home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Shareware Overload
/
ShartewareOverload.cdr
/
comm
/
backmail.zip
/
BM2DOCS.EXE
/
MANUAL.TXT
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-06-22
|
360KB
|
6,991 lines
BACKMAIL
USER'S
MANUAL
Alethic Software Inc. 52 Parkhill Road
Halifax, N.S. B3P 1R5
Canada
Voice # (902) 423 9860
BackMail (902)477-9492
Version 2.00
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
This document and the software package it describes are copyrighted ≤
1988,1989,1990 by Alethic Software Incorporated. All rights reserved
worldwide.
'BackMail' is the Trademark of Alethic Software Inc.
Alethic herewith gives permission for any user of the software to
electronically reproduce and transmit this software package to third
parties provided that the following two conditions are met.
1) No alterations or deletions of any kind are made to the operating
software or documentation.
2) The software is distributed without charge of any kind by the
distributor, except with the written permission of Alethic
Software Incorporated.
Distribution of BackMail in violation of either of these conditions
constitutes an infringement of copyright.
DISCLAIMER
Alethic makes no warranties as to the contents of this document or the
software herein described and specifically disclaims any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.
Alethic further reserves the right to make changes to the
specifications of the program and contents of this manual without
obligation to notify any person or organization of such changes.
OVERVIEW
WHAT IS BACKMAIL?
BackMail is a brand new kind of microcomputer communications program.
BackMail is a background (resident process) communications program that
turns your computer into the center of your own electronic mail network.
- BackMail can be used to compose and send messages, files and
programs to other BackMail users over regular phone
lines using a standard modem while you are using your
computer as you ordinarily would.
- Operating in the background, the program will call phone numbers
to which you have addressed messages or files, deliver
them, collect any mail addressed to you from there,
terminate the call and repeat this process for the next
appropriate destination on the list. All of this
without intervention by you, and without interrupting
your normal use of your machine.
- BackMail doesn't interfere with the normal use of your phone for
voice messages. Turn down the bell on your telephone,
and carry on with your work. BackMail will use your
modem to answer the phone; if it's a voice call, the
program will ring the speaker on your computer and ask
you to pick up the phone. If it's another BackMail
calling, the program will receive your mail, store it
to disk, and send any pending mail that you have
addressed to the person who called you. All without
interrupting you.
- BackMail keeps track of when the people on your mailing list are
available to receive messages, and keeps them informed
about when you are on-line for BackMailing. BackMail
schedules its mail deliveries according to the priority
you assign destinations, and when those destinations
are available. If the line is busy, or there's no
answer, BackMail will try again later.
- BackMail messages can be addressed to many different users. The
program keeps track of which messages have been
delivered, which destinations failed to answer.
- BackMail does not compromise the security of your machine in any
way. It can only give out messages or files that you
have decided to send, and then only to the destinations
you have selected.
THE BACKMAILING BASICS
BackMail is a new kind of communications package. A few basic ideas
are important to understanding how the program works.
HOT KEYS
Most of the work done by BackMail is accomplished by a small (33K)
memory resident core program. This program resides in memory and
works even when you are using your computer for other purposes. We've
designed this program to be very fast and unobtrusive. About the only
time you'll notice it's there is when the program accesses your disks
to get or store mail you're sending and receiving. Otherwise, its
workings are virtually undetectable. When you want to send messages
or files, or read messages that you have received, you call BackMail
to the foreground by pressing a "Hot Key." The default values for
these hot keys are:
Alt 1 Call up BackMail main menu
Alt 2 Use BackMail to dial out a voice call
Alt 3 (without removing it from memory)
This manual refers to the default values for these hot keys, but if
those keys are already used by other programs you can change them by
using the CHANGE SETUP function from the main menu.
AVAILABILITY TIMES
Each user of the program sets his own availability time. This is the
period of the day when that user plans to be regularly available to
receive BackMail messages. Whenever two BackMails communicate, ex-
changing files or messages, they will also automatically exchange
their availability times. Your BackMail keeps a record of the
availability time of every caller on your mail list, and it will not
attempt to call those destinations except at times when they have
declared themselves available. BackMail II can detect when a caller
is in a different time-zone from yours and will adjust the caller's
availability time accordingly.
When you first use BackMail you should set your own availability time.
Make this a period during which you regularly use your machine.
NOTE: In setting your availability time, you are only limiting NOTE: In setting your availability time, you are only limiting
the period during which you will receive mail. Any time BackMail
is running, it will try to deliver its mail to those users who
are available at that time.
You can override the current availability time for a destination by
using the Phone directory function available from the main menu.
Note, though, that you should only do this by prior arrangement with
that destination; otherwise, they may not have their BackMail running
when your BackMail calls.
6 Basic Concepts
The program will also allow you to set the maximum number of times per
hour that BackMail will attempt to reach a destination.
MESSAGES AND FILES
BackMail handles two kinds of mail, messages and files:
A message is any letter, note or reply you write from inside the
BackMail message editor.
A File is any file which can be stored on your disk. BackMail can
send or receive any such without restriction (except that the
receiving end must have sufficient disk space to contain the incoming
file).
INMAIL, OUTMAIL AND TRANSFER
All of your incoming messages are stored in a single file called
INMAIL. All of your outgoing messages are stored in a file called
OUTMAIL. Your INMAIL and OUTMAIL files also contain File
Notifications, which are very brief messages labeled "FILE" which
contain the name and size of the file you have sent or received.
All files you receive through BackMail are stored in a directory
reserved for that purpose called (by default) TRANSFER. The name of
the directory used for this purpose can be changed by using the
BMCONFIG.COM program.
TELEWARE
BackMail is a kind of ShareWare. We invite you to give away copies of
the distribution disk to anyone you want to BackMail. The only
condition on this is that you must not tamper with any of the
copyright or trademark information in the program or the disk, and you
may not resell the program for profit except with our permission.
But BackMail is not free. Each user of the program must pay a
registration fee for using the program. Some of the software's
functions are locked out until you register. But registration is very
easy. You use the program to pay for itself. Your registration is sent
as a BackMail message to our 800 number. As soon as you are registered
all the program's functions are electronically unlocked by calling our
800 number.
If you have purchased this copy of BackMail from a software retailer
you will find your package contains a card entitling you to two
registrations as part of the package's purchase price.
HOW TO REGISTER
We suggest that you use BackMail for a while before you decide to
register. Some of the program's functions are "locked out" until you
decide to register, but there is a lot you can do with an unregistered
copy.
Registration is simple. Each time you first bring up the BackMail
main menu, you will see a menu option called "G Register" (if you
perform any other function you will see that this menu option does not
appear thereafter). If you press 'G' at this point you will be shown
the registration introductory screen.
If you wish to register just respond to the prompt by hitting F2. The
program will then request certain information of you:
HOW TO PAY
Registration costs $50.00 (U.S.). Your registration can be paid for
in several different ways.
- Visa or MasterCard
- Cheque or Money Order
- With a prepaid Alethic credit number.
HOW REGISTRATION WORKS
The registration process is a special kind of electronic operation,
when you register we send a special signal to your BackMail which
unlocks all of the program's functions. If you pay by credit card, or
with an Alethic "Prepaid" number, your registration will likely be
processed on-line, and your BackMail will be unlocked on line. If you
are paying by check or money order, your number will be recorded and,
as soon as your payment is received, we will set the registration
machine to unlock your BackMail the next time you call back.
What you are registering when you register is your phone number. That
is, the phone number which is your BackMail's telephone address. If
you copy the program and give it to others to use, they will have to
register their copies.
When you have completed the registration form, BackMail will send your
registration as a BackMail message to our 800 number.
REGISTERING BY CREDIT CARD
To register by credit card you should enter your name as it appears on
your card, your card number, and the expiry date your credit card
expires.
PREPAID REGISTRATIONS
If you have purchased BackMail from a software retailer, or if your
company has purchased a BackMail site or corporate license, you will
8 How to Register
have been given a prepaid number. Select the "Prepaid" option under
method of payment and enter your Prepaid number in the "number" field.
CHEQUE OR MONEY ORDER
Simply select the Check/Money order option under method of payment.
You need not fill out any other field
ORDERING A MANUAL
In the registration screen you have the option of ordering a hard copy
manual of the program ($20 including postage and handling). To order a
manual move the cursor bar till it covers the line "I do not want a
printed copy of the manual", hit Enter to change the filed to "I do
want a printed copy of the manual.
If you are ordering a manual be sure to give us your name and address
field.
GIVING US YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS
If you are not ordering a manual you do not need to give us your
mailing address. However we encourage you to do so as it will allow us
to send you information about new BackMail releases and BackMail
related products. We will not give your mailing address to any one
else.
WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED REGISTERING
Some of the fields on the registration screen "toggle" when you hit a
key. Others take keyboard input and require you to hit Enter to exit
the field. The help window at the top left of corner of the screen
tells you what action is appropriate.
When you have finished filling out the registration screen you hit F2
to post your registration.
Abort- Hitting F1 will abort your registration message.
ing
registr When you confirm your registration (by hitting F2 again)
ation BackMail will compose a registration message. You will find
it in your outgoing Mail box if you use the MAINTAIN OUTGOING MAIL
function.
Don't Note you cannot get your copy of the program registered
delete unless you deliver your registration message to us. So don't
your delete the registration message, or SUSPEND the BackMail
regis- registration destination.
tration
AFTER YOU HAVE REGISTERED
As we said above, Registration makes electronic changes to the
BackMail files on your disks. It is thus a good idea to backup your
BackMail files after you've registered in case some future disk
disaster should erase your working copy.
RE-REGISTERING
We recommend that you backup your copies of BGROUND.COM and
FGROUND.COM after you have registered. Registration alters these files
How to Register 9
so that they will not ask you to register the program so long as your
phone number remains the same. Our policy is that once your phone
number is registered it is registered forever and we will never bill
the same number twice. However if you find yourself in a situation in
which you must re-register your BackMail we ask that you take the
following steps:
- Get up the registration screen and fill in your name.
- Select the check/money order field as your method of payment.
Our registration machine already knows your phone number, and it will
register you the first time you call.
WHY REGISTER?
Apart from unlocking some program functions there are other benefits
to registering your BackMail. When you register your copy of the
program you are put in touch with our BackMail 800 line. The nice
thing about BackMail is that we can use BackMail itself to send you
upgrades to the software. You can also send us BackMail messages at
any time of the day or night with questions or advice on using the
program.
As the number of BackMailers grows, we expect BackMail to become a
standard delivery system for new software and product information.
SO...
If you like the program, please register. And pass copies of your
BackMail diskette to your friends or business connections. Remember
that your personal BackMail network can be as large as you like.
GETTING STARTED
THE PACKAGE
The BackMail package consists of the following files.
INSTALL.BAT A batch file to install BackMail on your hard disk.
BGROUND.COM The terminate and stay resident kernel of the program
FGROUND.COM The user interface portion of the program.
PGROUND.COM The phone dialer
MANUAL.TXT A copy of this manual, in ASCII format.
READ.ME information not include in the manuals
BMCONFIG.COM An installation and configuration program
MAKMDF.COM A program for editing and creating modem description files.
PMERGE.EXE A program for merging 'foreign' phone directories
CONVERT.COM A program to convert your version I phone directory to
version II format.
SEND.COM A command line file sending utility.
ACTIVE.COM A program to deactivate and activate BackMail from the
command line or batch file.
INSTALLATION
To install BackMail it is necessary to run:
BMCONFIG.COM
It will lead you interactively through all the steps required to
install BackMail.
CONFIG.SYS
You should also look at the CONFIG.SYS file on your boot disk and add
or change its file specification so that it contains a line that says:
FILES = 20
to insure that your system is capable of keeping enough files open at
once for BackMail and your other applications.
If you don't already have a CONFIG.SYS file, create one with your text
editor with the single entry "FILES = 20".
Getting Started 11
CONNECTING YOUR MODEM
The setup of you modem is important for BackMail. You should look at
the DIP Switches on your modem and ensure that:
DTR: The modem should NOT ignore the RS232 DTR line. The DTR should
not always be on.
CD: Carrier Detect should respond to carrier detect. The Carrier
Detect light should not always be on.
RESULT CODES: Should be enabled so that result codes are sent to the
computer.
ECHO COMMANDS: should be set to off so that the modem does not echo
commands in local mode.
If your modem does not have DIP switches you should make sure that it
is initialized so the DTR and CD are enabled. (See Appendix C, for
more information on modem settings).
PHONE CONNECTION
If you are using BackMail for both voice and data calls we recommend
that you connect your modem in parallel with your telephone rather
that plugging your phone into the "phone" jack at the back of your
modem. That way you will be able to talk to any incoming voice calls
just by picking up the phone without having to wait for BackMail to
give the modem the signal to activate your phone line.
+----------+
+---+Telephone |
| +----------+
+-------+ +-------+ |
|Phone | |Line +---+
| Jack +--+Spliter| | +-----+ +----------+
| | | | +---+Modem+---+Computer |
+-------+ +-------+ +-----+ +----------+
■CHAPTER■5■
BMCONFIG.COM
To make the process of installation and configuration as painless as
possible, Alethic provides two utilities called BMCONFIG.COM and
MAKEMDF.COM.
Before you first run BackMail, you should run BMCONFIG. Do so while
you are in the same directory as the program files BGROUND, FGROUND,
and PGROUND since these files are altered by the configuration
process. If you intend to use 'canned' modem description files
(MDF's) each of these that you will require should also be in the
current directory (these files are described below).
BMCONFIG will not operate if BackMail is running.
The screen presented by BMCONFIG is divided into three parts. The top
window is the title window which tells you the program's name and
gives overall directions for moving around and editing. The central
window is the menu window in which choices are displayed. The bottom
window is the help window in which information is displayed which
relates to the choice at the current position of the cursor in the
menu window.
BMCONFIG is used to set the following:
COMMUNICATIONS PORT
Permissible values are COM1, COM2, COM3, or COM4. Note that if COM3
or COM4 are selected, BMCONFIG assumes the following interrupt levels:
COM3 IRQ4, COM4 IRQ3. You should insure that your modem is set to
reflect these assumptions. This might involve setting DIP switches or
jumpers and your modem documentation should be consulted. If it is
absolutely necessary to change the interrupt level of your selected
port (and it should hardly ever be necessary) you can do this from the
'expert' menu of BMCONFIG.
ANSWER BAUD RATE AND CALL BAUD RATE
These are the baud rates BackMail will use to answer and call.
Normally you will set these to the maximum rate supported by your
modem. However in some cases (involving old and/or unreliable modems)
you may find it useful to select some lesser rate.
COLORS
You may override the default colors for the BackMail display.
BACKMAIL AUXILIARY FILES
This is the subdirectory which BackMail will use for its INMAIL,
OUTMAIL and PHONE files (as well as its file for temporary memory
dump). You may override the default (C:\BACKMAIL) by typing in a new
path and if the directory in question does not exist, BMCONFIG will
create it after confirming that this is what you wish.
Bmconfig.com 13
RECEIVED FILE DIRECTORY
This the directory which BackMail will use to store files which it
receives. You may override the default (C:\BACKMAIL\TRANSFER) by
typing in a new path and BMCONFIG will create the directory you indi-
cate if it does not exist. It is important to note that when a file
is received with the same name as one which already resides in this
directory, the original file will be overwritten. For this reason it
is not a good idea to assign some directory to this parameter which
already contains files the integrity of which you wish to secure.
EXPERT SETTINGS
Press Enter at this item to see the menu of 'expert' settings for
BMCONFIG. Strictly speaking, not all of the items on the menu are for
experts but, try the default BackMail settings before you experiment.
In the second menu, you can alter the default settings for:
TONE DIAL;
This setting toggles between ON and OFF. In the ON (default) setting,
BackMail will use 'touch tones' to dial the phone. Otherwise,
BackMail will use pulse dialing.
WAIT FOR DIALTONE
In the OFF (default) position, this switch indicates that BackMail
will not wait for a dialtone before dialing out a data call. You
should set this switch to ON if you intend to talk on the line as well
as BackMailing since otherwise BackMail can start dialing out a data
call while you are using the line for a voice call.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to use this feature your modem must support IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to use this feature your modem must support
the 'W' command. Notice also that you may have to set the correct 'X'
mode in order to activate dial tone detection.
WAIT FOR RETRACE
This switch only needs to be changed from its default (OFF) setting if
you have an older Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) that produces 'snow'
with direct video access. Otherwise don't change this to ON since it
will slow down screen access.
NOTIFICATION
In its default (ON) position, this switch indicates that when BackMail
is running in attended mode, a pop-up message will give you warning
that new mail has arrived. If you set this to OFF you will be
notified that new mail has arrived only when the BackMail main menu is
active.
UNATTENDED MODE
This switch indicates BackMail's mode when it 'wakes up' (i.e. when
you first run it). By default (OFF) the mode is attended, which means
that it will pop up messages and warnings. Should you set this to ON
you won't see these but you should be aware that BackMail will revert
to attended mode as soon as you press any of the 'hot keys'.
14 Bmconfig.com
DATA-ONLY MODE
This switch indicates whether or not you wish to use your line for
both data and voice incoming calls. By default (OFF) BackMail will
detect that an incoming call is a voice call, 'ring' your computer,
and pop up a message informing you of the call (so long as your
BackMail is in attended mode). If you set this switch to ON, BackMail
will hang up when it gets a non-data call.
LAG TIME
.This is the time (in seconds) that your modem will wait for a carrier
before declaring an incoming call to be a voice call rather than a
data call. The best time to pick here is highly modem dependent. On
the one hand you want it to be as short as possible so that voice
callers have as brief an encounter with your modem as possible. On
the other hand you don't want to get a lot of spurious voice calls.
LETTERHEAD
At this menu choice you can compose your letterhead, which is a line
of text that is prefixed to all messages that you send with BackMail.
Either press Enter at this point or just start typing your entry.
Each of the previous can also be accomplished using the Change Setup
function from BackMail's main menu. All of these switches are also
explained in the section of the manual that deals with that function.
There are also things you can do in the expert menu that can be done
nowhere else:
SWAP FILE
At this menu item you can set a path to the swap file. This is the
file that contains about 60K of memory that gets 'swapped out' when
FGROUND is brought in over top of a running application. Since the
speed at which FGROUND comes in and goes out when you hit the hot keys
depends upon how quickly the swap file gets read or written, you might
want to try setting this path to a RAM disk.
COMM PORT BASE
At this menu item you can change the hardware address of the
communications port. BackMail knows the correct port addresses for
the ports which DOS supports (namely ports 1 through 4) and you will
not need to change the defaults unless you have some custom hardware.
INTERRUPT LEVEL
At this menu item you can change the default interrupt level for the
port you have selected. In almost all cases the default setting is
the proper setting, although there are circumstances involving custom
hardware or non-standard COM3/COM4 boards which might require a change
here.
LOAD MODEM DESCRIPTION
At this menu item you can load a modem description file (MDF). A
number of these files are distributed with BackMail and correspond to
certain well-known modems and also to standard ways of fixing certain
problems that crop up from time to time. Consult the README file on
your BackMail distribution disk for details. If your BackMail is not
Bmconfig.com 15
behaving correctly, chances are all you have to do is load up the
right MDF in order to effect a fix. When you press Enter at this menu
option you will be presented with a list of the MDF's in the current
directory. Just run the cursor bar down (the list will scroll) to the
one you want and press Enter. At that point the display beside this
menu option will change to reflect the choice you have made.
■CHAPTER■6■
RUNNING THE PROGRAM
If you keep all your executable files in one subdirectory, copy the
BackMail '.COM' files to that directory. Then you can start BackMail
by entering the command BGROUND. If you keep the '.com' files in a
BackMail subdirectory (BACKMAIL for example), then (unless the
directory is on the path for your system) to run the program you must
switch first to this directory and then enter the command BGROUND. In
our example this would be:
CD \BACKMAIL
BGROUND
CD \
If you use BackMail consistently you may want to include these lines
in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER PROGRAMS
Many memory resident programs (e.g. Borland's SideKick) specify that
they must be the last memory resident program running at any given
time. If you have two such programs, you can't run them at the same
time. This is not the case with BackMail. BackMail doesn't care
where it is on your queue of memory resident programs. You will find
that BackMail is compatible with virtually all commercial memory resi-
dent programs.
THE FIRST TIME YOU RUN BACKMAIL
The first time you run your copy of BackMail, you should call up the
main menu (by pressing Alt 1) and then select the Change Setup
function in the main menu. From there you should:
- Enter your own phone number. This will be your return address
for all mailings.
- Enter the appropriate dialing prefixes for your phone system.
- Enter your letterhead. This will go out over all your messages.
This can also be done with the BMCONFIG program.
- Enter your Availability Time. This is when other people will be
trying to BackMail you.
You will find a description of these CHANGE SETUP functions in the
appropriate section of this manual.
UPGRADING FROM BACKMAIL 1.10
BackMail I's phone directory file, PHONE, is not compatible with
BackMail II. If you are upgrading from BackMail I you should run the
utility program CONVERT.COM to update your PHONE file. See the
chapter 19, BackMail utilities, for details.
Running the Program 17
START UP MESSAGES
When you run BGROUND, the program will tell you what it's doing as it
sets itself up to run, and determines that it has access to the paths
and files it needs for its background operation.
Checking port and paths
Locating and checking mail files
Scanning of unread and unsent messages
Locating BGROUND.COM and FGROUND.COM
Checking and setting up the modem
Checking disk free space
Among other things, the program will check to see how much disk free
space you have and warn you if you have less than the 64K free disk
space BackMail needs to run properly. It will also note if your IN-
MAIL and OUTMAIL files are getting larger than 16K and advise you to
clean out any oversized files in the interests of smooth operation.
If it finds that one of the data files it needs to store mail and
phone numbers is missing auxiliary files, the program will tell you
and ask permission to create new working files.
+-------------------------------------+
|The outgoing mail file |
|C:\BACKMAIL\OUTMAIL |
|could not be found. Please enter: |
|N to make a New file |
|C to Change disks and try again |
|or Q to Quit trying to load BACKMAIL |
+-------------------------------------+
The first time:create new files you run the program you should respond
with N to tell the program to construct the appropriate data storage
file.
18 Running the Program
STARTUP BANNER
When startup is complete, you'll see this banner which will give you a
complete report on the status of your BackMail.
+----------------------------------------------+
| BackMail II |
| |
+----------------------------------------------+
|Version 2.00 Serial 902-05320|
| Copyright (C) 1989,90 Alethic Software Inc. |
| All rights reserved worldwide |
+----------------------------------------------+
|BackMail II loads at 22CB |
|Inbound: 10 messages, 1 unread |
|Outbound: 2 destinations, 1 unreached |
|Modem speed: 1200 Disk free space: 1050K |
+----------------------------------------------+
INITIALIZING THE MODEM
In the course of its start up procedure, BackMail will send signals to
your modem to initialize it. If it doesn't get the right response, it
will prompt you:
+-------------------------------------------------+
|Time-out error on modem read (A) |
|This probably means that your modem is off-line; |
|please turn it on, then press any key to retry |
|or press Ctrl/C to abort. |
+-------------------------------------------------+
This response can sometimes happen even when the modem is on but has
got itself miss-set by another program or random line noise (modems
are temperamental beasts). In that case, turn your modem off, then on,
to reset it; and hit any key to tell BackMail to retry its
initialization of the modem.
■CHAPTER■7■
MAIN MENU
+----------------- BackMail II -----------------+
| (902) 423-9860 Wednesday 1 September |
| Offline 13:50:21 |
+- +----------------- BackMail II -----------------+
| (902) 423-9860 Wednesday 1 September |
| Calling Tom Smith 14:01:30 |
+----- +----------------- BackMail II -----------------+
| (902) 423-9860 Wednesday 1 September |
| On line with The Boss 14:09:53 |
+--- +----------------- BackMail II ------------+----+
| (902) 423-9860 Wednesday 1 September |
| Voice Call in Progress 14:30:24 |
+-------------------------- You have new mail --+
+----------------- BackMail II------------------+
| (902) 423-9860 Wednesday 1 September |
| Offline 13:50:00 |
| +------- OPTIONS --------+ |
| | Read Incoming Mail | || change option |
| | Send a message | <+to select |
| | Send a File | or press bright |
| | Maintain Incoming mail | letter |
| | Maintain Outgoing mail | |
| | Display status | Esc to exit |
| | Update Phone Directory | U unattended |
| | Change Setup | K Kill program |
| +------------------------+ G Register |
+------------------------- You have new mail ---+
The top two lines of the Main Menu display your phone number, the time
and date (set by your internal clock) and the current status of the
program.
These two lines will remain on screen while you do other BackMail
tasks. This status line will change to tell you what BackMail is
doing.
KEEPING TIME
Since BackMail schedules its calls using the system time set in your
computer, and date stamps all its messages according to the system
date, it is important that these be set correctly at the beginning of
any work session. If your system does not have a real time clock you
can set the date and time by using the MS-DOS commands TIME and DATE
at the system prompt.
MAKE SURE YOUR PHONE NUMBER IS CORRECT
Since your phone number is your return address for all BackMail
mailings, it's important to make sure that it is correct. BackMail
will ask you for your phone number if it is not set. Be sure to
include your extension if your phone has one.
20 Main Menu
SELECTING A FUNCTION
In all BackMail menus, the currently selected function is indicated by
a cursor bar; use the arrow keys on the keypad to move the cursor and
hit Enter to select that function. As a short cut, you will notice
that there is a highlighted letter on each line of the menu; pressing
the letter will select that function.
REMOVING BACKMAIL FROM MEMORY
BackMail doesn't use much memory. The memory resident portion of the
program occupies only 33K RAM. Still, there may be times you want to
remove BackMail from memory. You can do this by hitting "K" any time
you see the BackMail Main Menu. The program will ask for confirmation
before it proceeds. Note that killing BackMail may disrupt any
program that has been loaded after BackMail. This will include other
memory resident programs and any foreground process that is running
when you kill BackMail.
In most case killing BackMail will not affect your foreground program
or other Resident programs that you are running. However for maximum
safety you are advised to kill BackMail only at the DOS prompt and to
check the effects on other TSR programs you may be running. It is
particularly dangerous to kill BGROUND if any programs that take over
interrupts are loaded after it.
