your messages (YOUR) or to bundle all
personal messages and messages addressed to "All" (ALL
and YA).
Note that the YOUR command performs exactly the same as
"ADD <area#> YOUR", and the YA and YOUR ALL commands
perform the same function as "ADD <area#> ALL". These
are provided for compatibility with other QWK mail
doors.
Command : DROP <area#>
Description: Drop Message Area From Tagged Area List
The DROP command drops the specified message area from
your tagged area list.
Command : FILES <ON or OFF>
Description: Enable/Disable New File Scanning
The FILES command enables or disables scanning for new
files and the generation of the NEWFILES list.
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Command : OWN <ON or OFF>
Description: Enable/Disable Bundling Messages From You
The OWN command enables or disables the bundling of
messages written by you.
Command : EXPERT <ON or OFF>
Description: Enable/Disable Expert Menu Mode
The EXPERT command enables or disables expert menus
when operating the mail door in interactive mode.
Command : LIMIT <kilobyte-value>
MAXSIZE <kilobyte-value>
Description: Set Maximum Size of Download Packet
The LIMIT command specifies the maximum size of a mail
packet BEFORE compression. The size is specified in
kilobytes. The minimum value is 50; any smaller values
will be automatically bumped up to 50. A size of "0"
indicates no maximum size.
Here is a sample of the commands specified in a typical configuration
message:
ADD 24
ADD 36 YOUR
ADD 200 ALL
DROP 19
DROP 20
FILES ON
LIMIT 500
Section 6.2 File Requesting
Requesting a file through the mail door in QWK mode is remarkably
similar to performing offline configuration, in that a control message
is addressed to the mail door with the name of the file you wish to
download. To accomplish this, enter a message in any area with the
following header information:
From: Your Name
To: BWAVE
Subject: REQUEST <filename>
Simply place the name of the file on the subject line after the
REQUEST command, i.e. "REQUEST FOOBAR.ZIP". You can also use DL: in
place of REQUEST ("DL:FOOBAR.ZIP"); this was added for compatibility
with other QWK mail doors.
You can request as many files as your .REP packet can hold. Note,
however, that the SysOp can limit the number of files that you can
receive, and can even completely disable file requesting. The mail
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door will alert you if you try to request more than the allowed number
of files, or if file requesting is disabled.
Section 6.3 Entering FidoNet NetMail Messages
Even though the QWK mail format doesn't support FidoNet Netmail, you
can still address messages in NetMail areas with your QWK reader.
This is done by specifying "To: <zone:net/node.point>" as the first
line of the message text. For example:
From: Your Name
To: George Hatchew
Subject: This new door is great!
------------------------------------------------------------
To: 1:2240/176
George, I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you that the
new Blue Wave door is great! The QWK support is fantastic!
The mail door will strip out the "To:" line and create a proper
NetMail message in the BBS message area. Make sure, however, that you
enter the message in a NetMail area, otherwise it's not going to work.
(Consult your SysOp if you need to find out which message area, if
any, supports FidoNet NetMail.)
Section 6.4 Entering Internet E-Mail Messages
As with FidoNet NetMail, the QWK mail format doesn't support Internet
E-mail, however you can still address messages in Internet E-mail
areas with your QWK reader. This is done by specifying "To:
<user@domain>" as the first line of the message text. For example:
From: Your Name
To: George Hatchew
Subject: This new door is great!
------------------------------------------------------------
To: bluewave@concentric.net
George, I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you that the
new Blue Wave door is great! The QWK support is fantastic!
The mail door will strip out the "To:" line and create a proper E-mail
message in the BBS message area. Make sure, however, that you enter
the message in an Internet E-mail area, otherwise it's not going to
work. (Consult your SysOp if you need to find out which message area,
if any, supports Internet E-mail.)
Section 6.5 Entering FidoNet-Gated Internet E-Mail
Some SysOps may provide an Internet E-mail message area which is
"gated" through FidoNet NetMail (in other words, messages are
converted back and forth between the two networks). You can
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accomplish this by essentially combining the two methods described
above:
From: Your Name
To: George Hatchew
Subject: This new door is great!
------------------------------------------------------------
To: bluewave@concentric.net
George, I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you that the
new Blue Wave door is great! The QWK support is fantastic!
The mail door will strip out the first "To:" line and create a proper
NetMail message in the BBS message area. The second "To:" line is
left intact, as the software which gates messages between FidoNet and
the Internet will use it to properly address the E-mail message.
Section 6.6 Extended Message Header Fields
The message headers in QWK mail packets are limited to 25 characters
each for the From:, To:, and Subject: fields. You can specify longer
fields by using "From:", "To:", and "Subject:" lines at the top of the
message text. For example:
From: Your Name
To: JoJo
Subject: Howdy!
------------------------------------------------------------
To: Joseph Josenakankambalowski
Subject: Hey, dude, that's one tongue-twisting last name!
For BBSes that support longer message header fields, the mail door
will strip out these extended lines and place the specified text in
the message header; the text specified in the QWK message header
itself will be ignored for each field that is replaced.
Note that even though the "From:" field is recognized and stripped
out, the specified text will not be used UNLESS the message area
allows you to enter any name in the From: field. (Normally, your real
name or your alias is used, depending on how the SysOp has configured
the message areas.)
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