DEACTIVATING BACKMAIL
It can sometimes happen that you want to tell BackMail not to place
any calls or answer the phone for a period of time. To do that you
can suspend BackMail, from the foreground by pressing the DEACTIVATE
hot key (default: Alt 3). Pressing the key again will reactivate the
program. A utility, ACTIVE.COM, is provided so that BackMail can be
deactivated and reactivated from a batch file.
Suppose that you sometimes run a terminal program called MYTERM and
you don't want to be forced to remember to deactivate BackMail before
running the terminal program and reactivate after. Construct a batch
file (using your favorite text editor) called, say TERM.BAT, which
contains the lines:
active OFF
myterm
active ON
Now instead of invoking your terminal program by entering "myterm" you
would instead enter "term" with the result that BackMail would be
automatically be deactivated before your terminal program runs and
reactivated afterwards.
USING OTHER COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMS
It is especially important to DEACTIVATE BackMail if you are going to
be running another communications program to talk to a mainframe
computer. BackMail has no way of knowing that your foreground program
is trying to use your modem and as a result, if active, may try to
dial out while you are on-line. The easiest way to 'bombproof' this
procedure is to construct a batch file as discussed above.
Main Menu 21
REACTIVATING will re-initialize you Modem to operate with BackMail.
RUNNING UNATTENDED
BackMail has two operating modes, Attended and Unattended. In
attended mode BackMail assumes that you are present at your machine to
accept voice calls or to cope with disk errors and similar problems.
When you put BackMail in Unattended mode, you are telling the program
to operate on its own. BackMail will still place and receive BackMail
messages, but it will not try to get you to answer voice calls.
Use unattended mode if you are going to leave your machine running
unattended for some extended period of time.
You can switch BackMail from attended to unattended mode by pressing
the U key when you see the main menu.
+-------------------------------------+
| BackMail is now running unattended. |
| Pressing any hot key will bring |
|it back to Attended mode |
+-------------------------------------+
Pressing any key will take the message away and allow you to use your
computer for other things in the meanwhile. The program will revert
from Unattended to Attended mode if you let it know you are present by
pressing any hot key combination.
CALL NOW
Call About every three minutes your BackMail (when it is active)
right checks to see if there any calls it should be making. The
away time varies slightly with your phone number so that distinct
BackMails have distinct periods - which prevents them from getting in
'synch' and always calling each other at the same time. When you
compose and address a message, or queue up a file to go out, in the
'worst case' (assuming that BackMail is not engaged in another send
task) it could take three minutes for the call to be made.
You can override this waiting period however, by pressing "N" at the
main menu. Doing that tells BackMail to make its next call right
away. Take warning: It might happen that your destination has mail
for you, and is just as impatient. The two of you could be hitting
"N" at the same time for the rest of the day, to no good effect.
If you press "N" and nothing happens, this means that BackMail has no
'next call' to make. If you know that there is mail pending to at
least one destination, it follows that either the destination(s) in
question are either not available now, or suspended.
REGISTER
If you have yet to register, then when you first bring up the BackMail
main menu, you will see that you have the opportunity to go through
the registration process by pressing "G".
22 Main Menu
The "G" Note. The "G" option only appears on your BackMail menu if
isn't you have just brought up the Main Menu. If you elect any
always other option at this time, the option to register will
there disappear. In other words, you can only register when you
first bring up the main menu.
■CHAPTER■8■
SEND A MESSAGE
This function allows you to send a message to any destination in your
BackMail Phone directory. A BackMail message can be of any length and
can contain any ASCII or IBM character.
Invoking this function immediately places you in the BackMail editor.
THE BACKMAIL MESSAGE EDITOR
The editor is not a full-fledged word processor nor does it pretend to
be. It is intended for sending simple plain text messages without
fancy formatting. The message editor is designed to be easy to learn
and to use. If you want to send letters as formatted by your word
processor, you can send them as files (see SEND A FILE).
+- BackMail Message Editor ------------------------------------+
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
EDITOR COMMANDS
Tab tab
-> delete previous character
Del delete character under the cursor
Home move cursor to the start of line
End move cursor to the end of line
Ctrl+Home move cursor to top of screen
Ctrl+End move cursor to the end of screen
PgUp Screen up
24 Send a Message
PgDn Screen down
■8■ ■2■ arrow keys control cursor movement
Ctrl <- Word right
Crtl -> Word left
Esc Finished editing message
F1 To abort, abandoning work
F10 Help with Editor Commands
HOW LONG CAN MESSAGES BE?
The maximum length of a message is 100 lines of text.
Send a Message 25
SUBJECT LINE
When you are finished composing your message you exit the editor by
hitting Esc. You will then be prompted to enter a subject line for
your message.
+-------------------------------------+
|Subject Line (40 characters maximum):|
|- |
+-------------------------------------+
Use Backspace to delete characters already entered.
Hit Enter or Esc when you have finished entering your subject line.
The subject line will identify the subject of your message to your
destination.
ADDRESSING YOUR MAIL
When you have given your message a subject line, you will then be
shown your Address directory.
+-----------------------------------------------+
| Use arrow keys || to scroll phone list |
| Select / Unselect destinations with <+ |
| Suspend / Unsuspend destinations with Del |
| F1 to cancel send F2 cc list Esc when done |
+-----------------------------------------------+
| All internal (int) numbers |
| All local numbers |
| >Albert A local 467-9876 18:00-00:00 |
| Bob B. intern 4890 09:00-17:00 |
| >Charles W. local 498-3984 12:00-15:00 |
| Dale Gass local 423-9870 18:00-23:30 |
| Harry S. long (212) 788-6620 05:00-13:00 |
| Sales intern 4206 <suspended> |
| The Boss intern 4409 09:30-16:30 |
| Tom local 435-3427 19:00-00:00 |
| Zak Z. long (414) 384-9984 06:00-12:00 |
| ------------ End of Directory -------------- |
+- cc. lists -----------------------------------+
Each line in the directory shows you:
- The destination's "handle" (your short name for that
destination),
- The dialing prefix label for that destination (e.g. Local, Long
Distance, Inter-office). (For more about what these prefixs mean
and how they are set see the chapter 15, Change Setup)
- The destination's phone number.
- The time period during which that destination has declared itself
available for receiving mail. This time is important since it
26 Send a Message
tells you the period during which BackMail will schedule its call
to this destination.
- <Suspended> in place of a destination's availability time - <Suspended> in place of a destination's availability time
indicates that you have told BackMail not to send anything to
that destination.
SELECTING A DESTINATION
Use the arrow keys on the keypad to move the bar cursor to each
destination you want to send your message to and hit Enter. A mark
will appear beside each destination you select, and that destination
will be highlighted. You may select as many different destinations
for your message as you wish. Hitting Enter beside a selected
destination unselects it so that mail will not be sent to that
destination.
MASS MAILINGS
The top two entries are useful for mass mailings. They address your
message to everyone in your BackMail directory with the associated
phone prefix label. Thus, for example, selecting "All internal
numbers" would send your message to everyone in your directory with
the dialing prefix for your inter-office intercom. In addition to the
two predefined groups, you can, through the Change Setup function on
the main menu, define up to six additional groups. Consult the manual
section on that function for details.
SENDING TO GROUPS
If you have defined group names under CHANGE SETUP you will find the
names of these groups displayed at the top of your destinations
directory. If you select a group name this will send your message to
all the members in your phone directory which have defined as
belonging to your group. See the entry under "Group Select" in chapter
15, CHANGE SETUP.
+-----------------------------------------------+
| Use arrow keys || to scroll phone list |
| Select / Unselect destinations with <+ |
| Suspend / Unsuspend destinations with Del |
| F1 to cancel send F2 cc list Esc when done |
+-----------------------------------------------+
| All internal (int) numbers |
| All local numbers |
| My group |
| Friends |
| Romans |
| Countrymen |
SUSPENDING DESTINATIONS
It can sometimes happen that you know that a particular destination
will not be available for BackMail at a given time or that you have
some reason for not wanting to BackMail a particular destination. In
that case you can Suspend that destination from either the DISPLAY
STATUS menu or while you are addressing your mail. BackMail will not
Send a Message 27
attempt to send any mail to a suspended destination but it will
deliver its mail to that destination if it calls you.
Note: suspending a destination does not delete it from your phone Note: suspending a destination does not delete it from your phone
list, nor does it delete any mail that you have marked for that
destination. It simply means that destination will not be
BackMailed until you remove the suspension.
To suspend or unsuspend a destination use the arrow keys to move the
bar cursor to that entry and hit Del.
28 Send a Message
WHEN YOU HAVE ADDRESSED YOUR MAIL
When you have finished addressing your message, hitEsc. BackMail will
add this message to its outgoing mail queue and return you to the
BackMail main menu.
ABORTING THE MESSAGE
If you decide at this point that you do not want to send your message
after all, hitting F1 will return you to its main menu. Note that if
you do this the message you have written will be discarded.
CC LISTS
Circula If you address a message to more than one destination
tion BackMail, will append a CC list to the bottom of the message.
Lists In order to construct this list, BackMail uses the handles of
the destinations in question. It is also possible to send 'blind
copies'. The F2 key toggles whether or not CC lists will be appended,
and the state of the toggle is shown on the bottom menu border. The
default value of the toggle is ON (i.e. by default, CC lists will be
sent). If you have selected multiple destinations by selecting a
group (e.g. all internal, or some user defined group) then BackMail
will append the group name as the CC list rather than all of its
members.
■CHAPTER■9■
READ NEW MAIL
This function gives you direct access to all of your unread, incoming
messages. When you select it from the main menu you are presented
with a list of all the unread mail you have received.
+- Date - Time -- From -------- Subject ------------------------+
| May 8 10:20 Home Grocery List |
| May 8 10:35 The Boss New Pricing Policy |
| May 8 10:39 Tom Smith Poker Tonight? |
| May 8 10:45 Joe Jones FILE: whiz.com (45k) |
| May 9 11:11 CEO FILE: lotus.wks (22k) |
| May 10 9:20 Bob Brite Did you see the game last night? |
| May 10 10:02 S. Sherwin Note on the last chapter |
| May 10 10:27 PKS Sending you a program |
| May 10 10:29 PKS FILE: Game.exe (49k) |
| May 10 11:10 Mike H Give me a voice call |
| <** End of Messages **> |
| |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
RECEIVED FILES
FILE: The FILE: prefix indicates a file that has been sent and The FILE: prefix indicates a file that has been sent and
Notices stored separately to disk. Files are listed as incoming mail
to let you know they have been received.
NOTE: You can't "read" a received File with BackMail (it might be a NOTE: You can't "read" a received File with BackMail (it might be a
'.COM' or '.EXE' file). If someone has sent you text in file format
you can print it out outside of BackMail or read it under an
appropriate word processor. If you select a file and press the return
key, the file notification will simply be removed from the file list.
To read your unread messages you can either:
- Position the cursor bar on the message you want to read and hit
Enter
- Hit F1. BackMail will show you all your unread messages in
sequence.
INCOMING MESSAGES
which appears at the top of the window, and is automatically stamped
with the time the message was composed and the sender's .
30 Send a Message
+- Message: This is the subject line of the message -----------+
| |
| From: The Chief Programmer |
| Message composed: April 14,1987 |
| |
| Dear User, |
| This is a sample BackMail message. Once you have read |
| the message you can hit: |
| |
| Esc To finish reading the message |
| F1 To finish reading the message leaving it marked UNREAD |
| F2 To REPLY to the message |
| F3 To FORWARD the message |
| |
| Yours, |
| P.K.Schotch |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
REPLYING TO MESSAGES
To reply to a message currently on the screen, hit F2. This will call
up the BackMail Editor. When you have finished composing your reply
and have exited the editor, BackMail will return you to the message.
BackMail knows who sent the message and will automatically direct your
reply back to its source. If the message to which you wish to reply
is from 'unknown' (i.e. from a destination, the phone number of which
is not in your phone directory), then pressing F2 will first take you
through the phone directory editor where you will be asked to supply,
the full name, and handle for this destination. BackMail will already
have filled in the phone number, availability time and other
information for you.
+- Time - From --- Subject --------------------------------+
| 10:40 Stan When should we meet? |
| 10:50 Stan Re: Re: When should we meet? |
| 11:05 Stan Dialog Re: When should we meet? |
| 11:21 Stan Dialog Re: When should we meet? |
| 11:37 Stan Dialog Re: When should we meet? |
| 11:52 Stan Dialog Re: When should we meet? |
| 17:41 Stan Dialog Re: When should we meet? |
To help everyone keep track of the exchange, the reply will bear the
original subject line of the message prefaced by "Re:". On the third
reply to a reply this changes to "Dialog Re:"
There is no limit on the number of times a reply can be replied to.
FORWARDING MESSAGES
To forward a message you are reading to another BackMailer, hit F3,
and select the destination(s) you want from your BackMail directory.
Messages you forward are prefixed by "Forwarded From", but preserve
the original sender's letterhead so that you can trace the route of a
message. A message sent from Tom to Dick and Forwarded to Harry would
appear on Harry's machine as:
Read New Mail 31
+- Message: User's Group Meeting -------------------------------+
| From the desk of Dick Jones |
| Message composed Sep 15 14:01 |
| |
| FORWARDED FROM: Tom Smith (903) 423-9985 |
| From the desk of Tom Smith |
| Message composed Sep 15 13:32 |
| |
| Dear Dick, |
| Please tell anyone who might be interested that the |
| meeting is at my place this Friday. |
| |
| Tom |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
There is no limit to the number of times you can forward a message.
You can forwarding replies and you can reply to forwarded messages.
Remember, though, that when you reply to a forwarded message your
reply goes to the person who forwarded the message to you, not the
person who originally composed that message.
MARKING MESSAGES AS READ OR UNREAD
All the messages and file notices that you receive are automatically
stored in your INMAIL mailbox file. They won't be lost until you
Delete them using the MAINTAIN INCOMING MAIL function in the Main
Menu. However the READ INCOMING MAIL function only lists new, unread
mail.
When you have finished reading, replying to, or forwarding a newly
received message, hit Esc. Doing this marks the message as READ, it
is stored in INMAIL and is no longer treated as new mail.
Sometimes, you may wish to keep a message in the list of new messages
so that you can get quick access to it for rereading, forwarding and
replying. In that case you should exit the message by hitting F1.
This leaves the message marked as UNREAD and it will remain in your
list of new, incoming mail.
SEND A FILE
Use this function to have BackMail send a file. The file can be of
any type including .COM and .EXE files, and of any length. The only
restriction is that the destination must have sufficient disk space to
receive the file. Before the file transmission actually begins, a
check is made and if the receiver hasn't got enough space, the send
will be aborted. In that case a notation will be made in your OUTMAIL
file to this effect. When you look at the file under the Maintain
Outgoing Mail function from the main menu, you will see the notation
NO SPACE TO RECEIVE FILE next to the file name.
The command line utility SEND can also be used to transmit files under
BackMail. Consult the Chapter 19, BackMail utilities, for the
details.
+----------------------------------------------+
| Name of file to send or directory to search: |
| _ |
+----------------------------------------------+
You can enter the file name directly, or you can just hit Enter to get
a directory listing of your current directory.
+- C:\*.* ----------------------------+
| DOCS <SUBDIRECTORY> |
| BINS <SUBDIRECTORY> |
| BACKMAIL <SUBDIRECTORY> |
| WORDP50 <SUBDIRECTORY> |
| GRAPHICS <SUBDIRECTORY> |
| GAMES <SUBDIRECTORY> |
| UTILITY <SUBDIRECTORY> |
| LOTUS <SUBDIRECTORY> |
| COMMAND.COM 1K |
| AUTOEXEC.BAT 1K |
|>COMP.COM 2K |
| CONFIG.SYS 1K |
|>VOGON.EXE 22K |
| ** no more files ** |
| |
| |
+- Highlighted files will be sent ----+
Use the arrow keys to move the cursor bar up and down. Pressing Enter
for a selected <SUBDIRECTORY> will give you a listing of that for a selected <SUBDIRECTORY> will give you a listing of that
directory.
F2 will return you to your root directory. Enter for a file will
select that file to be sent.
Send a File 33
Selected files appear Highlighted with a mark beside them. Enter for
a selected file will deselect it.
Send You can select files to send from different directories. You
Many can select a group of up to 100 files each time you bring up
Files the sub directory window.
at once
+---------------------------------------------+
|Name of file to send or directory to search: |
| D:\DOCS\*.BAK |
+----+---------------------------------------------+
|Name of file to send or directory to search: |
| C:\?GROUND.COM_ |
+----+---------------------------------------------+
|Name of file to send or directory to search: |
| .\*.DOC |
+---------------------------------------------+
You can also use standard DOS aliases and wild cards in sending files.
FILE SIZE
Any There is no limit on the size of files you can send.
size BackMail will, however, abort a file transmission if the
receiving machine has insufficient disk space to receive the file. In
this case an annotation will be made in the sender's OUTMAIL file
reporting that the destination has insufficient disk space. If you
receive this notification:No space you should send the destination a
message asking them to make room for the file you want to send them.
ADDRESSING A FILE
When you have finished marking all the files you wish to send hit Esc.
BackMail will then present you with the list of BackMail destinations
in your directory and you can address your mail just as you do under
SEND MESSAGE.
F1 will abort the file sending process.
34 Send a File
SUSPENDING DESTINATIONS
It can sometimes happen that you know that a particular destination
will not be available for BackMail at a given time or that you have
some reason for not wanting to BackMail a particular destination. In
that case you can Suspend that destination by using DISPLAY STATUS. _______ ______
BackMail will not attempt to send any mail to a suspended destination.
Note that suspending a destination does not delete it from your phone
list, nor does it delete any mail that you have marked for that
destination. It simply means that destination will not be BackMailed
until you remove the suspension.
If a destination calls you while you have it suspended then BackMail
will give it any mail you have posted to it (unless the caller has
told BackMail not to accept return mail. See Chapter 14, UPDATE PHONE
DIRECTORY for an explanation of this feature).
To suspend or unsuspend a destination use the arrow keys to move the
bar cursor to that entry and hit Del.
DISPLAY STATUS
This function allows you to examine the list of calls that BackMail
has currently queued to transmit and the status of these calls.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Messages to The Boss have been sent |
|Messages to Tom S. still pending after 02 callattempts.<suspended>|
|Messages to Harry B still pending after 01 call attempts |
|Messages to Home still pending after 00 call attempts |
| **No more entries** |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
BackMail schedules its calls by taking account of the destination's
availability time and the priority you assign that destination.
BackMail will update this list about once an hour, and every time you
address new mail or perform maintenance on OUTMAIL.
STATUS REPORTS
Each line of DISPLAY STATUS gives the handles of all the destinations
to which you have pending mail or to which mail has been recently
delivered. Lines like:
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|Messages to John Smith still pending after 02 call attempts|
| |
indicate that BackMail has called this destination but has been unable
to deliver mail to it. This will happen if the destination's line is
busy or if the destination does not have BackMail running.
The count of attempts is reset to zero each time you restart BackMail.
The count is also reset to zero after you use the MAINTAIN Outgoing
Mail option.
If it seems that a particular call has not been retried for some time
this is probably because:
- The user is unavailable at this time. Note that the destination
has set its own availability time. Normally you should respect has set its own availability time. Normally you should respect
this but if you are absolutely certain that the user is available
and would not mind receiving traffic you can manually change the
destination's availability time using the UPDATE PHONE DIRECTORY
function called from the MAIN MENU.
- You have reached the Maximum Retries permitted for this - You have reached the Maximum Retries permitted for this
destination this hour. This value is set by the destination but
can be changed by you in UPDATE PHONE DIRECTORY.
- You have been exchanging a lot of mail with a different High - You have been exchanging a lot of mail with a different High
priority destination and BackMail has not found time to send this priority destination and BackMail has not found time to send this
destination.
36 Display Status
WELCOME FILE NOTICE
If you have selected a file to be sent to new callers under using the
CHANGE SETUP function "Welcome File". The status line will reflect
this with a line saying:
Filname.ext has been queued for unknown callers
Where "Filname.ext" will be the name of your welcome file. For more
information on welcome files see chapter 15, on CHANGE SETUP.
SCRIPT ERROR MESSAGE
If you are using a BackMail dial out script BackMail will report
errors involving the scripts on the display status line. The error
messages are:
Messages to Joe Smith unsent: script error
Messages to Joe Smith unsent: script i/o error
Messages to Joe Smith unsent: script log error
Chapter 18 , BackMail scripts, explains the meanings of these error
messages and the appropriate corrective action.
SUSPENDING DESTINATIONS
You can suspend destinations from the DISPLAY STATUS screen. See the
entry under SUSPENDING DESTINATIONS in SEND MESSAGE for an explanation
of suspension.
MAINTAIN INCOMING MAIL
MAILBOX MAINTENANCE
Your INMAIL and OUTMAIL files contain, respectively, all the mail you
have received and sent using BackMail. These files can be of any
size, but the larger they get the more time BackMail must spend in
managing these files when it adds or sends messages, or shows you your
mail. Since the time it spends accessing your disks is about the only
time when BackMail competes with foreground processes for the
machine's resources, keeping these files small is a good way to
guarantee the efficiency of BackMail operations. So we recommend that
you maintain your mailbox by deleting messages that you have read. If
you wish to keep a copy of a message you can append it to a separate
text file before deleting it by hitting F4.
The optimum size for your INMAIL and OUTMAIL files is less than 16K.
If your files have gotten larger than this, BackMail will tell you
when you first run the program and advise you to do some mailbox main-
tenance.
MAINTAINING INMAIL
+- RECEIVED --------- FROM ----------- TOPIC ------------------------+
| Aug 1 09:35 The Boss Send me the projections |
| Aug 9 10:40 Home Pick up groceries <deleted>|
| Aug 9 10:52 Tom Smith Sending you a spreadsheet <deleted>|
| Aug 9 10:53 Tom Smith File: PROJECT.WKS (39k) |
| Aug 9 11:10 Bob Bright Meeting tomorrow |
| Aug 9 11:15 Jim Martin Dialog Re: Your proposal |
| Aug 9 11:30 Sam. S Hows it going? |
| Aug 9 11:41 Home Something else... |
| Aug 9 11:50 The Boss Re: Re: Send me the projections |
| ** No More entries ** |
| |
| |
+-- Highlighted Messages are unread ---------------------------------+
This menu allows you to review all of the messages and files notices,
read and unread, you have received over BackMail. When you select
this function the contents of your INMAIL file will be displayed
showing you the time received, sender, and subject line of each
Message.
Moving the cursor bar to select a message, you can...
Enter By hitting Enter you can read the message just as you do with
READ NEW MAIL. When you read the message you can REPLY to or
FORWARD it just as you do in READ NEW MAIL.
Del Marks the selected message in INMAIL to be <deleted>. Pressing Del Del Marks the selected message in INMAIL to be <deleted>. Pressing Del
again will remove the deletion mark.
38 Maintain Incoming Mail
F1 Quit the maintenance menu without deleting any messages or file
notifications.
F3 Forward the selected message to any destination in your BackMail
directory.
F4 Append the selected message to a separate DOS text file you
select.
F5 Delete all unread of the unread mail from INMAIL.
F6 Delete all mail from INMAIL.
Esc Exit the INMAIL Maintenance menu purging all messages marked
<deleted>. <deleted>.
DELETING MAIL
Note that messages marked <deleted> are not actually purged from your Note that messages marked <deleted> are not actually purged from your
INMAIL file until you exit from this menu using Esc. If you have
second thoughts about deleting a message you can remove the deletion
mark or you can use F1 to exit from the menu without deleting any
entries.
DELETING FILE NOTICES
Under the INMAIL and OUTMAIL maintain functions you will see
notifications of files that you are sending or have received. Thus if
you have received a file called "filename.com" it would appear in your
INMAIL mail box as.
File:filename.com
When you do an INMAIL MAINTAIN the program automatically removes the
file notices, whether or not you have deleted them when you exit the
INMAIL MAINTAIN function. Note though that all that is removed from
your INMAIL file is the notification of the file's arrival. The file
itself is still in your incoming files directory and will not be
deleted or altered by BackMail.
Maintain Incoming Mail 39
APPENDING MESSAGES TO FILES
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Enter name of file to append to: |
| _ |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
This option allows you to extract a message from your INMAIL file and
save it to disk in an ASCII text file.
When you select this function BackMail will prompt you for the name of
the file you wish to create for the message.
You may specify a destination path in your name for the file. If the
file you select already exists BackMail will append the selected
message to that file. If you give it a new file name it will create a
file to hold the message. By default, BackMail will use the last
filename you entered in the current mailbox maintenance session.
MAINTAIN OUTGOING MAIL
+--Sent --- To -------------- Topic ----------------------------+
| 10:35 The Boss Here are the projections |
| 10:40 Home Pick up groceries <deleted> |
| 10:52 Tom Smith Sending you a spreadsheet <deleted> |
| 10:53 Tom Smith File: C:\LOTUS\DATA\PROJECT.WKS (37k) |
| 11:10 Bob Bright Meeting tomorrow |
| 11:15 Jim Martin Dialog Re: Your proposal |
| 11:30 Sam. S Hows it going? |
| 11:41 Home Something else... |
| 11:50 The Boss Re: Re: Send me the projections |
| ** End of Messages ** |
| |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
This function allows you to review your outgoing messages to see what
files you have addressed to others. This includes your replies to
messages received and messages you are forwarding to other
destinations.
Each message is marked with a time. This is the time at which the
message was composed and addressed. Messages that appear in
highlighted characters on the screen are messages that are as yet
undelivered.
By selecting a message using the cursor bar you can...
Enter By hitting Enter you can read the message just as you do
with READ NEW MAIL.
Del Marks the selected message in OUTMAIL to be <deleted>. Pressing Del Marks the selected message in OUTMAIL to be <deleted>. Pressing
Del again will remove the deletion mark.
F1 Quit the maintenance menu without deleting any mail.
F3 Readdress the message to send it to additional destinations
F4 Append the selected message to a separate DOS text file you
select.
F5 Delete all of the sent mail from OUTMAIL.
F6 Delete all mail from OUTMAIL.
Esc Exit the OUTMAIL Maintenance menu purging all messages marked
<deleted>. <deleted>.
Most of these functions in MAINTAIN OUTGOING MAIL work just as they do
in MAINTAIN INCOMING MAIL with the exception of F3, readdressing.
Maintain Outgoing Mail 41
APPENDING TO FILE
Appending a message in INMAIL to a separate DOS file, automatically
removes it from INMAIL. Messages appended to files from OUTMAIL
maintenance, remain in OUTMAIL and will be sent, if they haven't been.
READDRESSING OUTGOING MAIL
This function allows you to add new destinations for an outgoing
message. It is particularly useful if you wish to send a reply to
destinations other than the one to which you originally addressed it.
When you readdress a message the program will ask you to give the
message a new subject line. If the existing subject line of the
message is appropriate just press the Enter key.
MAINTAINING WHILE ONLINE
Because BackMail requires rapid access to the OUTMAIL file when it is
in contact with another copy of BackMail, you cannot do OUTMAIL
maintenance while online.
If you call up this menu while on line BackMail will ask you to wait.
Pressing a key will return you to the main menu.
+----- WARNING ------------------+
| Outmail maintenance cannot |
| be carried out while on line. |
| Please wait. |
+- Press any key ----------------+
If a call comes into BackMail while you are doing OUTMAIL Maintenance,
BackMail will not be able to send messages you have addressed to that
caller. Those messages will be sent at a later time.
+--Sent --- To -------------- Topic ----------------------------+
| 10:35 The Boss Here are the projections |
| 10:40 Home <NO SPACE TO RECEIVE FILE> |
| 10:52 Tom Smith Sending you a spreadsheet <deleted> |
| 10:53 Tom Smith File: C:\LOTUS\DATA\PROJECT.WKS (37k) |
| 11:10 Bob Bright Meeting tomorrow |
| 11:15 Jim Martin <TERMINATED BY RECIEVER> |
| 11:30 Sam. S Hows it going? |
| 11:41 Home Something else... |
| 11:50 The Boss <ABNORMAL TERMINATION> |
| ** End of Messages ** |
| |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
SPECIAL STATUS MESSAGES
NO SPACE TO RECEIVE FILE You will see this message if the destination NO SPACE TO RECEIVE FILE You will see this message if the destination
BackMail has found insufficient disk space to store a file you
wish to send it. If you see this message you might send a
(brief!) note to the destination advising him to clean up his
act.
42 Maintain Outgoing Mail
RECEIVER TIMED OUT This indicates that the destination failed to RECEIVER TIMED OUT This indicates that the destination failed to
respond appropriately to some request from your BackMail. There
are two explanations.
The destination has rebooted his machine or killed BackMail while
on line.
There are a very small number of programs (badly written ones)
incompatible with the sort of multi-tasking that BackMail
performs in the background. If your destination starts running
one of these in the foreground while its BackMail is
communicating with yours then your BackMail will time out.
TERMINATED BY RECEIVER You can interrupt a BackMail transmission to TERMINATED BY RECEIVER You can interrupt a BackMail transmission to
make a voice call. If a destination does this to you while you
are sending a file, you will get this message in your DISPLAY
STATUS. If a destination that has called you does this, you will
see:
TERMINATED BY SENDER If BackMail loses communications with a TERMINATED BY SENDER If BackMail loses communications with a
destination for a reason it diagnosis as resulting from somehow
losing a phone connection it will give you this message
LINE BREAK ERROR BackMail does a very careful check of the LINE BREAK ERROR BackMail does a very careful check of the
reliability of all of its transmissions. If a block of incoming
code fails this check BackMail will get the transmitting BackMail
to resend it. If the incoming data repeatedly fails these tests
BackMail will terminate the call.
NOTE: These status line errors are for information only. In most NOTE: These status line errors are for information only. In most
cases BackMail will keep trying to deliver its mail, even if one
of these errors has appeared, subject to the usual constraints of
availability times. The exception is in the event that BackMail
has received a NO SPACE TO RECEIVE FILE from a destination, in has received a NO SPACE TO RECEIVE FILE from a destination, in
which case BackMail will not attempt to call that destination
again until you have MAINTAINED OUTMAIL and seen the message.
UPDATE PHONE DIRECTORY
This menu manages your BackMail phone directory. The phone directory
lists entries with their full, 40 character names, together with their
voice and data numbers.
When used as an autodialer, BackMail provides an easy method to dial
your calls and to build an expanding personal phone directory. (The
program's function as an auto-dialer and phone book for your voice
calls is discussed in chapter 16.) This Main Menu function is
provided so that you can view all of the numbers that you talk or send
BackMail to. But its primary use is to add or update information
about the destinations in your personal BackMail network.
VOICE AND DATA NUMBERS
Almost everyone in your phone list will have a voice number, a number
at which you can reach them for voice calls. The autodialer function
allows you to add a new voice number to the directory any time you
make a voice call.
The voice and data numbers may be the same but they need not be. When
you use BackMail's autodialler (Default Alt 2) to place a voice call
it will call the voice number. BackMail will use the data number for
sending messages or files. You can enter voice numbers for people you
do want to voice dial but who do not have a BackMail and you can have
destinations with BackMail, but not voice numbers.
Of course, some of the people in your directory will also have
BackMail; so they will have a data number as well, a number which the
program will call to deliver its mail. Often, individuals will use
the same number for their voice and data calls. But it is also
common, particularly in business settings, for users to have a
separate number for voice and data. BackMail can handle all of these
possibilities.
DIRECTORY LISTING
When you call Update Phone Directory, it shows you a list of all of
the phone numbers in your directory in alphabetical order.
44 Update Phone Directory
+-- NAME -------------------------- VOICE PHONE --- DATA PHONE -----+
| BackMail Central (902) 429-2811 |
| Albert Andrews 467-9876 |
| Bob Bright 4890 4891 * |
| Dale Gass 498-3984 498-3984 * |
| Dick Jones 423-9870 423-9870 |
| Harry Silver (212) 788-2720 (212) 788-2756 ||
| Fourth Floor 4206 |
| Peter K. Schotch 4409 4419 |
| Tom Vinci 435-3427 |
| Zebida Zumquat (414) 384-9984 (414) 384-9984 |
| ----------------- End of Phone directory --------------------- |
| |
| |
+-*=High Priority --#=Poll --*=Secure --*=Refuse return Mail -------+
The symbols beside some of the data entries indicate that they get
special handling by BackMail. Their meanings are explained below.
When presented with your phone directory list, use the arrow keys to
scroll the cursor bar to scroll through the list.
Enter will allow you to edit the selected entry.
Del will delete the selected entry from the directory.
Ins will add a new entry to the list.
Esc will return you to the Main Menu.
Alphabe Entering other characters from the alphabet will jump the
tic cursor forward to the next entry in the phone directory that
Look up begins with that letter.
ADDING A NEW BACKMAIL DESTINATION
Pressing Ins will allow you to add a new destination to your BackMail
directory. The first thing you will see is a display for entering the
necessary information for making voice calls to the destination.
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Name: |
| Voice phone: Ext: Prefix\Suffix:Long |
| This person does have a copy of BackMail |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Editing The currently selected data field is highlighted. You can
fields type the relevant information directly into that field or use
the up and down arrow keys to move from field to field.
If the program beeps at you when you try to leave a field, that means
that it wants you to hit Enter to confirm that the information in the
field you are leaving is correct.
Update Phone Directory 45
DESTINATION'S NAME
The first thing you will want to do is enter the name of the
destination. The full name can be up to 40 characters long. This is
the name you will see when you bring up BackMail's voice autodialer.
VOICE PHONE NUMBER
Simply type in the number of the destination you are adding. If you
are dialing a standard North American style number (3 digit Area Code
+ 7 digit number) you do not have to include hyphens or parentheses;
BackMail will insert these when you hit Enter.
The If you want your number to take a different format (say, a
phone longer or shorter area code) you should enter the area code
number in parenthesis and use a dash "-" if appropriate. For more
format information on the formatting of phone numbers see Appendix
A, Formatting phone numbers.
No need If you do not include an area code in the number, BackMail
to will assume that it has the local area code, that is, the
enter area code of your phone number as it appears in the BackMail
area Main Menu. Note that if this is a BackMail destination, it
code is not necessary to fill in the voice number. Leaving the
voice number blank will simply mean that the autodialer will not show
you a number for this destination.
PREFIX NAMES AND PREFIX NUMBERS
The next information to enter is the destination's prefix. A few
words about prefixes are in order. In some phone systems one must
dial "9" to get an outside line. One must always dial "1" to reach a
long distance number, and some users will have special prefixes that
charge calls to their credit cards or access economical long distance
services. To keep your screen from being cluttered with numbers,
BackMail allows you to enter commonly used prefix strings, and gives
them names. The three predefined names are:
Internal: For calls over an inter-office intercom line.
Local: For ordinary local calls.
Long: For long distance calls.
You can change these names and add up to five more, using the Phone
Prefixes option in the CHANGE SETUP Menu (described below); it is in
that menu that you set the numbers that will be used for these dif-
ferent kinds of destinations.
To set the appropriate prefix for your destination, move the
highlighted cursor bar to the prefix line and hit the ■+■ or ■-■ keys.
These will cycle you through the available prefixes.
46 Update Phone Directory
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Name: Alethic Software Inc |
| Voice Prefix: Intern |
+--+-------------------------------------------------+
| Name: Alethic Software Inc |
| Voice Prefix: Local |
+--+-------------------------------------------------+
| Name: Alethic Software Inc |
| Voice Prefix: Long |
+--+-------------------------------------------------+
| Name: Alethic Software Inc |
| Voice Prefix: *unset |
+-------------------------------------------------+
The "*unset" prefixes are ones that you have not defined using Change
Setup.
For more on how to set prefixes, see the entry on "Phone Prefixes"
under the CHANGE SETUP menu.
EXTENSIONS
This is a number of from one to four digits used in an office intercom
system. This is the number your BackMail will dial if the prefix of
the destination is "Intern".
Note: even with numbers which are reachable through extensions Note: even with numbers which are reachable through extensions
you should include the main switchboard number in destination's
"phone number" field. Note too that to call a number with an
extension you must know what its extension is. See the section in
appendix A, "Understanding Extension Numbers".
If you If you do not fill in this number but set the destination's
don't prefix as INTERN then BackMail will use the last four digits
include of the phone number in calling that destination.
an
extensi DOES THIS DESTINATION HAVE A BACKMAIL?
on If the destination you are adding has a BackMail, move the
bar cursor over the line that says "This person does not have a copy
of BackMail" and hit Enter. The line will change to "This person does
have a copy of BackMail" and the window will expand to allow you to
add information which is relevant to BackMail calls.
Update Phone Directory 47
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Name: |
| Voice phone: Ext: Prefix\Suffix:Long |
| This person does not have a copy of BackMail |
+----- +-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Name: |
| Voice phone:(902)424-6581 Ext: Prefix\Suffix:Long |
| This person does have a copy of BackMail |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Handle:Joe Smith Prefix\Suffix:Long |
| Data phone:(902)424-6580 Ext: |
| On line at:00:00 Off line at:00:00 Update:Auto |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Priority:normal Polled:No Script:none |
| Re-try calls: 3 times per hour at most |
| When calling: will allow return mail |
| Deliver mail: when calling or called |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
By default the data prefix, phone number, and extension will be
identical with the voice settings. You can change these if necessary
in the same way that you alter the voice settings.
HANDLE
The "handle" of a BackMail destination is a short (maximum 10
character) nickname which various BackMail menus will use to identify
the caller to you. For example, you will find destinations listed by
handle when you go to address outgoing mail or read your new mail. If
you see blank spaces beside your phone numbers when you go to address
mail that it is because you did not fill out the handle field for that
destination.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In BackMail I, handles were private. You could IMPORTANT NOTE: In BackMail I, handles were private. You could
be pretty sure that your destination would never see the handle
assigned to them. In BackMail II however, handles are used in
the construction of CC lists and might well be transmitted to the
destination having that handle. For this reason you should avoid
handles having an uncomplimentary or even uncharitable
connotation. You might also consider looking over your old phone
directory to see if you have done all that discretion demands.
AVAILABILITY TIMES
This number describes the interval during which this destination will
be available for BackMailing. Every user of BackMail declares his or
her own availability time, and every time they exchange BackMail their
programs exchange availability times. You set your own availability
time using the Change Setup menu option.
Ordinarily, then, the availability times that you see beside phone
numbers when your address your mail or look at your phone directory
will be the times that destination has declared itself to be available
for BackMailing. However, when you first enter a destination into
your directory you will have to set this yourself.
48 Update Phone Directory
Note that your BackMail will keep track of the availability times of
others but that all such 'bookkeeping' is taken care of during READ
NEW MAIL sessions. This means that if you change your availability
window you must send mail to the other BackMailers on your network
before they become aware of the change. It is not sufficient for them
to send mail to you.
Availability times are set by two numbers in ten-minute intervals.
For example:
09:00-16:50 From 9 am to 4:50 pm
21:00-23:10 From 9 pm to 11:10 pm
00:00-00:00 24 hours a day.
Obviously you should set a time at which you know the other person is
BackMailing during which to send your first piece of BackMail.
Note: BackMail will not attempt to call a destination except Note: BackMail will not attempt to call a destination except
during its availability time.
Time Availability times always refer to your local time zone.
zone What if the person you are calling is in a different time
correct zone? Don't worry, BackMail II automatically adjusts the
ions availability time of long distance calls to your local time.
What happens is that before BackMails exchange availability times they
compare the local times on their system clocks and adjust the values
accordingly. Obviously for all this to work properly it is very
important for you and the destinations that you connect with to have
your system clocks set to the correct local time.
Note that BackMail I does not do automatic time zone adjusting. If
you are communicating with destinations that are still using BackMail
I you will have to manually adjust availability times to allow for
time zones. (Perhaps you should give them a copy of BackMail II!)
AVAILABILITY UPDATE
When two BackMails communicate they exchange availability times. Your
BackMail notices when a destination's window has changed and updates
the phone directory entry automatically provided this field is set to
AUTO.
Locking There are circumstances however, in which you may not want
in an the user's availability time to be automatically updated.
Availab For example, suppose that you are in New York and want to use
ility BackMail to send mail to a destination in Los Angeles. You
Time would like BackMail to call after midnight (say, 00:00-06:00)
to save on long distance calls. However your Los Angeles destination
does a lot of BackMailing and has declared itself available 24 hours a
day. If the update field were set to AUTO this would mean that each
time you read mail from Los Angeles your BackMail would update its
availability time from after midnight to 24 hours a day (00:00-00:00).
Thereafter your BackMail would think it was okay to call L.A. anytime.
Update Phone Directory 49
If you press Enter on this field it will toggle to "Locked", in which
case the automatic update function will not be performed.
* PRIORITY
In this field you have a choice of assigning a high priority to a
destination. By hitting the ■+■ and ■-■ keys you can toggle this
value between "Normal" and "High" priorities.
Given a choice of two available destinations, BackMail will contact a
High priority destination first. Remember, priority is a relative
matter. So use the High Priority sparingly. If you assign all the
destinations in your list a High Priority, BackMail will have nothing
to choose between, and it will be as if no destination has priority.
# POLLED DESTINATIONS
Why There are times when you would prefer to call destinations to
poll regularly collect your mail rather than have those
destinations call you. Perhaps you are using your BackMail on a voice
line that gets a lot of incoming voice traffic and don't want BackMail
to answer the phone with a carrier sound. Or perhaps you want long
distance calls to be billed to your number.
Normally when you send a message to a destination it will deliver any
mail or files it has posted for you. Even if it is not calling you
because you are <suspended>, or unavailable as far as it is concerned. because you are <suspended>, or unavailable as far as it is concerned.
You can use polling to have BackMail call selected destinations to be
automatically called once per hour so that you can collect your mail.
To enable polling of a destination just hit Enter at the "Polled"
field. The symbol '#' appears beside polled destinations.
Polling Polling does not override availability:polling so the calls
and will start when the destination becomes available and end
Availab when it becomes unavailable.
ility
No actual message is transmitted to a polled destination and if the
destination has no mail for you a polling call will only take a few
seconds.
DESTINATION SCRIPTS
At this field you can attach a BackMail script to the destination and
BackMail will use that script to call it. The use of scripts and
BackMail script language are described in chapters 18-19. Pressing
Enter, ■+■, or ■-■ at this field will cycle you through each of the
scripts in your BackMail directory.
MAXIMUM RETRIES
This is the maximum number of times per hour which your BackMail will
attempt to contact this destination. As with availability times, this
number will be set by the destination itself and communicated to your
machine every time you contact that destination. However the first
time you contact a destination that number will have a default value
of 5. You can override this setting or the one which the destination
has sent you if you wish. To set your own availability time, the one
50 Update Phone Directory
you will broadcast to other BackMailers, use the main menu function
CHANGE SETUP.
Max Note: Setting a destination's priority to HIGH will cause Note: Setting a destination's priority to HIGH will cause
retry BackMail to ignore the MAX RETRIES setting when calling that
and destination. But it will still honor the destination's
High Availability time.
Priorit
y * ACCEPT RETURN MAIL
Phone directory:Accept return mailNormally when two BackMails
communicate they exchange all the mail they have for each other. How-
ever, in some cases (say, in long distance calls to a talkative
destination), you may not want to pay for the connect time involved in
receiving a message of unknown length from that destination.
This option tells BackMail whether or not to accept return messages
when it has delivered its mail. When this is set to "No", your
BackMail will deliver your mail to the destination but will not wait
to see if that destination has any mail for you.
To change this setting, simply move the bar cursor to the line which
says: "When calling, will accept return mail" and hit Enter. The
field will change to: "When calling, will not accept return mail". The
symbol '*' appears beside destinations for which you are refusing
return mail.
Accept Since the purpose of polling destinations is to collect any
return mail that they may have waiting for you, it would be
mail pointless to poll a destination but refuse return mail from
and it. For this reason polling and refusing return mail are
Polling mutually exclusive. When you turn one on the other is
automatically turned off.
* SECURE MAIL DELIVERY
When your BackMail receives a call, it checks to see if you have any
mail queued for that destination, and sends it when the caller has
finished transmitting. Your BackMail identifies callers by their
phone number which is transmitted during the initial 'handshaking'
when two BackMails first connect.
If you are transmitting sensitive data or are otherwise concerned to
make your transmission as secure as possible, you can mark a
destination as secure, at this field. If you press Enter the line
will change from: "Deliver mail: when calling or called" to "Deliver
mail: only when calling".
When a destination is declared secure, your BackMail will only deliver
files or messages you have composed to a destination when it has
called that destination's phone number. The symbol '*' appears beside called that destination's phone number. The symbol '*' appears beside
secure destinations.
Update Phone Directory 51
WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED...
...adding or entering a phone directory entry just hit Esc to return
to the phone directory list. New entries will be added to the
directory list based upon the destinations full name.
'AUTOMATIC' DIRECTORY UPDATES
When When you receive a message from another BackMailer who is not
someone currently in your directory, your BackMail will flag that
new destination as "unknown". This flag does not mean however destination as "unknown". This flag does not mean however
calls that literally nothing is known about this destination. Your
BackMail knows what can be parsed from the caller's ID string which
was passed to you during the session. In particular, you know the
caller's phone number (and if the area code is different from your
own, whether it is 'long') together with availability window (in terms
of the caller's local time in BackMail I, corrected to your local time
in BackMail II), the number of times per hour to retry, and whether
the caller will accept return mail. In other words you have enough
information to reply to any message from a caller marked 'unknown'. information to reply to any message from a caller marked 'unknown'.
If you elect the 'reply' option in response to reading the message
BackMail will display the phone directory form shown above with the
data number, availability window etc. already filled in, and invite
you to fill in such details as the name and handle.
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| THIS CALLER IS NOT IN YOUR PHONE DIRECTORY. WHY NOT ADD |
| THEM TO YOUR DIRECTORY NOW! |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
Once you do this, the information you have entered will be stored in
your directory and the next time you connect with this caller, they
will be properly identified.
'MERGING IN' OTHER PHONE DIRECTORIES
The There are circumstances in which you have obtained a BackMail
Pmerge phone directory from a third party, and you want to add the
utility entries in this new directory to your own. For this purpose,
Alethic provides a utility called PMERGE. Consult the "BackMail
utilities" section of this manual for details of its operation..
DELETING PHONE DIRECTORY ENTRIES
You can deleteaphonedirectoryentry simply by hitting Del. You will be
asked to confirm your intent (you might have hit Del instead of
PgDn!). If you answer Y the entry will disappear from your phone
directory.
If it is a BackMail destination, its absence may leave "holes" in your
BackMail address list. That is, the next time you go to address a
BackMail Message or file you may find it looks like this.
52 Update Phone Directory
+----------------------------------------------+
|All internal numbers |
|All local numbers |
| Albert A local 467-9876 18:00-00:00 |
| <** DELETED ** > |
| Charles W. local 498-3984 12:00-15:00|
| <** DELETED ** > |
| Harry S. long (212) 788-6620 05:00-13:00 |
+----------------------------------------------+
Now those <DELETED> marks are ugly and BackMail will clean them out of Now those <DELETED> marks are ugly and BackMail will clean them out of
its destination list the first chance it gets. But you have to give
it a chance.
The way it works is like this. BackMail uses your phone directory as
its index to all the destinations for its outgoing files, messages,
replies and forwards. In particular it remembers those destinations
in terms of their position in the phone directory.
When you delete an entry, BackMail leaves a space where that entry was
(unless it was at the bottom of the list). Those spaces show up as
those <DELETED>'s. Why doesn't BackMail just compress its list and those <DELETED>'s. Why doesn't BackMail just compress its list and
adjust its files? It can and it will but it can't do that while you
still have messages posted, otherwise it might do it while you are
online causing no end of confusion. (See our remarks above about
OUTMAIL maintenance while online).
BackMail won't clean out those <DELETED> destinations until it finds
that your mailbox files are empty. So here's what you should do, the
first chance you get:
- Use INMAIL and OUTMAIL MAINTAIN. Make sure that all of the
messages have been READ or SENT and that you have APPENDED
anything important to text files.
- Use the F6 function to clean out both your INMAIL and OUTMAIL
files.
- Exit back to the foreground.
The next time you load BackMail (either after turning on your computer
or after 'killing' and ) those <DELETED> marks will have disappeared. or after 'killing' and ) those <DELETED> marks will have disappeared.
CHANGE SETUP
+------Setup Menu---------+
| Availability time |
| CompatiBility switch |
| WelCome Unknown |
| Phone Dialing mode |
| LEtterhead |
| Select Groups |
| RIng to Answer |
| HotKeys |
| Lag time |
| Answer Mode |
| Notification |
| Data Only Line |
| Phone Prefixes/Suffixes |
| Screen Retrace handling |
| Script Names |
| Technical settings |
| Phone nUmber |
| Wait for dial tone |
| MaXimum Retry |
+-------------------------+
This function allows you to alter many of the parameters that affect
BackMail's operations. You should make sure these settings are
correct the first time you use BackMail.
As with all BackMail menus you can use the arrow keys to move the
cursor and use Enter to select that function; or you can hit the
single character that is highlighted in the function you wish to
select.
AVAILABILITY TIME
Use this function to declare your availability time. This is the time
during which you plan to have your machine up and running BackMail to
receive incoming files. Whenever two BackMailers communicate, the
programs automatically exchange availability times, these are
permanently stored with the caller's number in the program's phone
directory.
When you declare your availability time, you are in effect telling
other BackMails when you will be available to receive messages.
Normally, another BackMail will only attempt to reach you during the
period you have declared yourself available.
Availability times are set by two numbers in ten-minute intervals.
For example:
54 Change Setup
09:00-16:50 From 9 am to 4:50 pm
16:50-09:00 From 4:50 pm to 9 am
21:00-23:10 From 9 pm to 11:10 pm
00:00-00:00 24 hours a day.
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Currently, you are marked as being available |
| starting at 00:00. Enter new starting time, or |
| <+ if the time shown is correct: _ |
Enter the time that you normally expect to be turning your machine on
in the morning (or the evening, as the case may be).
| Currently, you are marked as being available |
| up until 00:00. Enter new ending time, or |
| <+ if the time shown is correct: _ |
+-----------------------------------------------+
Several factors are important to keep in mind when you are setting
your availability time: Remember that other BackMails' success at
communicating with you will depend upon how long you are available.
If you network with a thousand people but declare yourself available
from only 12:00-12:15, then a lot of BackMails will be trying to call
you in that fifteen minutes, and only a fraction will get through on
any given day. On the other hand, you should not declare yourself
available 24 hours a day (00:00-00:00) if you don't plan to have your
machine on for that time. Other BackMails will waste time trying to
deliver messages to you at odd hours and it will serve you right if
you pick up the phone at 2:27 AM and hear the sound of a BackMail
waiting for a carrier.
Try to be consistent in keeping to your BackMail availability time.
If you change your BackMail availability time, you can let everyone
you network with know about the change by addressing a brief note on
any subject to "All Local Numbers" and "All Internal Numbers". When
the messages are delivered, the destination BackMails will
automatically record your new availability time. This is not really
necessary, however; when they call you, they will receive notification
of your new availability time automatically. The optimum course of
affairs is to set your new availability times, and then leave your
machine available at both the new and the old times, for long enough
that most people with whom you would be in contact, will actually
either call you or be called by you.
You can use BackMail to send outgoing mail any time, whether or not it
is during your declared availability time. When your BackMail calls
other people in this circumstance, their BackMails will pass back to
you any mail their machines have stacked up waiting for you, if you
have permitted return mail when you set up their phone directory
entry. You may sometimes want to operate outside your declared
availability time if you have a lot of mail to go out and do not want
BackMail tied up with receiving incoming messages (although, of
Change Setup 55
course, unless you disable return mail, you may still be tied up with
receiving).
When you set your availability time you are telling other BackMails
when it is okay to call you. It does not affect your ability to call
other destinations. If your machine is on and it has mail for another
destination which is currently available, then your BackMail will try
to reach that destination. Availability and Sending
Availab Thus suppose you set your availability to 09:00 to 10:00.
ility One of your friends sets their availability to 09:00 to
and 11:00. That means that they will call you only between 09:00
answeri and 10:00 and your BackMail will call them from 09:00 to
ng the 11:00.
phone.
This can be useful if there is a period of the day when you regularly
do a lot of sending and do not want your phone tied up with incoming
calls.
Thus if you send your days receipts to head office at the end of each
day from 4:30 p.m to 5:00, you might make declare yourself
unavailable during this period.
By using the CHANGE SETUP function, "Answer Mode" (see below) you can
set BackMail so that it will only answer the phone with carrier during
your availability time.
Availab A destinations availability time tells other BackMail's when
ility to call. But a user's availability time is in local time.
and What if the call is long distance?
Time
Zones Don't worry. When BackMail's exchange availability times they
automatically adjust availability time's to take account of time zone
differences. The way it works is that the BackMails tell each other
what their local times are according to the computer's internal clock.
The adjustment is based on the difference between the two local times.
Thus suppose you are in New York and are BackMailing with someone in
Los Angeles. You both have your availability times set to 9:00 to
17:00. But there is a three hour time difference. That means that
the Los Angeles destination will appear in your phone directory with
an availability time of:
12:00-20:00
While your availability would appear on the Los Angeles BackMail as:
6:00-14:00
Reflecting the time zone difference.
Time zone adjustment is another good reason to insure that your system
clock has the right time.
56 Change Setup
COMPATIBILITY SWITCH
Keyboar One of the most common sources of difficulty in running
d several programs at once in a DOS environment is competition
problem between various programs for control of the keyboard. The
s symptom of this kind of conflict is when the keyboard "locks
out" one program, denying it use of the keyboard. It might be that
with some foreground applications you will find that BackMail does not
respond to its defined hot keys, or when it does BackMail does not
respond to the keyboard.
If you experience such problems changing the compatibility switch
should help. The switch controls the way in which BackMail handles
keyboard input, by changing it from "off" to "on" or vice versa you
may find that your conflicts go away.
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| If you are experiencing problems with keyboard lockout |
| by a foreground program or other problems involving |
| incompatibility with other TSR programs, changing this |
| this switch may help. |
| The compatibility switch is currently:off |
| To change this to on, press<y>; |
| any other key will leave it as it is now. |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
Note though that there are limits on what the compatibility switch
will do. Because you will be likely be running BackMail in the
background of many applications you my find that while some
compatibility setting works with each program, there is no setting
which works with all of them.
Adjusti Don't despair! Because the problem of keyboard conflict is
ng your so commonplace you will likely find that your other software
applica has optional ways of handling keyboard input. Often this is
tions controlled by a '/K' option on the command line. Check your
softwar applications manual and experiment. You will almost
e certainly find some combination of settings for that make all
your applications compatible.
This applies as well in case where you experience conflict in keyboard
management with other background (TSR) programs, here though you may
also want to experiment with the order in which you start up BackMail
and other TSR's. BackMail is not "order sensitive", it does not have
to be the first TSR you load but switching the run order of TSR's will
often remove conflicts.
DOS 4? Depending upon your system configuration you may experience
difficulties in getting BackMail to respond to its hot keys at the DOS
prompt. See the trouble shooting section of this manual for a
description of how to solve this problem.
Change Setup 57
WELCOME UNKNOWN
Welcomi When someone calls your BackMail who does not appear in your
ng new phone directory, BackMail labels them an "unknown" caller.
callers (If you reply to them BackMail will invite you to add them to
your phone directory.)
Since the callers are new to you, you won't have any messages posted
for them. However you can use this function to name a file which will
be sent to any new callers to your BackMail.
Your welcome file can be any sort of a file. You might want it to be
a simple text file which contains a welcoming message to new callers
and perhaps, gives them voice or fax numbers.
But welcome files have many other uses. For example if you are in the
software business you might make the most recent release or
enhancement to your software your welcome file. That way you could
deliver your software to your customers just by inviting them to
BackMail you. In another business application, you might use your
welcome file for advertisements.
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Your WELCOME file is a file automatically sent to any |
| caller whose number does not already appear in your phone |
| directory. The file must appear in your BackMail directory. |
| Your current welcome file is: |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Note that callers to your BackMail will get the welcome file so long
as they are not in your phone directory. You can add them to your
phone directory by replying to them from Read New Mail or MAINTAIN
INMAIL. Once the number has been added to your phone directory you
will not send them the welcome file.
When BackMail only checks to see if it has a welcome file to send
welcome when it starts up from BGROUND.COM. That means that if you
file enter the name of a welcome file under change setup it will
takes not automatically start sending the file to unknown callers,
effect You will have to Kill and restart BackMail again. Otherwise
your welcome file will be in place when you next run BackMail.
Display Display status will remind you that you have a welcome file
Status posted:
File MYFILE.COM will be posted to unknown callers.
PHONE DIALING MODE
This function allows you to select pulse or tone dialing as the
default method by which BackMail will place its calls. If you are in
doubt as to which you need, try placing a voice call using BackMail
dial out.
58 Change Setup
+-----------------------------------------------+
| At present, we place calls using touch tones. |
| to change this to dial pulses, press <y>; |
| any other key will leave it as it is now. |
+-----------------------------------------------+
LETTERHEAD
This function lets you enter a 63 character letterhead that will
automatically appear at the top of all of your outgoing messages.
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Your letterhead is a text string, less than 64 characters, which |
|is added to the start of every message you send out. Typically, it|
|says who you are. Your current letter head is: |
|<empty> |
|Enter a new letterhead (65 characters maximum, <Esc> no change, |
| <-+ for no letterhead or when finished: |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
SELECT GROUPS
This function allows you to define groups of destinations in your
phone directory and designate them as groups. When a group has been
defined you can post a message to everyone in the group with a single
keystroke.
You can define up to six different groups. When you select this
function you will be shown a list of the groups you have currently
defined. Initially, these will all appear as "unset".
+-Group Names-+
|Friends |
|Romans |
|Countrymen |
|unset |
|unset |
|unset |
+-------------+
Pick any slot for the name of the new group you want to define and hit
Enter.
You will then be shown a window which allows you to enter the name of
an new group or change the name of an old one. If you want to leave
the name unchanged just hit Enter
+------------------------------------------------------------+
|The name of this group is currently: unset |
|Enter a new name or <-+ if the current name is acceptable. |
| Friends |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
Change Setup 59
Delet- If you wish just to delete a group, you can do so here by
ing hitting F1 instead of entering the group name. Note that
groups just typing in a blank name here will not remove the group,
it will just give you a group with a blank name.
Defin- Once you have specified the name of the group you will be
ing the shown a list of the destinations currently in your BackMail
members phone directory.
of a
group Move the cursor bar and hit Enter to select or deselect
+-----------------------------------+
| Alethic Long (902)477-9492 |
| >PKS Local 477-9492 |
| T Vinci Intern 7593 |
| Home Local 422-4595 |
| verrell Long (617)934-2177 |
| TEXT Long (617)479-1074 |
| Braybrook Local 475-9998 |
| >MacIntosh Local 533-9494 |
| Home Local 343-4444 |
| Toronto Long (416)933-3393 |
| NY office Long (212)333-4949 |
| >D Nelson Long (604)333-3939 |
| J Locke U.K. (653)999-383 |
| Franz W.Germ (22222)-1212 |
| B. Berkely U.K. (333)12-33333 |
| Shabata Japan (33)33333-22 |
+--------------------------- More -+
Using members of the group. The selected members will be
groups highlighted and will have a '>' mark beside them. highlighted and will have a '>' mark beside them.
When you have selected all the members you wish to be in this group
hit Esc. BackMail will return you to the Change Setup Menu.
You can change the members of a group at any time by using the group
select function.
You can have as many members in a group as you wish. Note though that
changes in group membership are only written permanently into your
phone directory file when you exit the BackMail Menu and return to
your foreground application.
When you have defined a group its name will appear at the top of your
destination dialing directory when you address your messages or files.
Thus if the groups you have selected are "Friends", "Romans" and
"Countrymen" your destination list will show these groups just below
the entries for "all local numbers" and "all internal numbers". By
selecting the "Friends" group and hitting return you message or file
would be automatically addressed to all the destinations you have
designated as members of this group.
60 Change Setup
The relevant entries will all be highlighted. After selecting a group
you may decide that you don't want to send a message to a particular
member of the group, or want to send it to someone not in the group.
Move the cursor bar and select/deselect particular destinations as you
wish.
RING TO ANSWER
By default, BackMail will pick up the phone on the first ring. This
option allows you to increase the number to up to four rings.
+------------------------------------------+
| BackMail currently answers the phone |
| after detecting 1 ring(s) |
| If this value is unsatisfactory, |
| please enter a new one(1-4): |
+------------------------------------------+
HOT KEYS
"Hot keys" are keys that are used to call BackMail from the background
to present the BackMail main menu, dial out for voice calls, or to
deactivate/reactivate BackMail operation.
The default settings for these keys are special function keys, Alt 1,
Alt 2 and Alt 3.
This function allows you to reassign these keys. To use, select the
key assignment you want to change and hit Enter. The program will then
ask you to hit the new hot key for the selected function.
+-------------- Hot Keys ----------------+
| Main menu hot key <Alt-1> |
| Phone dialer hot key <Alt-2> |
| Deactivate/Reactivate hot key <Alt-3> |
+----------------------------------------+
You can assign any function key, Alt or Ctrl key combination you like.
Try to pick hot keys that are not used by the programs that you will
normally be running on top of BackMail.
+-----------------------------------------+
|Press the new main menu key: |
+-----------------------------------------+
LAG TIME
How In its normal ("assume data") mode of operation, BackMail
quickly answers the phone for you and notifies you if the call is a
does voice call. When someone calls your BackMail during a period
your in which it is answering (see "answer mode" below), BackMail
modem will instruct your modem to pick up the phone and issue a
detect carrier tone. If BackMail doesn't get a response to the
carrier carrier tone within a certain period of time it will treat
the call as a voice call. This period of time is your lag time.
Different modems can take varying times to match carriers with a
calling modem so you should adjust your lag time accordingly.
Change Setup 61
What BackMail will do when the lag time has elapsed without receiving
a carrier response will depend upon how you have BackMail set up.
- If you are running BackMail on a Data Only line (see below), then
BackMail will just hang up after it has waited the lag time
without a response.
- If you are using BackMail on a voice line (and you are not
running UNATTENDED) then BackMail will conclude, after lag time
seconds, that it is a voice caller and it will "ring" your
computer and put up a voice call notification on the screen.
+---- VOICE CALL DETECTED ---+
| Please pick up the phone |
| and press any key |
+----------------------------+
- If you are running BackMail in UNATTENDED mode (see the chapter - If you are running BackMail in UNATTENDED mode (see the chapter
7, MAIN MENU, for a full explanation), then BackMail assumes that
there is no one available to take a voice call and hangs up after
lag time seconds without a carrier response.
How long your lag time should be is entirely dependant upon your modem
hardware; typically, the better your modem, the quicker it will be to
detect the carrier. For the convenience of your voice callers, you
will want to keep the lag time as short as your modem makes possible.
The permissible range is from 3 to 45 seconds. Most modems will take
less than 10 seconds when properly configured. Note that this time is
counted from the moment the ring is detected on the incoming call.
To find the shortest lag time your modem will sustain, start off by
setting your lag as low as possible (3 secs). If this is too low, then
BackMail will mis-identify incoming BackMail calls as voice calls.
Even when BackMail notifies you that you have a voice call, it
continues to check the modem to see if a carrier has been detected.
If it discovers that there is a carrier, it will immediately take over
the call and replace its voice call notification with:
+-------------------------------------------+
| Sorry! It wasn't a voice call after all. |
| Oh, well; anyone can make an honest |
| mistake. (press a key:) |
+-------------------------------------------+
If you see this message, then you should increase your LAG TIME.
62 Change Setup
ANSWER MODE
Limitin In its default mode BackMail will answer the phone with a
g the carrier so long as the program is running and you have not
period deactivated (See chapter 7) the program. Changing this
when option allows you to set BackMail so that it will answer the
BackMai phone only during your own declared availability time.
l
answers
the
phone
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| BackMail will currently answer the phone at all times when |
| the program is not SUSPENDED. |
| To change this to answer the phone only during your |
| Availability time. (Which is currently declared to |
| be from 23:20 to 00:00), press <y>; |
| any other key will leave it as it is now. |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
This option does not affect BackMail's dialing out to deliver mail.
Unless BackMail is deactivated the program will continue to call
other BackMails during their Availability times.
Thus, for example, if you are running BackMail in an office
environment you might set your Availability time from 12:00 to 13:00.
This would mean that other BackMailers would attempt to call you only
during lunch hour. Using this feature BackMail would answer the phone
only during this period but keep BackMail on all day so that it would
call out to other BackMailers when they were available.
NOTIFICATION
+---------------------+
| You have new mail |
| -- press a key -- |
+---------------------+
Telling When Notification is ON, BackMail will tell you when you have When Notification is ON, BackMail will tell you when you have
you received mail by placing this message on the screen.
when
you
have
new
mail.
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Immediate notification on receipt of new mail is |
| currently enabled. To change this to disabled, press <y>;|
| any other key will leave it as it is now. |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
The message will disappear as soon as you hit a key. When
notification is OFF you will have to call up the main menu to see if
you have new mail.
Change Setup 63
If the BackMail main menu is up then you will see a "New Mail" notice If the BackMail main menu is up then you will see a "New Mail" notice
flash at the bottom of the menu screen. The notification menu will not
appear.
DATA ONLY LINE
+----------------------------------------------------+
|When answering the phone BackMail will currently |
|accept voice calls and ask you to answer |
|the phone (if you ar in ATTENDED mode). |
|To change this to hang up on voice calls and only |
|accept data traffic, press <y>; |
|any other key will leave it as it is now. |
+----------------------------------------------------+
PHONE PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
This function allows you to set the dialing prefixes BackMail uses to
place its calls.
+--- Phone Prefix/Suffixes -------+ _
| Intern |
| Local 9, + phone number |
| Long 9,1 + area code |
| *unset |
| *unset |
| *unset |
| *unset |
| *unset |
+---------------------------------+
The left hand column shows the names for the prefixes; the numbers
appear on the right. The illustration to the right shows the prefixes
for an installation where one must dial "9" to reach an outside line
and 1 for long distance.
When you enter a new telephone address into your telephone directory,
you will be prompted to set the appropriate prefix for that number.
You may change any of these prefixes, and add more, up to eight
different prefixes, e.g. for credit card, MCI, Sprint numbers and the
like.
The Each prefix is associated with a name. The pre-defined
name of prefixes are.
the
prefix Intern For intra-office calls over an in-house phone line Intern For intra-office calls over an in-house phone line
Local For local calls Local For local calls
Long For long distance calls Long For long distance calls
To add or alter a prefix, position the cursor bar over the relevant
prefix and hit Enter
64 Change Setup
You will then be asked for the name of this prefix. This is a six
character label which will be used in the phone directory and dial out
menu.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Phone prefix/Suffix number 4: current name is: *unset |
| Enter new name (max 6 chars) or enter <+ to leave unchanged: |
| MCI_ |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Next you enter the prefix number itself. You can tell BackMail to
switch between Pulse or Tone dialing numbers within a prefix by typing
a T or a P at the appropriate position in the prefix; also, you can
use commas, which will cause a two-second pause for each comma. 'W'
and '@' are also permitted, with standard modems these cause the modem
to wait for a second dial tone or wait for 5 seconds of silence. Other
miscellaneous punctuation and spacing will be ignored.
|Enter new string (Max 20) or enter <+ to leave unchanged: |
| ,12345678 |
Next you will asked whether the string should be treated as a phone
prefix, or a suffix.
| |
|Should this string <P>receed or <F>ollow the phone number.? |
| |
Prefix If you wish the string you are defining to be sent to the
or phone after the phone number is dialed you should enter "P".
suffix? If you want the string to be sent after the phone number,
enter "F".
Prefix Next you will be asked what type of phone prefix or suffix
types you are defining.
| Enter prefix/suffix type <L>ONG, <N>ORMAL or |
|<I>nternal. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
In defining the type of a prefix you are telling BackMail how to
format the phone number with the string you have defined.
If the string you are defining (",12345678" in our example) is to be
used as a prefix then the different types would format the dialing of
the phone number as follows.
INTERNAL: ,12345678 + ext number
NORMAL: ,12345678 + phone number
LONG: ,12345678 + (area code) + phone number
Change Setup 65
In the case of suffixes the formatting is slightly different. The
suffix string, of course, will follow the phone number. Defining the
type tells BackMail whether or not to use the destination's area code,
extension number or 7 digit format. You will also want the suffixed
phone number to bear whatever prefix is required to place a long,
local or internal call. So in formatting a suffix string BackMail will
look to your definitions of the predefined, long, local and prefix
strings to decide what goes before the phone number.
So, for example, suppose that you were in an office where you had to
dial "9" followed by a pause to reach an outside line. To dial long
distance you would, of course, have to dial "9,1". In that case you
would should have entered these strings for the "local" and "long"
prefixes. In that case your prefix list would look like the example at
the beginning of this section. Now you are defining a fourth suffix,
which you are calling "MCI" and have entered as ",12345678". Now
depending upon what type you give to the suffix you will get the
following results.
INTERNAL: ext number + ,12345678
NORMAL: 9, + phone number + ,12345678
LONG: 9,1 + (area code) + phone number + ,12345678
Supposing that you were defining "MCI" so that long distance calls
prefixed MCI would be charged to a credit card number you would
obviously declare the "MCI" extension to be of the type LONG.
In every case, once you have defined your prefix, BackMail will show
you exactly what format the prefix you have defined will use. The
example below gives some idea of what sort of formats are possible.
+--- Prefixes/Suffixes -------------------------------------+
| Intern |
| Local 9, + phone number |
| Long 9,1 + (area code) + phone number |
| MCI 9,1 + (area code) + phone number + ,12345678 |
| ROLM 1234 + ext number |
| Watson phone number + 99,W9 |
| MT&T 09876543210987654321 + (area code) + phone number |
| PC-V ext number + 5555 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
For more about extension numbers see Appendix A: Understanding
extension numbers.
SCREEN RETRACE HANDLING
Elimin- Use this function if you see snow or flicker on your screen
ating when BackMail's menus or its clock is on the screen. Having
Screen this function "ON" will eliminate the snow associated with
Flicker some color graphics adapters.
66 Change Setup
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Selecting wait for retrace eliminates screen snow on the IBM color |
| Graphics adapter, at the cost of somewhat slower screen refreshing |
| to change this to enabled, press <y>; |
| any other key will leave it as it is now. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
If you don't have such problems, leave this "OFF" so that BackMail can
do its screen handling without wasting microseconds on snow removal.
SCRIPT NAMES
Add a This function allows you to add dial out scripts to BackMail.
script Scripts and the BackMail Script language are described in
name to detail in Chapters 18-19.
Back-
Mail TECHNICAL SETTINGS
Special This function is used for setting infrequently changed
operat- program parameters. See Appendix B for the details.
ing Technical Settings can be adjusted to control:
set-
tings - modem reset and dial out strings
- screen auto dialer parameters
- fine tuning BackMail's Screen colors
- The interpretation of modem command strings
- Modem response time
- Video overwrite modes
- Default script settings
See Appendix B for a detailed description of Technical settings.
PHONE NUMBER
Chang- Use this function to tell BackMail your phone number. You
ing should do this the very first time you use BackMail (if the
your program doesn't ask you first). This is essential, because
phone your phone number is your return address for all BackMail
number. mail. It is how the systems you are talking to identify you
for the purposes of replying, forwarding and answering your mail to
them.
When you enter your phone number be sure to include your area code.
BackMail expects an area code to be associated with every number.
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| ** WARNING ** If you change your phone number, you will |
|have to register this program again. Continue (y/n)? |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
Change Setup 67
NOTE: When you enter your phone number using this function, you are NOTE: When you enter your phone number using this function, you are
also telling the program that you are a new user of the program. New
users are asked to register their copies of the program.
+--------------------------------------------------+
| Please enter your phone number |
| hit <-+ when finished |
| - |
+--------------------------------------------------+
phone When prompted, enter your complete phone number, including
number your area code. If your phone number is not in standard North
format American format (i.e. three digit area code, 7 digit number)
then you should see appendix A, "Phone number format").
+--------------------------------------------------+
| Do you have an extension number? (y/n) |
| - |
+--------------------------------------------------+
When you have entered your phone number BackMail will ask you if you
have an extension number. Generally speaking it is only worth while to
add your extension number if there are other BackMails on the same
phone number with which you will be exchanging mail.
Telling Note that if you enter an extension number then any BackMail
Back- that call's your machine must include your extension number
Mail as part of its information about you. Otherwise you will not
about be able to exchange mail.
your
exten- For more information see "Understanding Extension numbers" in
sion Appendix A.
number
WAIT FOR DIAL TONE
Select this function if your modem supports a wait for dial tone
feature. When this mode is active, BackMail will instruct your modem
to listen for a dial tone before dialing out its Data calls. Turning
this mode on will make BackMail more compatible with the use of your
phone for voice calls.
Note: For many modems, you should not use WAIT FOR DIAL TONE unless Note: For many modems, you should not use WAIT FOR DIAL TONE unless
your modem is set up in parallel with your modem. Otherwise when
BackMail picks up your phone to listen for a dial tone it will cut off
your voice calls.
Some modems will only use wait for dial tone properly if you use
extended response codes. These are usually set by an "X" setting (X1 -
Xn). You can alter your "X" setting by changing TECH setting number 4
under CHANGE SETUP. Getting BackMail to properly respond to extended
codes may require you to enter appropriate response values in Tech
setting 50-60. (See appendix # below).
68 Change Setup
Some Modems vary in their ability to distinguish dial tones from
modems human speech. Thus you may find that a "bargain" modem
can't sometimes tries to dial out over your voice conversation.
tell When the modem picks up the phone to listen for dial tone you
voices may experience a click and perhaps a drop in volume of the
from line. Generally speaking good quality modems are
dial unobtrusive. With most modems you can control the length of
tones time they will wait for dial tones with appropriate command
strings. See Appendix B, below for a discussion of modem setup
strings.
MAXIMUM RETRY
How When one BackMail calls another but fails to get through
many because the line was busy it will try again. How many times
times BackMail will call depends upon the "max retry" settings that
per appears beside a destination in the phone directory.
hour
should In setting your Maximum Retry time you are setting the time
other you would like others to attempt to call your BackMail per
people hour of your Availability. This value will be sent to other
try to BackMailers along with your availability time.
call
you.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|You are currently telling other BackMails to attempt to contact you |
|no more than 5 times per (available) hour. |
|If this value is unsatisfactory, please enter a new one (1-20): |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
What What your maximum retry value should be depends upon many
should factors. If you have your BackMail up rarely and have only a
your couple of destinations that you communicate with then you
retry should probably keep this number low, perhaps as low as 1.
value That way other BackMail's won't waste their time or annoy
be? others in your home or office by calling you when there is no
BackMail running to take the call.
On the other hand if you have a large number of callers, or just a
busy phone line, you will want to have this number high, say 20.
Limited The limit on Retries applies only to call attempts that do
Retries not get through. You can send any number of messages to a
does destination no matter what its maximum retry time.
not
limit Maximum retries controls the number of unsuccessful call
success attempts that can be made per hour to a destination. You can
ful reset the call counters on all of your outgoing messages by
connect accessing the OUTMAIL MAINTAIN function. After you access
ions OUTMAIL maintain the retry counters for all your destinations
Overrid are set back to 0.
ing
Retries
VOICE CALLS
VOICE CALLS
BackMail contains an autodialing feature which you can use to make
voice calls. The autodialer will dial a number from the screen or your
BackMail phone directory or it will allow you to enter a number by
hand. The facilities for doing this are bound up in the program
PGROUND.COM.
PLACING A VOICE CALL
Dialing To place press the dial out hot key (default Alt 2).
from
the BackMail will first search the screen of your computer to see
screen if it can find a phone number to dial. If it cannot find a
string it recognizes as a phone number it will immediately bring up
your phone directory.
So far as BackMail is concerned a phone number is any string of digits
appearing on a single line which contains a minimum number of digits
(by default 7 digits) and certain special characters (by default
'(',')','-'). You can change the minimum number of digits and the
phone delimiter characters by adjusting two Technical settings under
the CHANGE SETUP menu.
If BackMail finds phone numbers on your screen it will highlight the
first it finds and offers you several options:
Enter will dial the highlighted number directly.
F1 will allow you to add the highlighted number to your BackMail
phone directory before you dial it.
■8■■2■ The up and down arrows allow you to select the next or
previous on screen phone numbers.
<--> If you do not want to dial the area code portion of the phone
number selected the left and right arrows allow you to change the
left hand range of the selected number.
Space If you don't want to dial from the screen, hitting Space
will immediately bring up a list of your phone directory.
Esc will abort your voice dialout session and return you to your
foreground application.
70 Voice Calls
+---------------------------------------------+
| Hit <+ to dial selected number |
| to adjust range of number to dial |
| to move selection up or down |
| F1 to add screen number to phone directory |
| Hit <Space> to bring up phone directory |
| Hit <Esc> to quit |
+---------------------------------------------+
DIALING FROM YOUR PHONE DIRECTORY
You will be presented with your personal phone directory. This
directory includes all of the BackMail destinations as well as any
voice destinations you have entered.
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Select a number from the list below |
| Press <SPACE> to enter a number directly |
+- Press <+ to dial number ---- Press <ESC> to quit--------+
| Acme Computer Sales local 499-9832 |
| Bob Bright local 340-3847 |
| Charles Banbridge intern 4353 |
| C.E.O. Mr. Braybrooke intern 9764 |
| Dave Nelson long (604) 432-9848 |
| Dave Jones intern 3343 |
| Davidson Donald long (988) 323-9999 |
| Frank Jackson local 384-3487 |
| General Information local 411 |
| Hotstuff Sporting Goods local 398-3838 |
+- | or PgUp to scroll list up - | or PgDn to scroll down -+
Phone numbers are listed, alphabetically according to the 40
character name you have given the destination.
PgUp PgDn will jump you forward or backward five entries in the
directory.
<-+ Will dial the selected number
Space Will prompt you to enter a number by hand.
If you do not find the number you want in your phone directory hit
Space to enter the number by hand.
ENTERING NUMBERS BY HAND
After you have brought up the autodialer (Alt 2) you can get to this
point right away by hitting Space twice.
Use the BackMail turns on the Numlock key on your keyboard so you can
keypad use the numeric key pad on your keyboard to enter a number.
Voic Calls 71
+-------------------------------------------+
| Enter number to dial. +, - change prefix,|
| <+ when complete, |
| <Esc> to exit without dialling: |
| Local _ |
+------NumLock------------------------------+
Set the As well as entering the phone number you will also want to
prefix tell BackMail what prefix or suffix to use when dialing this
voice number. hitting ■+■ or ■-■ will cycle through the prefixes
Intern, Local, Long and any other prefixes or suffixes you have
defined under Change Setup.
BackMail will handle the number you enter here using its standard
conventions: If you do not include an area code, BackMail will assume
the number is within your area code. If you want to dial a non-North
American number format you should format the number using '(',')' and
'-'.(See appendix A, entering phone number).
Hit the Enter key when you have finished entering the number. Esc will
abort your autodialer session.
Enter will dial. Esc key will abandon the dialout request.
ADDING A NUMBER TO YOUR PHONE DIRECTORY
If you have entered the number yourself BackMail will ask you if you
want to add the number to your phone directory.
+----------------------------------+
|Do you want to add that number |
| to your phone directory [y/n] ?_ |
+----------------------------------+
If you respond by hitting Y, the program will ask you for a name of
this destination.
+----------------------------------------+
| Enter the name you want attached to |
| this number (maximum 40 characters): |
|_ |
+----------------------------------------+
Enter the name which you will remember this person by. This is the
name that will appear in the phone directory from now on; it will be
sorted alphabetically. When you are finished entering the name, press
Enter.
WHEN BACKMAIL DIALS OUT
When BackMail dials out it turns on the speaker of your modem so that
you can hear the number being dialed. If are dialing an entry from the
phone directory or an entry you have just added to the directory
BackMail will show you the name of the destination it is dialing. If
you are dialing a number from the screen, BackMail will just show you
the number.
72 Voice Calls
+------------------------------+
|BackMail is now dialing |
|Bob Martin (office) |
|When finished, pick up the |
|phone and press the space bar.|
+------------------------------+
Wait After dialing is complete you can pick up the phone and hit a
till key to complete the dialing process. You may want to wait to
dialing hear someone answer the phone over your modem. In either case
is com- it is important to wait until the dialing is complete and you
plete! have picked up the phone before you hit the Space. Hitting
Space gets BackMail to tell the modem to hang up the phone. If you do
this before dialing is complete you may not get through to your
destination.
WHEN THE DIALER IS FINISHED YOUR CALL
When your voice call has been dialed BackMail will go away to allow
you full use of your computer while you are on the phone.
IF BACKMAIL IS USING THE PHONE
It may happen that at the time you press Alt 2, BackMail will be in
the middle of communicating with another BackMail. In that case, after
you select the number to dial out, the program will ask permission to
complete its call.
+--------------- BackMail is On Line ----------------+
| BackMail is currently on line exchanging data |
| Press Ctrl+C to interrupt the data exchange |
| and proceed with your voice call. |
| or |
| Press any other key to postpone your voice call. |
| (BackMail will let you know when the line is free) |
+----------------------------------------------------+
Abort- Pressing Ctrl C will make BackMail abort its current exchange
ing a of data. If someone is calling you they would see <TERMINATED of data. If someone is calling you they would see <TERMINATED
data BY RECEIVER> in their DISPLAY STATUS window. Don't worry BY RECEIVER> in their DISPLAY STATUS window. Don't worry
call to about interrupting BackMail in the middle of a call. If it
make a doesn't finish its exchange of mail in one call, it will
voice deliver it at a later time. You won't lose any mail. When
call you hit Ctrl C BackMail will proceed with a normal
autodialing session.
If you decide not to interrupt BackMail in the course hit a key
indicating that you are prepared to wait, BackMail will complete its
current data transmission and as soon as it completes its call will
pop up a window telling you that the phone is free and inviting you to
place your voice call.
Voic Calls 73
+-----------------------------------------------+
| BackMail has completed its data transmission |
| If you wish to place your voice call now |
| please press <y> |
| any other key to quit |
+-----------------------------------------------+
If you enter Y now, BackMail will bring up the autodialler as if you
had hit Alt 2.
RECEIVING VOICE CALLS
When you are running BackMail you should let BackMail answer the
phone. If you run BackMail consistently you will probably want to
turn the ring on your phone down or off.
When your modem detects an incoming call BackMail will instruct it to
pick up the phone and generate a carrier. If it does not detect a
carrier in a certain period of time (this is your LAG TIME setting,
see CHANGE SETUP) it will conclude that you have a voice call.
BackMail will "ring" the speaker on your computer and put a message on
the screen.
+--- Voice Call Detected ---+
| Please pick up the phone, |
| then press any key |
+---------------------------+
Pick up When you hit a key after picking up the phone, BackMail will
the cut the modem out of the circuit and allow you to use your
phone computer while you are on line. Be sure to pick up the phone
first! before you hit the key, otherwise the modem will hang up on
your caller.
You have full use of your computer while making your voice call.
FROM THE CALLER'S POINT OF VIEW
Someone who is placing a voice call to a BackMail number will hear a
high pitch carrier signal until you are notified by BackMail that you
have a voice call and pick up the phone.
It would be very nice if BackMail could turn the carrier signal off
when it has decided that the incoming call is from a voice call,
unfortunately there is no reliable way to do this with a normal modem
(Lord knows we've tried!). So as a courtesy to your callers, it's a
good idea to respond to voice calls with some alacrity.
Answeri If you have placed BackMail in UNATTENDED mode you have told
ng the program that you are not available for voice calls. In
Unatten that case BackMail will pick up the phone and generate a
ded carrier for just long enough to decide whether you are
getting a voice or a data call (This period is your "Lag time", see
CHANGE SETUP). In UNATTENDED mode it will hang up as soon as it
decides that the incoming call is a voice call. As a courtesy to your
74 Voice Calls
voice callers, it is good idea to keep your lag time as short as
possible.
People who haven't used BackMail sometimes worry that they will lose
incoming callers who will hang up when they hear the carrier. In our
experience this doesn't happen as much as you might fear; many
genuinely weird things can happen when you dial into conventional
phone switchboards and answering systems, and a few seconds of whistle
don't seem to drive anyone away.
You may find that the program tells you that you have a voice call but
then, when you pick up nobody is there. Or it may be that after
telling you a voice call has come in, you get this message:
+--- Voice Call Detected ---+
| Please pick up the phone, |
| then press any key |
+--+-------------------------------------+
| It's not a voice call, after all. |
| Well, anyone can make an honest |
| mistake. Sorry! (press a key:) |
+-------------------------------------+
Increas The problem in this case is that your lag time is set too
e your low. You can prevent this by increasing your lag time using
lag the CHANGE SETUP menu. On the other hand, if this never
time. happens to you, you may be able to reduce your modem's lag
time so that you get quicker notification of voice calls.
USING BACKMAIL ON VOICE LINES
If there is going to be a voice connection there has to be a carrier
signal, but that can certainly be annoying to voice callers. If you
want to use BackMail on a voice line we recommend the following:
Use An- Set your availability time to a period when there is no
swer person around to answer the phone anyway: after hours or at
Mode & lunch time. Then use the Answer Mode function in CHANGE
Poll. SETUP to tell BackMail to answer the phone with carrier only
during these off hours periods. At the same time you can set BackMail
to poll destinations that you want to keep in touch with. That way you
can collect your mail without having to be called.
Hardwar Another alternative is to consider a fax/modem/voice switch.
e op- These are hardware devices that determine whether an incoming
tion call is a voice, fax or modem call.
BACKMAIL SCRIPTS
WHAT SCRIPTS ARE FOR
BackMail's scripts are designed to allow BackMail to dial out and
connect to another BackMail, or BackMail compatible program. You will
find scripts useful for:
- Initializing non-standard modems before you call specific
destinations. Setting special modem parameters for calling
specific destinations (e.g. setting MNP levels, turning on\off
various kinds of hardware compression, connecting with password
protected modems, Guard tones etc.)
- Dialing into or out of phone systems that require the modem to
send touch tones to the switching hardware (e.g. PBX based modem
pools, fax\modem\voice switches, etc).
- Dialing through Data switching, PAD or long distance data
services that require interactive password access and\or
parameter settings (e.g. PC-Pursuit, Tymnet, DataPac, &c.).
- Dialing into BackMail Hubs or Gateways to access other
information Networks or services.
We call the scripts, dialout scripts to indicate that their primary
function is to connect your machine to another modem that is connected
to a BackMail or a BackMail compatible program. You will not be able
to use scripts to talk to BBSs or information systems unless they
support the BackMail protocol.
SCRIPT FILES
Scripts are ASCII text files written in the BackMail Script Language
(BSL). These files must reside in the same directory as your BackMail
files (the directory which contains INMAIL and OUTMAIL).
Scripts are assigned to particular destinations in your Phone
Directory. A script is used only when calling a destination which has
that script assigned to it. Scripts are not used when you answer
calls from other BackMailers.
ADDING A SCRIPT TO BACKMAIL
BackMail can manage up to eight scripts at a time. To tell BackMail
what scripts to use you must first tell BackMail the script names of
the script files you want it to use. To do this bring up the BackMail
MAIN MENU, select CHANGE SETUP and select the Scripts option.
76 BackMail Scripts
+-------- Setup Menu --------+
| Compatibility switch |
| WelCome new callers |
| Phone Dialling mode |
| LEtterhead |
| Select Groups |
| Ring to Answer |
| Hot Keys |
| Lag time |
| Answer Mode |
| Notification |
| Data Only Line |
| Phone Prefixes\Suffixes |
| Screen Retrace handling |
| Script Names |
| Technical settings |
| Phone nUmber |
| Wait for Dial tone |
| MaXimum Retry |
+----------------------------+
You will then be presented with a list of the scripts that BackMail is
currently using. Initially you will find that some of these scripts
are "UNSET:script names".
+-- Dialing Scripts --+
| HAYES.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
+---------------------+
Use the arrow keys to select a slot for the script you want to use and
hit . BackMail will then invite you to enter the name of a script
file.
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Note: Dialing scripts are ASCII text files written in the |
| BackMail Script Language residing in the directory which |
| contains your BackMail program file BGROUND.COM. |
| Script files always bear the .BSL suffix |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Dialing Script number 1 is currently set to:HAYES .BSL |
| Enter new name (max 8 characters): .BSL |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Script files are files written in the BackMail Script language. All
script file names end in the suffix ".BSL suffix". BackMail will
append this suffix automatically to the name of the script file you
enter.
Backmail Scripts 77
Note: Script files must reside in the same directory as your Note: Script files must reside in the same directory as your
BackMail files (i.e. the directory that contains "INMAIL" and
"OUTMAIL").
When you have entered the name of the script file BackMail will
display your new list of script files.
+-- Dialing Scripts --+
| HAYES.BSL |
| MYSCRIPT.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
| UNSET.BSL |
+---------------------+
DELETING SCRIPT FILE NAMES
To remove a script name from BackMail's list just select it and enter
spaces in place of the script's name.
HOW TO USE SCRIPTS
You use scripts by assigning them to particular destinations. You do
that by changing the phone directory entry for that destination.
Get up your phone directory screen and select one of your BackMail
destinations.
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Name: Joe Smith Smith Data Services |
| Voice phone:(902)424-6581 Ext: Prefix\Suffix:Long |
| This person does have a copy of BackMail |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Handle:Joe Smith Prefix\Suffix:Long |
| Data phone:(902)424-6580 Ext: |
| On line at:00:00 Off line at:00:00 Update:Auto |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Priority:normal Polled:No Script:none |
| Re-try calls: 3 times per hour at most |
| When calling: will allow return mail |
| Deliver mail: when calling or called |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Move the cursor bar to the Script field. Initially that field will
show 'none'. You can select the script you wish to use for this show 'none'. You can select the script you wish to use for this
destination by hitting ■+■, or ■-■ to cycle through the possible
script names. You can of course cycle back to 'none' so that BackMail script names. You can of course cycle back to 'none' so that BackMail
will not use a script for that destination.
When you select a script for a destination, BackMail will follow the
instructions in that script file when it dials that destination.
78 BackMail Scripts
When Note, as we've mentioned before, some changes you make in the
script BackMail foreground program don't immediately take effect in
changes BackMail's operations. BackMail is really two programs
take running at once, and information added to the phone directory
effect such as script assignments or changes in phone numbers do not
take effect until you exit from the BackMail foreground. So, if
you've just assigned a script to a destination and want to try calling
a destination right away, return to the MAIN MENU and hit Esc to exit
BackMail. As soon as you do that your changes in phone directory,
including script assignments, will be installed in the BackMail
background communications program. You can now pop the MAIN MENU back
up and compose your message or send your file and your script
assignment will be in effect.
DISPLAY STATUS SCRIPT MESSAGES
When you are using dialout scripts BackMail will report any errors it
encounters in the scripts in the display status menu. There are three
script error messages.
UNSENT: SCRIPT READING ERROR
Can't This means that BackMail was unable to open or read the
read script you have assigned to this destination. There are
script several explanations.
- The name of the script file has been entered incorrectly. Check
the name of the relevant script by looking at your list of
declared scripts under the CHANGE SETUP function. Remember all
script files must bear the ".BSL" suffix.
- The script is not in the correct directory. Remember Scripts must
reside in the same directory as your BackMail Auxiliary files
INMAIL and OUTMAIL and PHONE.
- The script file was unavailable for reading because you had it
opened and were editing it with a text editor.
- The script file is too long (>3k) to be a legal BackMail script.
UNSENT:SCRIPT LOGGING ERROR
This error occurs when you are using a script which turns on a
script.log (See the next chapter for a discussion of logging). The
error means that BackMail could not open or write to the script log
file. BackMail always tries to write its script to the directory you
use to receive incoming files. The most common cause of this error is
that you have opened the script.log file and are reading it at the
same time that a script was trying to write a log. If this does not
account for your error check to make sure that you have enough disk
space for the log file.
UNSENT:SCRIPT LANGUAGE ERROR
This error occurs if their is a syntax error in the script.file. Check
your script for errors. If you are writing a script log you will find
the annotations "SCRIPT ERROR" at the point of script processing at
which the error occurs.
Backmail Scripts 79
ERROR HANDLING
What to BackMail will keep trying to find the script as it retries
do its calls to destinations which us it. When you correct the
error the error message will go away.
THE BACKMAIL SCRIPT LANGUAGE
It should be said at the outset that many users will find writing
BackMail scripts difficult, not because the language is complex, but
because it is so very compact and simple. Many conventional
communications programs have very rich script languages whose commands
resemble "High Level" languages like BASIC, PASCAL or, for that matter
ENGLISH. But then conventional communications programs do not run
invisibly in the background from 33K RAM.
The BackMail script language (BSL) is designed with ultra fast,
background operation in mind. Its commands are structured so that
BackMail can easily interpret and obey them in the background without
slowing down your foreground processes. It is a "low level" script
language and if you are new to programing "close to the chip" (as
programers like to say) you'll find that BSL takes some getting used
to.
To help you we have included several sample BSL scripts with the
program with lots of comments. If you are a programming novice you
should have look at these to see if any are suited to the sort of
application you have in mind. With a little editing you may be able
to adapt one of the sample scripts to your purposes very easily.
FILE STRUCTURE
A BSL script is an ASCII text file. You can create or edit them with
any text editor or word processor. However if you use a word
processor be sure to save your edited files in "ASCII" or
"unformatted" (sometimes called 'non-document' mode) format to
suppress word processor formatting. Almost all word processors have
such a file save option.
Each line of BSL must end with a carriage return <CR> or carriage
return line feed<CR><LF>. Your text editor or Word processor will
almost certainly end lines correctly.
BSL files must bear the suffix ".BSL" and must reside in your BackMail
directory. That is they must be found in the same directory which
contains the files INMAIL, OUTMAIL and PHONE.
BSL files can be no greater than 3k bytes long. That may sound small
but the language is very compact. You won't have any applications
that require more than 3k of BSL to accomplish.
COMMENT LINES
BSL files contain two kinds of lines: comment lines and command lines.
Any line which begins with the # is treated by BackMail as a comment Any line which begins with the # is treated by BackMail as a comment
line and has no effect on BackMail operations. Comment lines can be up
to 64 characters in length. Comment lines can appear any place in the
script.
The BackMail Script Language 81
For purposes of record keeping it's a good idea to begin your script
with a couple of lines that include the name of the script file itself
and a brief description of its function.
# MCI.BSL A script for dialing long distance using my
# MCI phone credit card number
# written by Joe Smith 5-20-90
COMMANDS
There are 10 BSL commands. The script commands are written as single
upper case letters:
An Wait for n seconds An Wait for n seconds _
Bn Set script TIMEOUT time to n seconds Bn Set script TIMEOUT time to n seconds _
C Wait for carrier C Wait for carrier
Dn Place marker n Dn Place marker n _ _
En Jump back once to place marker Dn En Jump back once to place marker Dn _ _
Dn Dn _
F Open a script log F Open a script log
G Go into standard BackMail communications mode G Go into standard BackMail communications mode
H Hang up, close script log and terminate call H Hang up, close script log and terminate call
I Do nothing I Do nothing
J Jump forward once to place marker Dn J Jump forward once to place marker Dn _
These commands are explained in detail below. Some commands take one
character parameters, these are numbers or letters which are relevant
to the processing of the command.
For example the letter "A" is the BSL command which tells BackMail For example the letter "A" is the BSL command which tells BackMail
towait for a certain period of time before proceeding to the next
line of the script. You set the relevant period of time by following
the "A" with a parameter. Thus if your command was "A5" BackMail the "A" with a parameter. Thus if your command was "A5" BackMail
would wait for at least 5 seconds of line silence before processing
the next line of the script.
Not all Commands require parameters. For example the command "H" Not all Commands require parameters. For example the command "H"
tells BackMail to hang up the phone and give up trying to call the
current destination. This command needs no parameter.
So that you don't have to keep track of which commands do and which
don't require parameters, the language allows you to put parameters
even with Commands that don't use them. So you could write commands
like "H1" or "H3" or "HX". In any case BackMail would just terminate like "H1" or "H3" or "HX". In any case BackMail would just terminate
the call when it encountered the "H" the call when it encountered the "H"
82 The BackMail Script Language
COMMAND LINES
Each command must occur in a properly formatted script command line.
Each command line can tell BackMail to :
- Send a string of characters or numbers to the modem.
and\or
- Wait for a string of characters or numbers from the modem
and\or
- Execute a BSL command (e.g wait for n seconds of line silence, or _
jump to another part of the script.
In fact every command line is formatted so that it will do any or all
of these things.
Every command line contains three command fields separated by two
descending slash characters "\". The format of a script command line descending slash characters "\". The format of a script command line
is:
COMMAND FIELD \SEND FIELD\EXPECTED FIELD
COMMAND [PARAMETER]\[String to send]\[string to expect]
The COMMAND field consists of one of the 10 Command letters, followed
by a parameter. The SEND field will contain a string of alphanumeric
characters to be sent out the modem, the EXPECTED field will contain a
string of alphanumeric characters that you expect from the modem
(perhaps sent by the destination you are communicating with or by the
modem itself).
So for example a command line might read:
A5\Knock knock\Who's there?
or
H\Knock knock.\Go away!
In both examples BackMail will send the string "Knock Knock" to the
modem and wait for a certain period of time for a response. What
BackMail does when it gets or doesn't get the response will depend
upon the command you are using.
Each script command line is understood by BackMail as an instruction.
COMMAND\SEND\EXPECTED
is always interpreted as:
"Do COMMAND after you send SEND to the modem if you get the
EXPECTED string in a certain period of time. If you don't get
the EXPECTED string then just move on to the next line."
The BackMail Script Language 83
The length of time BackMail will wait for the EXPECTED string before
moving on is the scripts script TIMEOUT time. You can set the TIMEOUT
time dynamically (i.e. on the fly) using a script command B (see
below).
So another way to read a command line:
COMMAND\SEND\EXPECTED
from BackMail's point of view is as the three part instruction:
1) Transmit the string SEND to the modem
2) Wait for TIMEOUT seconds to get the string EXPECTED in reply.
3) If you get the EXPECTED string do COMMAND, but if you don't get
it after TIMEOUT seconds, then just carry on to the next line of
the program.
So when it encountered our line:
H\Knock knock\Go away!
BackMail would first send the string
Knock Knock
to the modem. Then it would wait for TIMEOUT seconds for the reply:
Go away!
If BackMail got that response, then it would execute the H command and
hang up and terminate the exchange.
If it didn't get "Go away!" from the modem then BackMail would not
execute the H command but would instead carry on to execute the next execute the H command but would instead carry on to execute the next
command line in the script.
Typically, you will not want to send something with every command line
and you will not expect any particular response from every string you
send to your modem. In these cases you can leave the command
filedsSEND and\or the EXPECTED fields empty. This will affect how
BackMail interprets a command line.
If you leave the EXPECTED field blank (by just hitting return after
the last "\", BackMail will take this to mean that you are not the last "\", BackMail will take this to mean that you are not
expecting anything and want the command executed no matter what. So:
COMMAND\SEND\
Says:
"Send the SEND string and then execute COMMAND"
84 The BackMail Script Language
Thus the line:
H\bye bye\
Would send the string:
bye bye
and then immediately hang up.
A note of caution here. If you have a space character in command
field after the last "\" in the EXPECTED field, BackMail will field after the last "\" in the EXPECTED field, BackMail will
understand that you are waiting for a space character. Enter return
right aft er that "\" to make sure your EXPECTED field is really right aft er that "\" to make sure your EXPECTED field is really
empty.
There are circumstances in which you may want a response from the
modem but do not want anything sent. In that case you can leave the
SEND field empty. Command lines of the form:
COMMAND\\EXPECTED
mean:
"Don't send anything, just wait for TIMEOUT seconds for the
EXPECTED string, if you get it then execute COMMAND, otherwise
carry on to the next line of the script"
Thus the command string:
H\\Not in service
H\mypassword\accepted
would get BackMail to wait for TIMEOUT seconds for "Not in service".
If this was received then BackMail would execute the H command and
hang up. If BackMail did not get the "Not in service" message in
TIMEOUT seconds it would pass on to the next line of the script. In
this case a line that sends "password".
Finally you can leave both the SEND and EXPECTED fields blank if you
just what a command executed. So:
COMMAND\\
tells BackMail to perform the COMMAND. Thus if BackMail came to the
line:
H\\
it would immediately execute the "H" command and hang up.
Note even when the fields are empty you must include the "\" script Note even when the fields are empty you must include the "\" script
command delimiters in the line to tell BackMail that the fields are
The BackMail Script Language 85
empty. Failure to do this will be treated by BackMail as a "Script
Error". (See below).
Note that the one command line field that must always have something
in it is the COMMAND Field.
What if you don't want BackMail to do anything? Well there is a
command for that. It is "I command". When BackMail gets the "I" command for that. It is "I command". When BackMail gets the "I"
command it doesn't do anything it just proceeds to the next line.
Thus the instruction string.
I\SEND\EXPECTED
would result in BackMail, sending the SEND string, then waiting for
TIMEOUT seconds for EXPECTED. Whether or not the EXPECTED string was
received BackMail would then pass on to process the next line of the
script.
FIELD SIZES
In a BSL command line the command field is always one or two
characters long (depending upon whether the command takes a parameter
or not). The send field can be up to 64 characters in length. If you
need to send a long string which is longer that 64 characters you can
simply break up your long string into shorter strings. For example
the script lines:
I\This is an example of a very long string which I wish to \
I\send to my modem\
would send the whole string:
This is a an example of a very long string which I wish to send
to my modem
The EXPECTED field cannot be longer that 64 characters. If you are
expecting a string longer that 64 characters you should just put the
last 64 expected characters into the string.
SPECIAL CHARACTERS IN SEND STRINGS
Anything that occurs in the send field, that is, anything that occurs
between the two "\" marks in a command line will be sent to the modem. between the two "\" marks in a command line will be sent to the modem.
However there are a few characters and strings that get special
treatment and are discussed in the following sections.
SENDING <CR> AND <LF>
The examples above were a little bit artificial. If you are
communicating with a modem, some other communications equipment or are
online with another system, you will almost always want to terminate a
string you send out the communications port, by a carriage return, or
a carriage return line feed. However if you put an actual carriage
return or line feed in the send field that would end the line rather
than getting sent and would result in a script syntax error. Instead
you should use the special characters:
86 The BackMail Script Language
"]" = Carriage Return (Decimal 13 Decimal\ 0DHex) "]" = Carriage Return (Decimal 13 Decimal\ 0DHex)
"["= Line Feed (Decimal 10 \0A Hex) "["= Line Feed (Decimal 10 \0A Hex)
When BackMail encounters these in the send field, it substitutes
carriage return or line feed characters in the string.
So, for example, suppose that you wanted a script to turn on the
speaker on your modem before dialing out. This is typically done by
sending the modem the string: "ATM1", followed by a carriage return or sending the modem the string: "ATM1", followed by a carriage return or
a carriage return followed by a line feed. You could do this with the
line:
I\ATM1][\ok
This would send:
ATM1 <CR><LF>
to the modem, wait TIMEOUT seconds for the "ok" response, and then to the modem, wait TIMEOUT seconds for the "ok" response, and then
pass on to the next line of the script.
DESTINATION PHONE NUMBERS
Suppose that you want a script to dial a number using a phone credit
card. To make the call you want BackMail to dial an access number,
then the phone number, followed by your credit card number. Suppose
that the access number is "112" and your credit card number was "4444
5555 6666". You could do that by putting a line in your script which
read:
I\112,424-6580,4444 5555 6666"
Use commas here to tell your modem to pause for a second or two in
dialing the numbers. This would dial the number 424-6580 using your
access number and credit card, the problem is that if you include the
destination phone number in the script itself the script would only be
good for calling that one number!
What you should do instead is to use the "@" in the send field. When What you should do instead is to use the "@" in the send field. When
BackMail finds an "@" in the send field it replaces it with the phone BackMail finds an "@" in the send field it replaces it with the phone
number of the destination you are calling. Thus if you make your line
read.
I\112,@,4444 5555 666\
Then BackMail would replace the "@" with the phone of destination it Then BackMail would replace the "@" with the phone of destination it
was currently calling. This enables you to assign one script to as
many destinations as you like.
The only complication here surrounds what version of the destination's
phone number will be used to replace the "@". Simply put, the format phone number will be used to replace the "@". Simply put, the format
of the phone number used here will correspond to the phone number
BackMail would have dialed if you were not using a script and were
The BackMail Script Language 87
dialing the destination number directly. That is controlled by the
Suffix or Prefix you have assigned to that destination.
To understand how this works in detail you should read Chapter 20 on
understanding extension numbers. An example should suffice here.
Suppose that the destination you were calling was: Joe Smith and Joe's
full phone number was:
(902)424-3811 Ext. 123
How BackMail would dial Joe would depend upon what prefix or suffix
you had declared for Joe in his phone directory entry.
Suppose that you had defined 7 different prefixes in the "prefixes"
section of CHANGE SETUP. So that your available prefixes looked like
this:
+---------------------------------------------+
| Intern ext number |
| Local phone number |
| Long 1 + (area code) + phone number |
| FaxLne phone number,,,444 |
| WGerm 011,49,+ (area code) + phone number |
| Austr 011,61,+ (area code) + phone number |
| France 011,33,+ (area code) + phone number |
| Japan 011,81,+ (area code) + phone number |
+---------------------------------------------+
These formats represent the format in which BackMail would dial
destinations with these prefixes or suffixes. If you were using a
script which contained the "@" mark in its send field then the "@" script which contained the "@" mark in its send field then the "@"
would be converted into these formats depending upon the prefix\suffix
setting of the destination it was dialing.
So suppose that you assign a script to Joe Smith's phone directory
entry. One that contains the "@" mark. Then when BackMail sees the entry. One that contains the "@" mark. Then when BackMail sees the
"@" it will check Joe's prefix\suffix mark and replace it with the "@" it will check Joe's prefix\suffix mark and replace it with the
number format of that prefix or suffix.
Thus if you had assigned Joe the suffix FaxLne shown above then the
script line
I\ATDT @]\
This would be sent to the modem as
ATDT 424-3811,,,444<CR>
On the other hand if Joe Smith had been assigned an "Intern" prefix On the other hand if Joe Smith had been assigned an "Intern" prefix
the script would replace the "@" with Joe's extension number: the script would replace the "@" with Joe's extension number:
ATDT 123,,,444<CR>
88 The BackMail Script Language
This gives you considerable flexibility in writing scripts since it
gives you a choice as to whether or not to include, for example, your
credit card suffix as part of the script itself, or to define it as a
suffix. You might for example have two different credit card numbers
that you want to have dialed by the same script, but use different
credit card numbers for various destinations by writing them in to
different prefixes.
SENDING SPECIAL CHARACTERS
It can sometimes happen that you want to send non alphanumeric
characters as part of your communications. For example you might want
to send the control character Ctrl C to activate a data switch
attached to your serial port. You cannot include these characters
literally in your ASCII script file (not without a lot of
complications anyway). Instead you can include a string which
BackMail will translate into the relevant character code.
The format for these strings is an ascending slash "/" (sometimes The format for these strings is an ascending slash "/" (sometimes
called 'frontslash' to distinguish it from the 'backslash' character)
followed by a 3 digit expression of the decimal number of the
character you want to send.
Thus to send Ctrl C, character "3" you could use a string like this.
I\Here it comes./003\
This would send the phrase "Here it comes." followed by the Ctrl C
character.
Note that you must express the decimal value of the number as a three
digit number so don't forget to use those leading "0"s.
You can also use this sequence to send "literally" characters that
have a special function in BSL scripts. Thus you cannot send the
characters "@" ,"]" , "[", "/" or "\" directly to your modem because characters "@" ,"]" , "[", "/" or "\" directly to your modem because
these symbols have a special meaning in BSL and will be re-
interepreted before they get sent. However you can send these
characters by entering their decimal character number. Their
corresponding numbers are:
/ \047
@ \064
[ \091
\ \092
] \093
Thus the command
I\\Here come special symbols 064\093\091\092\047\
The BackMail Script Language 89
Would send the string
Here come special symbols @][\\
PARAMETERS
Some BackMail commands (which are remember, just single letters A...J) Some BackMail commands (which are remember, just single letters A...J)
take parameters. Parameters are just single alphanumeric characters.
The legal parameters, together with numeric values are given in the
table at the end of this chapter. What these parameters do depends
upon which command they are attached to as explained below.
Not all commands require parameters. If you include a parameter
character with a command that does not require one it will be ignored.
However if you do not include a parameter which does require one then
BackMail will treat this as a script error and immediately terminate
processing of the script.
SCRIPT LANGUAGE COMMANDS
The meaning of each of BSL 10 command letters is explained below. The
"n" beside some the command letters indicates that they require a _
parameter. Parameters are ASCII characters from Decimal 48 to 254.
The function of these parameters depends upon the command.
An WAIT FOR n SECONDS _ _
When BackMail executes the A command it will wait for a certain period When BackMail executes the A command it will wait for a certain period
of time before it proceeds to the next line of the script. How long
it will wait depends upon the value of the parameter.
A1\\
waits for 1 second before proceeding to the next line. (This is the
minimun value of an "A" wait.)
A2\\
waits for 2 seconds
But the parameter need not be a number. A line could read:
AX\\
This would wait for fourty seconds. This is because, the ASCII value
of the character "X" is 88, which is 40 greater than the ASCII value of the character "X" is 88, which is 40 greater than the ASCII value
of the numeral "0". A table of permissible parameters and their
numeric interpretations is provided in a table at the end of this
chapter.
Bn SET TIMEOUT TIME TO n SECONDS _ _
Each command line has the format:
COMMAND\SEND\EXPECTED
When BackMail reads this line it sends the text in the SEND field and
waits to receive the EXPECTED string for a certain period of time.
90 The BackMail Script Language
That period of time is the TIMEOUT time. You use this command to set
the TIMEOUT time. Thus
B9\\
sets a TIMEOUT time of 4 seconds. The minimum value of the TIMEOUT
wait is 1 second. You can set TIMEOUT to a higher value than 9 by
using characters as parameters. Thus.
BX\\
would set TIMEOUT to 40 seconds See the table below for a listing of
the numeric values associated with characters.
Note as with all BSL command lines the command only takes effect if
nothing was EXPECTED or if the EXPECTED string was received. Thus if
the script contained the lines:
# This script illustrates the B command
B2\\
B9\\Hello world
The the first "B2" would set the TIMEOUT to 2 seconds, which means The the first "B2" would set the TIMEOUT to 2 seconds, which means
that, on the next line BackMail would wait for two seconds for the
response:
Hello world
If it got that response the "B9" command would be executed and TIMEOUT If it got that response the "B9" command would be executed and TIMEOUT
would be set to 9 seconds in subsequent lines.
However if "Hello World" were not received the "B9" would not be acted However if "Hello World" were not received the "B9" would not be acted
upon and the TIMEOUT wait would remain at 2 seconds as BackMail passed
on to the next line of the script.
C WAIT FOR CARRIER
Typically your BSL session will involve two stages. First you use the
script to control your modem or telephone switching devices by sending
modem control strings to the modem. When you connect with the remote
modem you will then go online and carry on your dialogue with the
computer you have connected to.
Going online will require your modem to detect a carrier and match
frequencies with a remote modem. The process of matching carriers and
establishing a communications BAUD rate is actually quite a
complicated process from the point of view of the software and
hardware.
You use the "C" command when you have reached the point where you You use the "C" command when you have reached the point where you
expect to hear a carrier signal from the remote modem. When it
receives this command the script turns control over to BackMail to
interpret the modem's responses. At this point BackMail behaves just
as if it had dialed the remote modem without using a script and
interprets the modem responses according to the settings you have
The BackMail Script Language 91
provided under BMCONFIG.COM or entered under TECHNICAL SETTINGS (See
the appropriate sections of this manual for details).
When BackMail has established a communications link with the remote
modem it will return control of the transaction to the script. If
BackMail does not establish a communications link with the remote
modem in TIMEOUT seconds, then the script will hang up the phone, and
terminate the call.
Thus consider the lines
#Set the TIMEOUT time to 30 seconds
BX\\
#Now wait for carrier
C\\
#If we get to here we are online
I\Hello!\
The "BX" command sets the TIMEOUT time to 40 seconds. When BackMail The "BX" command sets the TIMEOUT time to 40 seconds. When BackMail
reaches the "C" line it will wait for 40 seconds to establish reaches the "C" line it will wait for 40 seconds to establish
communication with the remote modem. If the connection is made then
BackMail would pass on to process subsequent lines. If no carrier
was achieved after 40 seconds then BackMail would hang up, terminate
the script session and would not carry on the subsequent line of text.
PLACE MARKER Dn _
The "D" command doesn't do anything. When BackMail encounters a line The "D" command doesn't do anything. When BackMail encounters a line
like:
Dn\SEND\EXPECTED
It will send SEND and wait TIMEOUT seconds for EXPECTED and then
proceed to the next line whether or not it gets what is expected.
When it encounters the line:
Dn\\
BackMail will simply move on to the next line of the script.
"D" is just a place marker for the command line on which it occurs.
Place markers are important because other BSL commands ("E" and "J", Place markers are important because other BSL commands ("E" and "J",
see below) jump to lines containing place markers when they are
executed.
Place markers require parameters. The numeric values of parameters
are not important but differences between "D" parameters are. As we are not important but differences between "D" parameters are. As we
shall see below the "E" and the "J" commands jump to lines containing shall see below the "E" and the "J" commands jump to lines containing
place markers, and where they jump depends upon their parameters.
Thus the commands "Et" or "Jt" will jump to position markers "Dt", Thus the commands "Et" or "Jt" will jump to position markers "Dt",
while the commands "E&" and "J&" will only jump to "D&" markers. while the commands "E&" and "J&" will only jump to "D&" markers.
92 The BackMail Script Language
The order in which parameters are used with place markers is not
important. It is okay to have scripts that look like this:
D9\\
D2\\
D>\\
.
.
It is also okay to use the same place marker several times in a
script. That is, there is nothing wrong with repeating markers like
this:
D1\\
D1\\
D1\\
We shall see shortly why you might want to have the same place marker
at several points in your script.
CONTROLLING PROGRAM FLOW
BSL does not have commands like BASIC's "Goto" or "Gosub" commands nor
does it have loop commands like "DO___ WHILE...." or "FOR .... DO___
". The reason for this is that it is very easy for these sorts of
functions to be used in ways that will get a script going in loops and
cycles from which it never exits. This would be a bad thing in a
script language which is meant to run in the background where you
won't know what's going on. It would be potentially disastrous if the
script is left "spinning its wheels" after placing a long distance
telephone connection.
For this reason BSL is designed so that it is impossible for the __________
script to get into an infinite loops. Every BSL script will finish
execution after a finite number of steps.
Nevertheless, by using place markers, the "E" (Jump Back) and the "J" Nevertheless, by using place markers, the "E" (Jump Back) and the "J"
(Jump forward. See below) commands you can create highly sophisticated
program structures, conditional branches, loops and subroutines.
En JUMP BACK (ONCE) TO MARKER Dn _ _
The "E" command takes a parameter. This can be any of the The "E" command takes a parameter. This can be any of the
alphanumeric characters from "1 to z". When it executes the "E" alphanumeric characters from "1 to z". When it executes the "E"
command BackMail goes to the start of the script and looks for the
first occurrence of a "D" marker with a matching parameter. Consider first occurrence of a "D" marker with a matching parameter. Consider
the script below. We have numbered the lines to help explain what is
going on.
The BackMail Script Language 93
1 #This Script illustrates the E command
2 #Here we have a place marker
3 D1\\
4 #Here we have another place marker
5 D1\\
6 #Notice the following place marker has a different parameter
7 D2\Knock Knock\
8 E1\\Go away!
9 D3\Isabelle\
As we've explained above the "D"s here are just place markers. They As we've explained above the "D"s here are just place markers. They
have no other function. Reading this script BackMail would pass over
the comment lines and the empty "D"'s in line 1-6. When it got to the comment lines and the empty "D"'s in line 1-6. When it got to
line 7, BackMail would send the string "Knock! Knock". Since there is
nothing EXPECTED by this line, and since the "D2" command does nothing EXPECTED by this line, and since the "D2" command does
nothing, it would then move on to line 8.
Line 8 will wait for TIMEOUT seconds for the response:
Go away!.
If it gets that response it will execute the "E1" command: it will go If it gets that response it will execute the "E1" command: it will go
back to the start of the script and search forward until it finds the
first occurrence of a "D1" marker, in this case it will find that at first occurrence of a "D1" marker, in this case it will find that at
line 3. BackMail will then carry on processing the script at line 3.
It will carry on down to line 7 where it will again send "Knock!
Knock!" and then on to line 8 where it will again wait for the "Go
Away".
This time if it gets "Go away!" it will jump back again, but it will
not return to line 3. We described this command as "Jump back once
only" because it will never return to the same place marker twice.
When it first jumped to line 3, BackMail marked that line as a "D1" When it first jumped to line 3, BackMail marked that line as a "D1"
marker that it had already been jumped to. So, the second time it
executes the "E1" at line 8 BackMail will go back to the start of the executes the "E1" at line 8 BackMail will go back to the start of the
script, search forward, skipping over line 3, until it gets to the
place marker at line 5, on this second pass the script will continue
from there.
1 #This Script illustrates the E command
2 #Here we have a place marker
3 D1\\ <---First Jump --------
4 #Here we have another place marker
5 D1\\ <---Second Jump -------
6 #Nb. a different place marker
7 D2\Knock Knock\
8 E1\\Go away!
9 D3\Isabelle\ <----Third Pass nowhere to jump
What will happen when the script gets to line 8 again and still gets a
"Go away!" response to its "Knock. Knock"? Well "E1" will try to jump "Go away!" response to its "Knock. Knock"? Well "E1" will try to jump
back to a previous "D1", but at this point it will have "used up" all back to a previous "D1", but at this point it will have "used up" all
the previous "D1"s. It won't jump to line 7 because the parameter of the previous "D1"s. It won't jump to line 7 because the parameter of
94 The BackMail Script Language
that place marker is a "2", and "E1" will only jump to "D1's". that place marker is a "2", and "E1" will only jump to "D1's".
Finding no unjumped to "D1"s above it in the script, the "E1" at line Finding no unjumped to "D1"s above it in the script, the "E1" at line
8 would do nothing. BackMail would just carry on from line 8 and
execute line 9.
Note, "E" just jumps back, if there were a "D1" later in the script, Note, "E" just jumps back, if there were a "D1" later in the script,
this "E1" would not jump forward to it. (The command "J" jumps this "E1" would not jump forward to it. (The command "J" jumps
forward, see below.
You are getting the hang of it you can figure out what this script
would send.
# Sample Script
D3\\
# Send 1
I\1\
# First D2 Marker
D2\\
# Send 2
D3\2\
# Send 3
I\3\
# Send 4
D3\4\
E3\\
E2\\
# Send "finished"
I\finished\
The answer is it would send:
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 2 3 4 4 2 3 4 finished
By using the "E" command with the Jump forward command (See below) you By using the "E" command with the Jump forward command (See below) you
can create scripts with extremely sophisticated conditional branching
and subroutines.
F OPEN THE SCRIPT.LOG FILE
BackMail scripts run invisibly in the background. If you write
scripts you will want to debug them and for that you will need to be
able to see what they are doing. For that purpose BackMail provides a
script logging facility. When BackMail encounters the "F" command it script logging facility. When BackMail encounters the "F" command it
opens a file and writes the results of your background transactions
into a an ASCII text file called "SCRIPT.LOG". By examining the log
file you can see what your script is doing.
There are several important things to understand about script logging.
When BackMail encounters the command
F\\
it creates a file called SCRIPT.LOG in your BackMail TRANSFER
directory. This is the directory you use to store incoming BackMail
The BackMail Script Language 95
files. If a script.log file already exists in that directory then it
is overwritten by a log of the current session. This means that if
you are debugging a script using the script log you should:
1) Run the script by calling a destination using that script.
2) Wait till the script is finished, that is until the script hangs
up or you successfully go online with the destination.
3) When the Main Menu shows that you have gone "offline" and the
phone has gone on hook, you should then deactivate BackMail
(default Alt-3), before you use your text editor or the DOS
"TYPE" command to view the script log.
This procedure insures two things:
a) That the script.log you are looking at does indeed contain a
record of the script you have just run.
b) That you do not have the script.log file open while BackMail
tries to write it (if it attempts to call again). That would
prevent BackMail from writing a script and would produce a script
log error. (See below).
After you have examined the log, and perhaps made some changes in the
script, you can activate BackMail and try the log again.
Depending upon what else you are doing when BackMail is online
BackMail may wait for a second or two before it can close the script
log. Give it that second or two before you open the log file with
your text editor otherwise the file will not get properly written.
WHAT IS RECORDED IN THE SCRIPT LOG
When you have the script log turned on, BackMail will write into it:
- Comment lines
- Sent strings
- Received strings
Comment lines are written to the script to help you track the flow of
the script and they are terminated by a <CR><LF>. All other incoming the script and they are terminated by a <CR><LF>. All other incoming
and outgoing traffic is written as it is sent or received. This may
result in some odd formatting of text in the log file, but this, in
itself, can provide useful debugging information. For example suppose
that you wrote a script and included the following lines to turn on
the speaker on your modem while the script was running.
96 The BackMail Script Language
#The next line turns on script logging
F\\
#Now the script is on. Next we are going
#To turn on the speaker on the modem. Note we wait
#for the modem acknowledgement "OK" before we proceed
D1\ATM1\OK
#Now that the speaker is on we will carry on
#to do something else.
This script wouldn't do what it was supposed to. And if you looked at
the script log you would see why because you would see the following:
#Now the script is on. Next we are going
#To turn on the speaker on the modem. Note we wait
#for the modem acknowledgement "0" before we proceed
ATM1#Now that the speaker is on we will carry on
#to do something else.
From this you can see two things. The first is that the modem never
gave a "OK" response to your speaker command. The second is that the
reason it didn't respond in that way is that you forgot that the modem
command string must be terminated by a <CR>, and because you left it command string must be terminated by a <CR>, and because you left it
off the command wasn't processed by your modem.
Realizing this you should alter your script by terminating the modem
command with a <CR>. command with a <CR>.
#The next line turns on script logging
F\\
#Now the script is on. Next we are going
#To turn on the speaker on the modem. Note we wait
#for the modem acknowledgement "OK" before we proceed
# This time I'll include a carriage return
D1\ATM1]\OK
#Now that the speaker is on we will carry on
#to do something else.
This script would work. And what you would see in the script log is:
#Now the script is on. Next we are going
#To turn on the speaker on the modem. Note we wait
#for the modem acknowledgement "0" before we proceed
# This time I'll include a carriage return
ATM1
OK
#Now that the speaker is on we will carry on
#to do something else.
Showing that the modem responded with "OK" to your properly terminated Showing that the modem responded with "OK" to your properly terminated
command. (Note what you will actually see when you look at the script
log will depend upon the text editor you use. Some text editors would
display the carriage return received from the modem with an ASCII
character.)
The BackMail Script Language 97
SCRIPT ERRORS
Script logging can also show you when you have made a syntax error in
writing your script. For example suppose that your script had looked
like this.
#The next line turns on script logging
F\\
#Now the script is on. Next we are going
#To set a TIMEOUT time of 8 seconds
B8\
#Now we turn on the speaker on the modem. Note we wait
#for the modem acknowledgement "OK" before we proceed
# This time I'll include a carriage return
D1\ATM1]\OK
#Now that the speaker is on we will carry on
#to do something else.
There is a mistake in this script. The "B" line is missing a "\" to There is a mistake in this script. The "B" line is missing a "\" to
end the send field. The log for this script would look like this.
#Now the script is on. Next we are going
#To set a TIMEOUT time of 8 seconds
SCRIPT ERROR
The annotation SCRIPT ERROR is written at the point at which BackMail
found the error in the script syntax. After writing this error notice
BackMail has closed the script log and terminated the script session.
TURNING OFF SCRIPT LOGGING
Once turned on, script logging is terminated by any of the following
events.
- BackMail encounters a script syntax error and has written "SCRIPT
ERROR" into the log.
- The wait for Carrier command has been executed but BackMail has
not received a carrier after TIMEOUT seconds.
- The script has been terminated by a Hang up command ("H", see - The script has been terminated by a Hang up command ("H", see
below).
- The script has been terminated by making a successful BackMail
connection ("G" see below). connection ("G" see below).
- BackMail reaches the end of the script
COMMAND G GO INTO REGULAR BACKMAIL MODE
Dialing scripts are designed to get your BackMail in touch with
another BackMail or with a program that does the BackMail protocol.
The successful execution of every script should thus end up with your
BackMail connected and online with another BackMail or BackMail
compatible program. At this point BackMail should carry on as if it
has successfully dialed the other number directly and has initiated a
BackMail transaction.
98 The BackMail Script Language
The "G" command tells BackMail that the script has done its job and The "G" command tells BackMail that the script has done its job and
that it should quit its script mode and go initiate the standard
BackMail communications protocol.
Executing the "G" command also closes the script log. Logs are for Executing the "G" command also closes the script log. Logs are for
logging scripts, not BackMail traffic.
Note every script should contain the "G" command at some point or Note every script should contain the "G" command at some point or
other.
H HANG UP
The H command causes BackMail to hang up the phone and abandon its The H command causes BackMail to hang up the phone and abandon its
current attempt to call the target destination. It terminates script
logging if it has been enabled by the "F" command and closes the logging if it has been enabled by the "F" command and closes the
script file. You might include it in a script to get BackMail to hang
up if it receives a busy signal or a "not in service message".
If you do not include the "H" command BackMail will hang up anyway if If you do not include the "H" command BackMail will hang up anyway if
reaches the end of the script.
If the script successfully connects with another BackMail and executes
the "G" command then BackMail will hang up on its own when it has the "G" command then BackMail will hang up on its own when it has
exchanged mail; a subsequent script, "H" command is unnecessary in exchanged mail; a subsequent script, "H" command is unnecessary in
that case.
I IGNORE. DO NOTHING
The "I" command doesn't do anything. It is not even a place marker. The "I" command doesn't do anything. It is not even a place marker.
You can use it when you want a command line to just send a string, or
just wait for an EXPECTED string for time out seconds.
# The following string just sends 'hello'
I\Knock Knock\
# The following string just waits for a response
I\\Who's there
# Parameters mean nothing to the I command
# The following command line is legal though it does
# nothing
I9\\
Jn JUMP FORWARD ONCE TO MARKER Dn _ _
When BackMail executes the J command it jumps forward to the next D When BackMail executes the J command it jumps forward to the next D
place marker in the script with a matching parameter. It will only
jump to an given place marker once. If there are no matching place
markers following the J in the script, or they have already been markers following the J in the script, or they have already been
jumped to, BackMail just moves on to the next line of the script
following the J command: following the J command:
The BackMail Script Language 99
#The following J command will jump forward
Jw\\
#It would jump over this comment line
#and any non-matching D place markers
Da\\
Db\\
Dc\\
#And go directly to the following line
Dw\I jumped to here\
The 'J' command obeys the logic of all command lines. Thus consider The 'J' command obeys the logic of all command lines. Thus consider
the following script.
#This illustrates the J command
J1\Do you want to hear a joke?\Yes
#If we get here we didn't get the expected response
J1\Aw c'mon!\Ok
#Let's just give up and hang up
H\Spoil Sport!\
# We jump to the follwing line to begin telling a joke.
D1\Knock Knock!\
Note that you can use 'J' commands with the same parameter in a script Note that you can use 'J' commands with the same parameter in a script
to jump to a common position. By combining the 'J' command with the to jump to a common position. By combining the 'J' command with the
'E' you can construct complex program structures. For example the 'E' you can construct complex program structures. For example the
following script has a virtual subroutine that waits for 5 seconds
when "jumped to"
# This line of script jumps to a subroutine if it gets
# asked to wait.
Js\\Please Wait
# The following marker will get jumped back to when the wait
# is complete
Dt\\
# Now we could carry on
# .
# .
# .
# .
#This is our little subroutine that waits for five seconds
#We precede it with several repeats of the same D marker so
#that it can be jumped to several times. Remember, Each "D"
#is only jumped to once.
Ds\\
Ds\\
Ds\\
Ds\\
#this is the line that does the waiting
A5\\
#This line jumps back to return from the subroutine
Et\\
This script illustrates how you can use "J" and "E" together to create This script illustrates how you can use "J" and "E" together to create
branches in a program:
100 The BackMail Script Language
#This script illustrates branching.
D1\\
D1\\
D1\\
#If we get a YES response then we proceed
J2\Want to hear a joke\Yes
#If we get here we didn't get the response we wanted
#So we jump back and ask again
E1\Aw common\
#But we'll only jump back 3 times after which we'll get to
#here and hang up.
H\Spoil sport!\
#If we get to here someone wants to hear our joke.
D2\Knock Knock!\
TRACKING THE SCRIPT SEQUENCE
Just a few jumps in your script can give it a very complex flow
structure. Its a good Idea to include lots of comments in your
scripts so that you can follow the course of the program with script
logging.
SCRIPT PARAMETER VALUES
This table displays permissable script parameters and their numeric
interpretations.
+------------------------------------+
| PARAMETER VALUES |
+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|0 0 |> 14 |L 28 |Z 42 |h 55 |v 69|
|1 1 |? 15 |M 29 |[ 43 |i 56 |w 70|
|2 2 |@ 16 |N 30 |\ 44 |j 57 |x 71|
|3 3 |A 17 |O 31 |] 45 |k 58 |y 72|
|4 4 |B 18 |P 32 |^ 46 |l 59 |z 73|
|5 5 |C 19 |Q 33 |_ 47 |m 60 |{ 74|
|6 6 |D 20 |R 34 |` 48 |n 61 || 75|
|7 7 |E 21 |S 35 |a 48 |o 62 |} 76|
|8 8 |F 22 |T 36 |b 49 |p 63 | |
|9 9 |G 23 |U 37 |c 50 |q 64 | |
|: 10|H 24 |V 38 |d 51 |r 65 | |
|; 11|I 25 |W 39 |e 52 |s 66 | |
|< 12|J 26 |X 40 |f 53 |t 67 | |
|= 13|K 27 |Y 41 |g 54 |u 68 | |
+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
BACKMAIL UTILITIES:
SEND, PMERGE AND CONVERT
As part of the release of BackMail II, Alethic provides three new
utilities. One for sending files from the command-line, another to
allow you to merge other users' phone directories with yours, and the
third to convert your phone directory to BackMail II format.
SEND - COMMAND LINE FILE SENDING UTILITY
The program SEND is used to insert files into the BackMail outgoing
stream. SEND works independently of FGROUND and is intended for use
in a batch environment; or in conjunction with other programs for
which user input is not possible. The calling protocol is:
SEND (switches)
Where the switches begin with the 'dash' character '-' and consist of Where the switches begin with the 'dash' character '-' and consist of
an option letter followed in all but the cases of the 'Q' option and an option letter followed in all but the cases of the 'Q' option and
the '?' option, by an argument. The SEND options are: the '?' option, by an argument. The SEND options are:
-B . This is the path, including drive, where the mail file OUTMAIL -B . This is the path, including drive, where the mail file OUTMAIL
and the phone directory PHONE are to be found. Do not end the
path with the '\' character as SEND will add that itself. If
this switch is not given, SEND will assume that the path is
C:\BACKMAIL.
-P Phone number of the destination. This number must have 10 digits -P Phone number of the destination. This number must have 10 digits
(so include area code). Do not include spaces or punctuation
characters like '(', ')' and '-'. For example to send to (902)
477-9492 use the switch -P9024779492.
-E Extension of destination. This cannot be more than 4 digits. If -E Extension of destination. This cannot be more than 4 digits. If
this switch is not present, SEND assumes that the destination has
no extension.
-H Handle of the destination in the sense of the short form of the -H Handle of the destination in the sense of the short form of the
destination name. This is the (10 characters maximum) name of
the destination as it appears in the destination selection screen
when using FGROUND to send files or messages. If both the -P and when using FGROUND to send files or messages. If both the -P and
the -H switches are present on the command line, SEND will use the -H switches are present on the command line, SEND will use
the handle.
-F File to send. If no path is given, SEND assumes that the file is -F File to send. If no path is given, SEND assumes that the file is
in the current directory.
-Q QUIET mode. In this mode, SEND will not print error messages. -Q QUIET mode. In this mode, SEND will not print error messages.
All errors will be indicated by exit codes alone. These codes
are detailed below. The default mode is not QUIET (i.e.
VERBOSE).
-? Help request. When this switch is present SEND prints out a -? Help request. When this switch is present SEND prints out a
message describing usage (even in QUIET mode).
102 BackMail Utilities
Option letters may be in either upper or lower case and similarly for
handles. In looking up the handle in the phone directory, SEND
ignores case.
SEND EXIT CODES
There are a number of conditions which SEND treats as fatal errors,
i.e. these will cause the program to abort. If QUIET mode has not
been set with the command line switch -Q, SEND prints out a message been set with the command line switch -Q, SEND prints out a message
describing the error, and in any case will abort with an exit code.
These codes may be picked up by the batch processor or the calling
program and some action be taken. The codes are:
0 No error. An exit code of 0 indicates that SEND did not
encounter any errors.
1 Bad switch. The command line contained a switch followed by an 1 Bad switch. The command line contained a switch followed by an
option which SEND does not recognize. In such a case SEND prints
out a usage message. Notice that the 'help' option '?' is
treated also as a bad switch.
2 BGROUND not resident. SEND cannot operate without the BackMail 2 BGROUND not resident. SEND cannot operate without the BackMail
resident portion, BGROUND, being loaded.
3 No file to send. Either the option -F was not present, or the 3 No file to send. Either the option -F was not present, or the
file indicated by that switch could not be opened.
4 No destination. Neither of the options -P or -H were present on 4 No destination. Neither of the options -P or -H were present on
the command line.
5 Destination not found. No match was found between the phone 5 Destination not found. No match was found between the phone
directory and the destination given by -P or -H on the command directory and the destination given by -P or -H on the command
line. It is not possible to use SEND for any destination that
does not already have an entry in PHONE.
6 Internal destination table full. All BackMail send tasks are 6 Internal destination table full. All BackMail send tasks are
recorded in an internal table which has room for 100 entries. If
SEND discovers that there is unsent mail for all of the 100
destinations in this table, and the table contains no entry
already for the destination selected on the command line then
there is no room for this send task, and SEND aborts with error
code 6.
7 Cannot open PHONE. SEND failed to open the phone directory. 7 Cannot open PHONE. SEND failed to open the phone directory.
8 Cannot open OUTMAIL. SEND failed to open the outgoing mail file. 8 Cannot open OUTMAIL. SEND failed to open the outgoing mail file.
An entry must be made in this file in order to send a file.
9 Cannot write to PHONE. SEND encountered an error in attempting 9 Cannot write to PHONE. SEND encountered an error in attempting
to update the phone directory. The directory must be updated for
each new send task.
10 Error closing the file to send. During its operation, SEND must 10 Error closing the file to send. During its operation, SEND must
be able to open and close the file selected for sending in order
to determine its length.
BackMail Utilities 103
11 Error closing PHONE. 11 Error closing PHONE.
12 Error closing OUTMAIL. 12 Error closing OUTMAIL.
13 Wildcards present in name of file to send. SEND does not support 13 Wildcards present in name of file to send. SEND does not support
wildcards.
14 Error determining current directory. If no path is given for the 14 Error determining current directory. If no path is given for the
file to send, then SEND assumes the file to be in the current
directory and will prepend that path to the filename given.
15 Wrong version. SEND will work only with BackMail version 2.xx or 15 Wrong version. SEND will work only with BackMail version 2.xx or
greater.
104 BackMail Utilities
PMERGE: BACKMAIL PHONE DIRECTORY MERGE UTILITY
PMERGE allows one to merge all the data entries from a 'foreign' phone
directory into one's own thus reducing a certain amount of drudge-work
among a network of BackMailers. To start PMERGE use the following
syntax:
PMERGE [-Bpathname -Q -Paaaxxxyyyy] <Enter>
Where the options are explained as follows:
-B is the path to the original phone directory. The user may enter -B is the path to the original phone directory. The user may enter
this switch explicitly or set an environment variable called
BACKMAIL to this path (e.g. by entering the DOS command SET
BACKMAIL=c:\mypath). IMPORTANT NOTE: when entering this path, DO
NOT terminate with the 'backslash' character ("\"). If neither NOT terminate with the 'backslash' character ("\"). If neither
option is exercised then PMERGE will assume that the user's
original phone directory is to be found in C:\BACKMAIL.
-Q requests 'quiet' mode. When running in this mode PMERGE will not -Q requests 'quiet' mode. When running in this mode PMERGE will not
print error messages but rather will indicate fatal errors by
means of exit codes alone. These codes, the meaning of which is
detailed below, may be retrieved by the DOS batch processor.
-P is the user's phone number which must be in ten digit format -P is the user's phone number which must be in ten digit format
without spaces or punctuation symbols e.g. 8769024312. As an
alternative to entering this option on the PMERGE command line,
the user can set an environment variable called PHONE to the
required number. If PMERGE can not discover the user's phone
number either from the command line option or the environment, it
aborts with an error message (or exit code alone depending on the
mode).
PMERGE USAGE NOTES
PMERGE expects both the original and the 'foreign' phone directories
to be named PHONE so evidently they cannot both be in the same
subdirectory. It is normally the case that one receives a new phone
directory by means of BackMail, so it will be called PHONE and reside
in the user's transfer subdirectory (where all files go that are
received by BackMail). PMERGE requires that the new phone directory
be in the current subdirectory. Here's a scenario: a new phone
directory is sent to the user and ends up in the subdirectory
C:\BACKMAIL\TRANSFER. The user can now either place the program
PMERGE.EXE somewhere on their path (as set by the DOS command PATH=)
or copy the program to the transfer subdirectory. Now to merge the
new phone directory with user's original phone directory, the user
issues the command:
CD C:\BACKMAIL\TRANSFER <Enter>
in order to make the transfer subdirectory current. Next the user
issues:
PMERGE -P8174236543 <Enter>
BackMail Utilities 105
where the string following the -P is the user's phone number including where the string following the -P is the user's phone number including
area code but without punctuation. Notice that in this example, the
user keeps the original phone directory in C:\BACKMAIL so there is no
need to enter the -B option. PMERGE will then print a 'banner' and a
number of messages detailing its operation since 'quiet' mode is not
in effect (the -Q option was not given). When it has finished, the in effect (the -Q option was not given). When it has finished, the
user's phone directory in C:\BACKMAIL will have been increased by the
addition of those data numbers in the 'new' phone directory such that
(1) the numbers in question did not already appear in the original
directory (i.e. PMERGE will not create duplicate entries) and (2) The
user's own number will not be included even if there is such an entry
in the 'new' directory. This is the reason that PMERGE insists on
being told the user's telephone number before it will operate.
PMERGE LIMITATIONS AND CAUTIONS
PMERGE cannot 'merge in' new phone numbers if the user's current phone
directory contains 3000 data entries or more already. If either the
new directory or the original directory has become corrupted, then the
result of running PMERGE will certainly inherit this corruption.
Phone directories can become corrupt in a number of ways (not
excluding malice) so it pays to take precautions. Alethic recommends
frequent saving of backup copies of phone directory and mail files
(notice that these files are intimately related so that a saved PHONE
without its corresponding OUTMAIL at least will cause trouble up to
and including a system crash). In particular, it would be sensible to
make a backup copy of PHONE before running PMERGE.
PMERGE ERROR MESSAGES AND EXIT CODES
The following are the error messages and exit codes produced by PMERGE
when it encounters an error condition. In quiet mode, no message is
printed except for error 1.
Exit Codes
1 PMERGE found an option on the command line which it couldn't 1 PMERGE found an option on the command line which it couldn't
interpret. A summary of the allowable options is printed.
Action: Re-enter the command line with typos corrected.
Consult the list of allowable options.
2 No phone number found. 2 No phone number found.
Action: Either re-enter the command line giving the -P Action: Either re-enter the command line giving the -P
option or set the environment variable PHONE to the user's
number.
3 Bad phone format. 3 Bad phone format.
Action: Re-enter the command line or re-set the environment
variable making sure that the number has 10 digits (include
area code) with no spaces or punctuation.
4 Error opening user's original phone directory. 4 Error opening user's original phone directory.
106 BackMail Utilities
Action: Make certain that PMERGE is told the correct
location of the original directory either by means of the -B
option or the environment variable BACKMAIL. If this
information is not given PMERGE, will assume (perhaps
wrongly) that the phone directory is in C:\BACKMAIL.
5,6 Error creating temporary files. 5,6 Error creating temporary files.
Action: During its operation PMERGE must create temporary
files to hold information. If the user is low on disk space
this error might well result. Clean up unnecessary files.
7 Error opening file of new phone numbers. 7 Error opening file of new phone numbers.
Action: The 'foreign' phone directory must be in the
current subdirectory.
8 Error writing to temporary files. 8 Error writing to temporary files.
Action: This error, like 5 and 6 is typically the result of
not having enough disk space to run PMERGE.
9 Wrong version. 9 Wrong version.
Action: PMERGE has discovered that one or both of the phone
directories that it has been asked to merge are in a format
that it doesn't recognize. Make certain that both phone
directories are in BackMail format and of a version which is
no later than the version of PMERGE (printed when it
starts). If necessary obtain a later version of PMERGE.
BackMail Utilities 107
CONVERT: PHONE DIRECTORY CONVERSION PROGRAM
With the release of BackMail II, the format of the phone directory
file PHONE has changed (in order to accommodate variable number
formats, polling and other new features). So that you won't have to
re-enter all the numbers from your version 1.x phone directory,
Alethic provides the program CONVERT. A successful conversion
requires that the program be either on the DOS PATH, or in the same
directory as the file to be converted. Follow these steps:
(1) Make a backup copy of your phone directory and put it somewhere
safe. In case something goes wrong you don't want to lose
anything (especially sleep).
(2) BackMail is running, 'Kill' it, i.e. enter 'K' from the main
menu.
(3) Enter the command line:
CONVERT <Enter>
No arguments are required. Convert will print some status messages
telling you what its up to, and then tell you (if all goes well) that
it has successfully converted your directory. If not all goes well,
and CONVERT encounters an error, it will have been signaled by one of
the following:
CONVERT ERROR MESSAGES
"BackMail is loaded."
It could cause a lot of confusion and heartache to convert PHONE while
BackMail is in the midst of using it, as you can well imagine. Remove
BackMail from memory and run CONVERT again.
The file PHONE must reside in the same subdirectory as CONVERT. Or at
least (if CONVERT is on your PATH) the phone directory must be in the
current directory. Change directories and run CONVERT again.
Error reading phone directory. This is definitely a message that you
don't want to see. It could mean that your phone directory or disk
(or both) are in serious trouble. Having sound backup procedures
means never having to tear your hair when you get messages like this.
PHONE NUMBERS AND EXTENSIONS
AUTOMATIC PHONE NUMBER FORMATING
Phone numbers: automatic formating
BackMail records phone numbers to a maximum of 10 digits in length
Extension numbers can will only record phone numbers of up to 4
digits. If you should have destinations which require longer dialing
strings you should be able to accomplish this by defining appropriate
prefixes and suffixes.
BackMail requires an area code for all destinations. Whether or not
the area code is dialed will depend upon the prefix/suffix type
defined for the destination. BackMail also divides a phone number with
a dash. The dash is relevant if you assign the destination a internal
prefix but do not assign a seperate extension number to the
destination. In that case BackMail dials the post dash numbers. (See
below).
When you enter a string of digits in a BackMail phone editing field
BackMail will convert that number into a North American style number
format. That is it will assume the first three numbers are an area
code. So if you enter:
1234567890
BackMail will format this as:
(123)456-7890
If you enter only seven digits then BackMail will assume that the
phone number is local and will supply it with your area code. Thus if
your area code were 902 and you entered:
1234567
BackMail would format the number as:
(902)123-4567
INTERNATIONAL NUMBERS
BackMail will also allows you to overide automatic number formating to
enter non-North American numbers. To do this you must enter
parentheses surrounding the area code. When BackMail finds the
parentheses in the number you have entered it preserves this format.
Thus you can enter numbers like:
(1234)4567
(12)3456-7890
(12345)678-90
Phone Number Formats 109
UNDERSTANDING EXTENSION NUMBERS
In an office enviornment it often happens that many phones share the
same phone number and differ only in their extension. For this reason
BackMail allows you to specify your own extension number as part of
your phone number and to specify extension numbers in addition to
destination's 7 digit phone numbers.
In using extension numbers the most important thing to remember is
that:
For its own purposes BackMail identifies all destinations by their
phone number and BackMail treats extension numbers as part of that
identification.
This becomes important when you remember that BackMail won't deliver
or recieve mail from another BackMail unless the other BackMail has a
phone number (the whole phone number) corresponding to some piece of
mail.
If you think about it you will see that this is essential for systems
with extension numbers. When you call,say, "424-3811 Ext. 1112", you
do not want to deliver messages that are adressed to "424-3811
ext.1113."
DECLARING YOUR OWN EXTENSION
One upshot of all this is that if, when declaring your own phone
number, you include your extension number, then other BackMailers
should know about that extension and use it as part of your phone
number. Note, this is so even if their call to you is a local or long
distance call.
Otherwise the following may happen. Other Backmails will call your
backmail and say: "Hello I have mail for 424-3811". Your BackMail will
say "Sorry I am 424-3811 Ext.1112". The calling BackMailer will say
"Ooops, then I have no mail for you!" and will disconnect without
delivering its mail.
In the other direction you may call BackMail's that already have you
listed in their directory as 424-3811, but because your mail comes in
stamped as being from 424-3811 Ext. 1123, those destinations will
identify your mail as coming from "unknown".
THE INTERNAL PREFIX
The prefix "intern" comes pre-defined in BackMail and you can enter
other prefixes or Suffixes of the INTERNAL type. When a destination's
phone number bears an INTERNAL prefix/suffix type then BackMail will
use the 1-4 digit extension number you have associated with that
destinations phone number.
If you declare a destination to be an "intern" call, but have not
entered an extension number for the destination then BackMail will use
the last four digits of the destinations phone number in placing its
call.
110 Phone Number Formats
So, to make an internal call to the destination:
424-3811 Ext: 12
BackMail would simply dial "12". On the other hand if you had no
extension entered for this number but declared it to be an "Intern"
call, BackMail would try to reach this number by dialing: "3811".
CUSTOMIZING BACKMAIL FOR YOUR MODEM
The default values in Backmail should enable it to operate with any
truly Hayes Compatible 1200 or 2400 baud modem. Apart from insuring
that your DIP switches are set correctly, we recommend that you use
BackMail for a bit before undertaking any customization. The default
values the program uses have been chosen with great care and work with
a wide variety of modems.
However, should you encounter problems or if your modem is non-
standard, don't despair. We have designed BackMail to allow you to
alter virtually all of the parameters that control the modems
operations. So even if you have a modem that does not conform to
industry standards it should be possible to configure the program to
drive your modem.
DIP SWITCHES
Your Modem may or may not have DIP switches which may control some or
all of these functions.
Carrier Detect: Should be set so that Carrier is NOT always on.
Data Terminal Ready: Should be set so that DTR is NOT always on; i.e.
is controlled by the computer.
Verbose/Terse Response codes: Should be set so that modem produces
numeric responses
Echo: Should be set so the modem does NOT echo commands
Auto Answer: Should be off so modem does not automatically answer the
phone.
It is most important that you have Carrier and DTR detect enabled. If
your modem does not have DIP switches for these functions then they
will be set by command strings. Check the Setting for Tech 3 to make
sure that it is the appropriate string to enable carrier and DTR.
Setting of Tech settings is described below.
MODEM DEFINITION FILES
BackMail comes with several pre-defined Modem Definiton files. You can
load these using the Expert Settings option in the BMCONFIG program.
The READ.ME file that came with your BackMail will explain what sort
of modems the supplied MDF files are appropriate for. The supplied MDF
files represent a broad range of modem types. One of them should allow
BackMail to drive your modem.
MAKEMDF.COM
For fine tuning BackMail to control your modem you may want to use the
MAKEMDF program that comes with BackMail. To uses MAKEMDF you will
need to get out your modem manual to fill out the appropriate fields.
112 Modem Customization
For smaller changes, for example to add a string to your modem
intialization string, or to turn on your modems speaker, you may find
it easier simply to alter the modem command strings contain in
Technical Settings under the Change setup menu.
You change TECH SETTINGS by entering the number of the tech settings
you want to change and entering an appropriate string or number.
MNP MODEMS
Some high speed modems which support the MNP error connection
protocol, have very great difficulty in establishing a stable
connection with lower speed modems that do not support MNP. If you
have an MNP modem but want to BackMail with other modems that don't,
it is probably a good idea to turn MNP off for BackMailing purposes.
You can do this by including the string "&M0" in your TECH 7 String.
(but confirm the effect of this in your modem manual).
SPECIAL MODEM FEATURES
BackMail does not support software flow control, XON/XOFF link flow
control, if your modem offers these as options you should insure that
they are turned off on your modem.
BackMail sets DTE/DCE Rate according to the connection rate.
BUSY DETECT, WAIT FOR DIAL TONE; AND "X" SETTINGS
What modem responses your modem gives and how it responds to various
commands will often depend upon what "X" command the modem is sent on
intialization. The default value is "X1". If your modem is capable of
Waiting for dial tone and busy detect but is not performing this
function it is probably because it requires a higher X setting. Change
the value of TECH # 4 from "X1" to "X3" or higher.
SLUGGISH MODEMS
Tech setting 102 contains a number which indicates how long it takes
your modem to hang up after it receives an on/off transition in the
DTR line from the computer. The default is 1 second, but if your modem
seems not to be answering the phone, or failing to connect with
calling BackMailers, then try increasing this number to 2 seconds.
CAVEAT
There are many different brands of modem on the market and they vary
widely in how well they perform. BackMail makes extensive use of all
of the features of standard modems and if the manufacturer has cut
corners in production they are more likely to show up with BackMail
than with some other less sophisticated communication programs.
We have done thousands of hours of testing BackMail with many
different kinds of modems. There are some real turkeys out there:
modems that claim to do things that they don't, modems designed to do
things no one in their right mind would ever want them to do, and
modems so flaky that they are not good for much more than autodialing.
Unsurprisingly, we have found that modem performance is more or less
directly correlated with price. We hope that your modem wasn't too
much of a bargain.
Modem Customization 113
Of particular note are some very inexpensive, internal 2400 baud
modems. These can typically run quite hot, which is not highly
recommended if you want to keep your chips happy. Some of these have
very great difficulty connecting with other modems at 2400 baud and
you have to set your LAG TIME (See the manual for an explanation) to a
very high value (e.g. 30 seconds). To successfully connect with these
modems.
Setting If you frequently get calls which BackMail identifies as
Answer voice calls but which are really other BackMailers, or if
Baud other BackMailers have trouble connecting with you we
lower recommend that you use BMCONFIG.COM to set your ANSWER BAUD
rate to 1200 baud. If you have trouble connecting with other modems at
2400 baud then you should reduce your CALL BAUD rate down to 1200
baud. The trade off of reliability for speed is usually worth it.
TECHNICAL SETTINGS
The Technical settings option allows you to alter some
of BackMail's operating parameters. Most of these
settings can be altered from BMCONFIG.
Tech There are two general types of technical
numbers settings, those that accept numbers, and those
vs. that accept strings.
Tech
Strings
+---------------------------------+
| ** Technical Settings ** |
| See User's Manual for details |
| Enter number of item to change |
| Esc when done (0-150): |
| _ |
| |
+---------------------------------+
When you enter the number of the technical setting you
wish to change the program will display its current
value.
+-------------------------------------+
| Item 3: Current value is S9=30 |
| Enter new value, or <-+ to leave |
| unchanged: _ |
+-------------------------------------+
Entering a new value will over-write the old value.
While there are a large number of possible settings,
there are only a few that are of interest to the
average user. Because some tech settings alter the
basic operating characteristics of the program, small
changes can have large and sometimes unwelcome effects.
Technical Settings 115
It is a good idea to back up your copy of BackMail
before you start experimenting.
There are defaults for all these settings built into
the program. These defaults have been extensively
tested with many Hayes and Hayes-compatible modems, and
work for most such. When you select a Modem Definition
File (MDF) using BMCONFIG, it will alter some of the
strings contained here. The default values here are
included in "DEFAULT.MDF).
The meaning of the technical settings is discussed
below.
TECH 0 - 17: MODEM COMMAND STRINGS
TECH 0: The modem attention string. This defaults to
'AT'.
TECH 1: The string to force the modem to hangup and
reset. This defaults to "Z".
TECH 2: The string used to set the length of the period
during which we watch the carrier when
someone calls, before deciding that we
have a valid carrier after all. This
defaults to 'S9=6 ', for 6/10 second.
TECH 3: The string used to enable carrier detect and to
place DTR under the control of the
modem. This string is necessary for
modems that do not have external DIP
switch control of these features. The
default value of this string is
"&C1&D2". In some modems which have DIP
switches and do not recognize "&" com-
mands, this string may produce
unpredictable results. In this case TECH
3 should just be set to a blank string.
116 Technical settings
TECH 4: The string used to enable extended response
codes. If your modem has a command re-
sponse set larger than the Hayes
standard, there is a string which turns
the extended set on. Typically, this
string is entered here. This will
appear in your modem manual, most
probably under the command 'X'. The
default is 'X1'.
TECH 5: The string which is used to turn on the modem
speaker. This defaults to 'M1'.
This string is primarily for use if your
modem uses the enhanced Hayes command
set rather than the original set. The
enhanced Hayes standard does not allow
for a volume control knob for the
speaker; instead, one is allowed to set
the speaker volume with a new command,
'L'. Typically, the default setting for
the speaker is very loud. When BackMail
turns on the speaker, as it does when it
is dialling out a voice call, this
string is sent; it can include the
speaker volume control setting. A
typical volume control setting would
have the form 'L1M1'.
TECH 6: The string which is used to turn off the modem
speaker. This defaults to 'M0'.
TECH 7: The string that forces the modem to use only
numeric return codes. This defaults to
'Q0V0E0'.
TECH 8: The string that disables auto-answer. This
defaults o 'S0=0 '.
TECH 9: The string that sets how long we wait for
carrier after either dialing out or
Technical Settings 117
answering the phone. This defaults to
'S7=65' for 25 seconds.
TECH 10: The start of the dialout using touch tones
command. This defaults to 'DT'.
TECH 11: The start of the dialout using dial pulses
command. This defaults to 'DP'.
TECH 12: The string or character used (after the Tech 1
string) to get the modem to answer the
phone and generate a carrier. This
defaults to 'A'.
TECH 13: The modifier that gets added to the number to
dial to specify immediate return to
command mode after dialling the number.
This defaults to ';'
TECH 14: The command used to pick up the phone in
originate mode. This defaults to 'D'.
TECH 15: The character or string used to end commands
to the modem. This normally defaults to
a carriage return.
TECH 16: The character or string used to force your
modem to wait for dial tone. The
default value is 'W'
TECH 17: General purpose reset string. This string is
sent to the modem each time BackMail
hangs up the phone and on
intitialization. It is a good place to
put the strings that control the special
featurs of your modem. In the default,
this string is blank.
118 Technical settings
TECH 18: PHONE NUMBER DELIMETERS (FOR SCREEN DIALING)
This string is used to control BackMail's autodialer.
When you invoke the voice autodialer BackMail first
scans your foreground screen for phone numbers. As far
as the screen dialer is concerned any string of digits
of a certain length (see tech # below) is a phone
number. In counting the digits BackMail will treat
certain characters as phone number seperators and skip
over them in counting digits. The default phone
seperator characters are the left and right
parentheses,'(',')' and the dash '-'. If you use other
or different seperator characters you can enter them
here.
Note you cannot use the space character as a phone
seprator character. The editor will automatically
exclude spaces from this string.
MODEM RESPONSE VALUES: TECH 50 - 100
This is the response table for the modem. Your modem
will typically respond with a number, from 0 to 50 to
tell the program what it is doing. Technical settings
50-100 correspond to the modem response codes 0-50. For
each of these responses, Tech Settings contains a
number which indicates what interpreation BackMail
gives this response.
For example on most modems a response of '5' means
"connected at 1200 baud". Tech 55 corresponds to
response code '5'. The default setting for Tech 55 is
"2". 2 is BackMail's number which means "connected at
1200 baud".
Use Sound confusing? Well its technical. Don't
MAKEMDF worry. The simplest way to tell BackMail about
instead the response codes for your modem is to use
the utility program MAKEMDF.COM. It will fill out this
section of Technical strings for your modem.
Technical Settings 119
The table below describes the default settings for TECH
50-100.
+--------+----------+---------+
| Number | Modem | Default |
| | Response | Setting |
+--------+----------+---------+
| 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | 1 | 1 |
| 52 | 2 | 4 |
| 53 | 3 | 5 |
| 54 | 4 | 10 |
| 55 | 5 | 2 |
| 56 | 6 | 9 |
| 57 | 7 | 9 |
| 58 | 8 | 9 |
| 59 | 9 | 9 |
| 60 | 10 | 3 |
| 61-100 | 11-50 | 9 |
+--------+----------+---------+
The following table gives the numbers which indicate
BackMail's interpretation of a given response code.
120 Technical settings
+---------+----------------------------+
| Setting | Interpretation |
| Value | |
+---------+----------------------------+
| 0 | 'OK': Command accepted |
| 1 | Carrier at 300 Baud |
| 2 | Carrier at 1200 Baud |
| 3 | Carrier at 2400 Baud |
| 4 | Ring detect |
| 5 | No carrier / carrier lost |
| 6 | Busy signal detected |
| 7 | Phone at far end rings |
| 8 | No dial tone |
| 9 | Do nothing |
| 10 | Error in command line |
| 11 | Connect 9600 |
| 12 | Connect 4800 |
+---------+----------------------------+
TECH 102: MODEM RESET TIME
The length of time (in seconds) that the modem will
wait after it receives a modem comand string. If you
find that when you start up the modem you get "MODEM
TIME OUT" errors and have to hit Enter several times to
get the modem to respond, try increasing this value.
TECH 104: GRAPHICS DISPLAY HANDLEING
The number here will have a value from 1-7. These
refer to video modes. (If you don't know what they are
don't tinker with this). When running in attended mode
BackMail will interrupt the foreground process to put
up messages such as "You have new mail". When you
acknowledge the message, BackMail will restore your
screen to its original state. However there are some
higher video modes on some video cards which BackMail
will not be able to restore. The problem is in the
video hardware's design (the relevant video registers
are write only). To prevent this from happening tech 74
should be set to the highest video value which BackMail
can restore on your machine. The default is "7" which
Technical Settings 121
handles EGA screens. For higher Graphics modes
BackMail will not attempt to write messages to your
screen, it will just ring the bell on your machine to
let you know, e.g. that you have new mail. Note
though that if you call up the BackMail Main Menu it
will always respond, no matter what the consequences to
your graphics display. Be careful.
If you are operating a graphics program and find that
BackMail messages don't restore your screen properly,
then you should increase this number. Examples: To
avoid visual notification in all graphics modes, set
tech - 74 to a value of 3 (which is the highest number
for a valid CGA/EGA text mode).
To allow notification in 320x200 color graphics, but
not in 640x200 B&W graphics, set tech - 74 to 5. Noti-
fication is always given (when enabled) for monochrome
text display (mode 7) regardless of the tech - 74
setting.
TECH 105: MINIMUM NUMBER OF PHONE NUMBER DIGITS
This value is only relevant to the screen reading
autodialer. When the autodialer is called up (default
Alt 2) it searches the screen for a string of digits
long enough to a phone number. Delimeter characters
(see Tech# 18) are ignored. This Tech setting
determines how many digits are long enough. The default
is 7 digits.
TECH 106: MODEM INITIALIZATION
When BackMail is first started up it checks to see if
your modem is on. It does this by seeing if it gets any
sort of response to an "AT" it sends to the modem. If
it fails to get a response after several tries it
suggest that you check to make sure the modem is on and
gives you the option of aborting, retrying the modem,
or to carry on regardless.
122 Technical settings
+-----------------------------------------------+
|Time out error on modem response. |
|This probably means that your modem is not on. |
|Hit <-+ to retry |
|Ctrl-C to abort |
|or any other key to proceed |
+-----------------------------------------------+
There are some kinds of communication equipment which
will not respond as BackMail expects (null modem,
serial spoolers etc.) in which case getting the "modem
is not on" warning each time you start up would be
annoying. Change this setting from "0" (the default) to
"1" to suppress the start up modem test.
TECH 80 - 111: COLOR TABLE
Set The table below describes each color's
Screen position in the table, its default value, and
Colors where in the program it is used. For actual
colors, we must refer you to the technical manuals of
your computer.
Use We strongly recommend use of the BMCONFIG
BMCONFI program to change BackMail's color display.
G
Technical Settings 123
| Color screen |Monochrome screen |
| (CGA, EGA) | (MDA, Hercules) |
|------------------|------------------|
| Number | Default | Number | Default |
| | Value | | Value | Used for:
+--------+---------+--------+---------+-------------------------
| 80 | 7 | 96 | 7 | Normal video areas
| 81 | 15 | 97 | 15 | Highlight/ bright text
| 82 | 112 | 98 | 112 | Reverse video: menus & help
| 83 | 127 | 99 | 112 | Highlighted reverse video
| 84 | 12 | 100 | 15 | Errors and warnings
| 85 | 137 | 101 | 143 | Attention messages
| 86 | 143 | 102 | 143 | flashing bright
| 87 | 4 | 103 | 7 | Spare
| 88 | 5 | 104 | 7 | Spare
| 89 | 6 | 105 | 7 | Spare
| 90 | 10 | 106 | 7 | Spare
| 91 | 11 | 107 | 7 | Spare
| 92 | 12 | 108 | 7 | Spare
| 93 | 13 | 109 | 7 | Spare
| 94 | 14 | 110 | 7 | Spare
| 95 | 16 | 111 | 7 | Spare
+--------+---------+--------+---------+-----------------
Note that colors flagged as Spare will occasionally be
used in advertisements. Other than that, there are of
no interest to the normal user.
TROUBLE SHOOTING
BackMail is an inexpensive program, compact and easy to use. But
don't let that fool you. It is easily one of the most technically
sophisticated programs ever written for the PC environment. Because of
this, Alethic has intensively tested BackMail to a far greater extent
than commercial programs are normally tested. That there have been
many thousands of hours of trouble-free BackMailing is a tribute to
this testing. But saying this is not to say that you cannot have
problems.
We hope that BackMail will work for you "right out of the box", but if
you have trouble you may well find a solution below. If not remember
that you can BackMail your questions to us directly.
BackMail does not dial out or
Does not answer the phone or
Hangs up on connectormodem doesn't pick up phone.
These are most likely a symptom of your modem not responding correctly
to the computer's DTR line, or its reacting incorrectly to the Command
strings BackMail is using to attempt to control your modem. You can
likely cure this problem by using a different Modem Definition File
(MDF).
Your package comes with three modem definition files. That you can
install these using BMCONFIG.COM (See chapter 5). One of these will
correctly operate almost any modem (provided the modem's DIP switches
are set correctly).
DEFAULTS.MDF This contains the BackMail defauls settings.
MODEM1.MDF Recommended for Internal Modems that Support "&" commands.
MODEM2.MDF: Recommended for Modems that do not support "&" commands.
Note that if your modem is one of these you should make sure
that your modems DTR and CD DIP switches are set correctly.
I can't hear my modem when BackMail dials.
By design, BackMail turns off your modem's speaker when it dials out
(when you start doing a lot of BackMailing you will thank us for this
feature). BackMail turns on the modem when you use its voice
autodialler. However if you wish to change this you can do so easily.
TECH setting #6 under Technical Settings in the CHANGE SETUP menu
contains the string to turn off your modem speaker. (Default "M0"). To
have your modem on all the time change this string to the one which
turns on the speaker on your modem. (Typically this would be "M1".)
I changed a technical setting but it had no effect
Trouble Shooting 125
Technical Settings are sent to the modem when BackMail resets the
modem. So changing a technical string won't make any difference until
BackMail resets the modem. You can get BackMail to reset the modem by
DEACTIVATING then REACTIVATING BackMail (Press Alt-3 twice). When
BackMail reactivates it resets the modem using your currently defined
tech strings.
My BackMail doesn't send my messages right away!
It's not supposed to unless you specifically tell it to by pressing
'N' at the main menu. BackMail operates on a cycle of approximately 3
minutes. If you post a message or file (and have no other mail
addressed to anyone else), then BackMail will try to post it sometime
in the next few minutes. The cycle time varies slightly depending
upon your phone number. This is to make it very unlikely that two
BackMails will ever get into perfect synch and fail to connect because
they are calling each other at exactly the same time. If the two of
you are prone to override this cycle with the send Now command at the
main menu, you may very well find yourselves madly dialing in at the
same time as your destination is dialing out.
After BackMail has answered a call it continues to report that it is
on-line even after the calling party has disconnected.
This usually means that either the modem has failed to signal loss of
carrier, or that the serial port hardware on the PC has failed to
interpret the modem's signal. The first thing to check is to insure
that the DIP switches on your modem are set to place CD (Carrier
Detect) and DTR under the control of the computer. If your modem does
not have dip switches then use Tech 0 and Tech 3 of CHANGE SETUP to
insure that your modem is running with CD and DTR enabled. (see
GETTING STARTED)
If the DIP switches are set correctly but the problem still persists
you should determine if your modem supports the command string
"&C1&D2" at TECH 3. If your modem does not support "&" commands then
this string may be confusing your modem. In that case you should go to
TECH 3 under CHANGE SETUP and blank out the "&C1&D2" .
If this fails, insure that your cable makes the appropriate
connections for DTR and CD.
If the cable checks out, then it is likely that the problem lies in
your hardware. For example, running slow UART chips (like 8250's) in
a fast machine (like an AT-type) can lead to this sort of performance.
Then too it may be that your modem is simply not fully functional.
A message or file has been queued for delivery but BackMail does not
send it.
BackMail will only send mail to a destination provided that
destination is available. Part of the ID block of a BackMail user
consists of a notification of this availability 'window' (see the
guide to operation). This means that each time two BackMails
126 Trouble Shooting
communicate they exchange availability times. When this happens
BackMail checks for a change, and if there is one, it is recorded in
the phone directory automatically. Thus it is possible for somebody's
availability time to change and for you not to be aware of the change
(although your BackMail will be aware of it). In case your need to
communicate is urgent, you can override somebody's published
availability time by editing their entry in the phone directory to
override their availability time (use option P in the main menu). This
power should not be exercised lightly.
BacKmail Stops answering or calling out when I use certain programs
BackMail, in common with many communication programs these days, is
interrupt driven. In order to operate properly, your hardware must
generate signals called interrupts at the appropriate time. This is
assured when BackMail loads initially since it enables these
interrupts at that time. It is a sad fact of life however that
certain other programs will disable interrupts and not re-enable them
when they have finished running (we even know of a directory listing
program that does this!). If interrupts become disabled then BackMail
will fail in some or all of its duties (depending upon which
interrupts have been disabled). If this happens, killing and
restarting will restore interrupts and all will be well (until the
next time you run the program that did the disabling) but it is not
necessary to go through the whole start up sequence again. You can
also re-enable interrupts by deactivating and reactivating BackMail
(default key <Alt 3>).
Graphics screens are not restored after "You have New Mail" and "Voice
Call Messages" pop up
There are some technical limits on what can be done here, arising
from the fact that it is impossible for software to determine
precisely the video state of your machine (thus, sometimes, making it
impossible for BackMail or other TSR programs to restore the screen).
Nevertheless, several steps may be helpful. See the notes concerning
TECH 104 under Technical Settings in the CHANGE SETUP section. Also
consider the possibility of placing your BackMail in Unattended Mode
when running your graphics packages (see MAIN MENU). In Unattended
Mode BackMail will not interrupt the foreground process
Get "Sorry it's not a voice call after all" messages.
This is usually an indication that your Lag Time is set too low. The
'right' value for this is highly modem dependent and there is
considerable variation even among modems from the same manufacturer.
See the section on setting your Lag Time in the CHANGE SETUP section
of this manual.
Modem gives a TIME OUT error on start up.
This can happen if your modem is off, but you know that. More likely
what's going on is that your modem has got into a state in which it
Trouble Shooting 127
won't respond to an initialization string. Turning the modem off then
on once or twice, then hitting Enter will usually fix this.
BackMail interferes with my other communications programs.
No it doesn't. Not if you remember to deactivate BackMail before you
run your conventional terminal program. (See the MAIN MENU chapter
7). If you call your other communications programs from a batch file
in which you prefix and postfix the call with calls to ACTIVE (the
command-line alternative to the deactivate/activate hot-key) you won't
have to bother remembering.
BackMail tries to call out over my voice calls. Even when I set "WAIT
FOR DIAL TONE" on.
Either your modem does not support the "Wait for Dial Tone" or you
need to implement its extended command set. See the explanation of "X
modes" in Appendix B, below. You might also check your Tech 16
setting against your modem manual.
It is a sad fact that modem manuals sometimes depict a rosier world
than the actual one; reporting e.g. that the modem sends response code
such and such when it fails to detect a dial tone, when really the
modem's behavior requires the more guarded assertion that it does this
"frequently" or even "sometimes". Inexpensive modems will sometimes
mistake your conversation for a dial tone and dial out anyway.
I See Blank spaces not names when I ADDRESS my mail
What is happening is that you have not filled out the Handle (10
character short name) of the destination. It is the Handles of the
destinations that are shown in the phone directory list. When you add
handles they will appear in the destination list and start appearing
in the display status reports of your outgoing mail.
I changed a destinations phone number/SCRIPT/PREFIX but BackMail keeps
dialing the old one
What is going on here is that one part of BackMail hasn't leaned what
you've done in another portion of the program. BackMail is really two
different, but inter-connected programs: the Background communications
engine, BGROUND.COM and the FGROUND.COM program which controls all the
functions that you access from the main menu. The Background
communications program is working even when you have the main menu up
and are editing your phone and mail files. This means that FGROUND.COM
and BGROUND.COM are often having to access the same files. The way
BackMail handles this is by having the FGROUND.COM program deal with
copies of the information that BGROUND.COM is using. All the
information that BGROUND uses is updated and reconciled as soon as you
exit from the BackMail main Menu.
128 Trouble Shooting
The bottom line is that the simple way to get any changes from the
Background to the foreground is to Esc out of the MAIN MENU. As soon
as you do this all of your phone/script etc changes will kick in.
Sometimes characters that I type in the BackMail editor "drop through"
into the foreground process like Microsoft Word
What is happening is that your foreground process is peeking at the
character buffer in order to get keys as quickly as they come in.
Programs with variable "cursor speed" or "keyboard speed" controls
will do this (E.G. Microsoft Word and WordPerfect).
The simple way to cure this should be to toggle the Compatibility
Switch under the CHANGE SETUP. menu
Note that if you've been having trouble using the offending foreground
process with other TSR's this may have been the problem. The way to
cure those other incompatibilities may be to set the "cursor speed" on
your foreground process to zero.
Note that changing the Compatibility Switch on BackMail should solve
the drop through problem but you may loose compatibility between
BackMail and other TSR programs. In that case you will have to decide
whether you would rather put up with the occasional character drop
through or set your cursor speed to zero on the foreground process.
Get "OUTMAIL" or "INMAIL CORRUPTED" message.
We hope you never see this, but if you do something has garbled your
mail box file . There are two possible causes of this:
If this happens frequently it is likely that another program is
violating DOS's rules for file and interrupt handling and is fouling
BackMail's waters. This is rare and the offending programs will most
likely be an amateurish TSR program that does conform to the industry
standards. If you have a program that you suspect of causing these
difficulties you should probably stop using it since BackMail is not
the only program it will cause problems with.
BackMail does extensive file i/o in the background. If BackMail is in
the midst of writing to a file and your system loses power, or you do
something in the foreground to crash the system, then the file may get
corrupted. BackMail only opens files when it is on-line so for a power
down or crash can only cause trouble if it happens when you are on-
line.
It is thus a good idea (particularly if you have an internal modem and
can't see when you are on-line) to check the BackMail Main menu before
you power down. If you see that you are on-line you can wait for the
call to end or terminate it by deactivating the program. Doing this in
mid call will not damage your Mail files. The person you are calling
will get a "CALL TERMINATED BY RECEIVER" notice and the aborted
messages will be resent by BackMail the next chance it gets.
Trouble Shooting 129
As we said, this should be a rare occurrence, but if you get a "mail
file corrupted message" you should try looking at the relevant mail
file under MAINTAIN. If it looks normal then the MAINTAIN function has
automatically repaired the file. If it looks garbled or MAINTAIN will
not let you look at the file then exit to DOS and erase the relevant
file (inmail or outmail). BackMail will build you a new mail file when
you restart it.
To guard against the loss of messages, you should make backup copies
of your mail files and phone directory from time to time.
On start up the program aborts while "Reading mail files".
Alas, your mail files have been corrupted. Erase them and restart the
program.
Get "Program Fails CRC check"
If you get this message on start up it means that your disk copy of
BackMail has been corrupted. Let us know and we'll get you a new one.
If you get this message after you have been running for awhile then
what must have happened is that some other program you have running
has gone wild, violated the BIOS memory rules, and has overwritten
BackMail's resident code. If this happens BackMail will try to
gracefully retire from the scene, but you should probably reboot
anyway and do something about the rogue program.
Get a "Too many files" message.
Make sure that your CONFIG.SYS file contains a line which says FILES =
20.
BackMail tells me I have a voice call but when I pick up the phone it
has hung up.
Pick up the phone before you hit a key in response to the voice call
message. Hitting the key is the signal to BackMail that it is okay to
hang up the phone.
Modem hangs up before a connection is made or destinations complain
that your messages are identified as "Voice Calls" by their modem even
when their Lag Times are set to maximum.
What is almost certainly happening is that the audio filters on your
modem are interpreting the ringing sound as a carrier signal and are
trying to talk to the bell not the destination's computer. Try
increasing the "S9 value" of TECH 3 under CHANGE SETUP should help.
If this doesn't work then, if you have a 2400 baud modem you should
try setting the CALLBAUD setting (using BMCONFIG.COM) to 1200 baud.
The loss of transmission speed on outgoing calls is regrettable but
may be unavoidable with some modems.
130 Trouble Shooting
BackMail calls out but hangs up just after the "on-line" message
appears or
BackMail answers a call but does not correctly report who is calling
and/or does not deliver mail which has been queued for that caller.
After connecting, two BackMails exchange 'ID blocks'. If the phone
number in the receiver's block fails to match the number the sender
dialed, the sender disconnects. This can happen if the party being
called has failed to set the phone number on their copy of BGROUND
(through the CHANGE SETUP setup option of the main menu). You should
also make sure that you have the destination's full phone number,
including any extension to their number that they may be using to
receive internal calls. (See Appendix C: Understanding Extension
numbers below).
If all this fails it may be that either you or the destination you are
having trouble with has got a corrupted MAIL file. The program tries
to verify the integrity of its mail files and tell you if this has
happened, but it can happen that a mail file passes these tests but is
internally corrupted in such a way that BackMail finds it has no
messages to deliver after it has made contact. You should have both
parties that are experiencing this trouble look at their INMAIL and
OUTMAIL files under the Mailbox MAINTENANCE functions. These functions
will reveal (and usually fix) garbled MAIL files. If MAINTENANCE
reveals garbled mail files, Esc back to the MAIN MENU and then go back
and look at the file with MAINTAIN again. If it is still garbled, you
will have to erase the file and restart.
Sometimes my BackMail calls another or they call mine and all that
happens is that the "on-line" message appears but nothing else happens
and after a while we disconnect.
As we have said before some modems just have a hard time talking to
each other although if you know of any case in which this always
happens, we want to know about it. Another way in which this can
happen is if one or both ends of the attempted BackMail session have
some process running which "locks out" BackMail. In order to engage
in communication, BackMail must be able to read and write files, and
some operations will prevent BackMail, or any other program for that
matter, from doing this. In particular, the DOS commands COPY and
FORMAT have this property; while they run there can be no other
program reading and writing files. As a special case of this if you
routinely use the COPY command to send files to the printer, you will
be disabling BackMail during that time. We would suggest that you use
the DOS PRINT command instead since it does not lock BackMail out.
I made up several different 'phone' files to do different mass
mailings but when I switched from one to another, BackMail crashed as
soon as it started to dial out the first call
Although PHONE, INMAIL and OUTMAIL are separate files they are
intimately related. The entries in PHONE contain specific references
to entries in OUTMAIL (and vice versa) and INMAIL contains specific
references to PHONE. If you suddenly replace PHONE without replacing
Trouble Shooting 131
(at least) OUTMAIL then BackMail will certainly be too confused to
work properly and may well be confused enough to crash. If you make a
new PHONE you should also make new mail files to go along with it, and
when you swap PHONE's, swap the associated mail files at the same time
and all will be well provided that you kill BackMail before the swap
and restart it after. You must start fresh because BackMail saves in-
formation in memory from your current PHONE and that will not be
replaced (safely) with information from the swapped PHONE unless you
restart.
I Get calls at times I am not availabile.
There are three possible explanations:
- The caller is a new caller to your BackMail and doesn't yet know about
your declared availability time.
- The caller has manually changed your availability time in his or her
phone directory.
- Either you or the caller have or have had an incorrect local time set
on their machines.
I changed my availability time but the change did not get passed along
to some of the other BackMailers who called.
BackMail is designed to be as fast as possible in its background
operations. This is so that it can be unobtrusive, which is a highly
prized quality in a background program. We achieve this speed by
keeping file manipulations to an absolute minimum and that means we
don't want to open the phone directory when we don't have to. Since
updating availability times requires changing the phone directory, we
always do these updates during a READ NEW MAIL session. At this time
BackMail is in the foreground and we don't have to worry so much about
being unobtrusive. So if you change your availability time, the other
members of your BackMail net won't find out about the change until you
send them mail and they read it. Any mail at all will do, since the
updating process is automatic.
BackMail gets its list of things to send from an internal table of
send tasks which has room for 100 entries. When you start up this
table is constructed and filled with as many entries as possible, even
the entries of destinations for which nothing is pending. This is
because BackMail also uses this table to identify incoming calls,
rather than trying to look up the number in your phone directory while
on-line. If your phone directory has more than 100 data numbers in it
and you address mail to somebody far down the list it can happen that
there is no room in the table and so DISPLAY STATUS won't show you the
pending mail right after you address it. This does not mean that the
message won't get posted though. As soon as you exit the foreground,
BackMail will reconstruct the internal table and at that time your
message will get in since destinations with mail pending have priority
over destinations with no mail pending. The exception to this rule,
is the situation in which you really have mail pending for 100 or more
132 Trouble Shooting
destinations. In that case you will have to wait until some of that
mail has been sent until your recent composition gets its chance.
Don't worry that because you don't see a notification under DISPLAY
STATUS, BackMail has not forgotten about your message.
General Advice
Since BackMail must run behind another application, it is to some
extent at their mercy. Of course there is no way we can insure the
proper behavior, or even sanity of these third-party foreground
applications. From the BackMailer's point of view the worst thing that
can happen is that your INMAIL, OUTMAIL and PHONE files will somehow
get corrupted.
A sensible precaution then is to back up your mail and phone files on
a regular basis. A simple way to do this is to include a few lines in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Suppose, for example that your BackMail
Auxilliary files reside in the subdirectory:
C:\BACKMAIL
In that case including the lines:
COPY C:\BACKMAIL\PHONE C:\BACKMAIL\PHONE.SAV
COPY C:\BACKMAIL\INMAIL C:\BACKMAIL\INMAIL.SAV
COPY C:\BACKMAIL\OUTMAIL C:\BACKMAIL\OUTMAIL.SAV
would create backups of your mail and phone dials, just in case.
Note, you must backup all three files as the three are all connected.
OVERVIEW
What is BackMail?.........................4
THE BACKMAILING BASICS............................5
Hot Keys......................................5
Availability Times............................5
Messages and Files............................6
INMAIL, OUTMAIL AND TRANSFER..................6
TeleWare......................................6
How to Register...................................7
How to Pay....................................7
How Registration Works........................7
Registering by Credit Card....................7
Prepaid Registrations.........................7
Cheque or Money Order.........................8
Ordering a Manual.............................8
Giving us your Postal Address.................8
When you've finished registering..............8
After you have registered.....................8
RE-REGISTERING................................8
Why register?.................................9
GETTING STARTED...................................10
THE PACKAGE...................................10
INSTALLATION..................................10
CONFIG.SYS....................................10
CONNECTING YOUR MODEM.........................11
Phone connection..............................11
BMCONFIG.COM......................................12
COMMUNICATIONS PORT...........................12
ANSWER BAUD RATE AND CALL BAUD RATE..........12
COLORS........................................12
BACKMAIL AUXILIARY FILES......................12
received file directory.......................13
Expert Settings...............................13
Tone Dial.....................................13
Wait for Dialtone.............................13
Wait for Retrace..............................13
Notification..................................13
Unattended mode...............................13
Data-only mode................................14
Lag time......................................14
Letterhead....................................14
Swap file.....................................14
Comm port base................................14
Interrupt level...............................14
Load modem description........................14
Running the program...............................16
Compatibility with other Programs............16
The first time you run BackMail...............16
Upgrading from BackMail 1.10..................16
Start up messages.............................17
STARTUP BANNER................................18
Initializing the modem.......................18
Main Menu.........................................19
Keeping Time..................................19
Make sure your phone number is correct........19
Selecting a function..........................20
Removing BackMail from memory.................20
DEACTIVATING BackMail.........................20
Using other communications programs...........20
Running unattended............................21
Call Now..........................................21
Register..........................................21
Send a message....................................23
The BackMail Message Editor...................23
Editor commands...............................23
How long can messages be?.....................24
Subject Line..................................25
Addressing your mail..........................25
Selecting a destination.......................26
Mass Mailings.................................26
Sending to Groups.................................26
Suspending Destinations.......................26
When you have addressed your mail.............28
Aborting the message..........................28
CC Lists..........................................28
REad New MAIL.....................................29
received files................................29
Incoming Messages.............................29
REPLYING TO MESSAGES..........................30
FORWARDING MESSAGES...........................30
Marking messages as READ or UNREAD............31
SEND A FILE.......................................32
File Size.....................................33
ADDRESSING A FILE.............................33
SUSPENDING DESTINATIONS.......................34
display status....................................35
STATUS REPORTS................................35
Welcome File Notice...........................36
Script Error Message..........................36
Suspending Destinations.......................36
MAINTAIN incoming MAIL............................37
Mailbox maintenance...........................37
Maintaining inmail............................37
Deleting mail.................................38
Deleting file notices.........................38
Appending messages to files...................39
Maintain Outgoing Mail............................40
APPENDING TO FILE.............................41
READDRESSING OUTGOING MAIL....................41
Maintaining while Online......................41
Special Status messages...........................41
NO SPACE TO RECEIVE FILE..................41
RECEIVER TIMED OUT........................42
TERMINATED BY RECEIVER....................42
TERMINATED BY SENDER......................42
LINE BREAK ERROR..........................42
Update Phone Directory............................43
Voice and Data Numbers........................43
Directory Listing.............................43
Adding a new BackMail Destination.............44
Destination's Name............................45
Voice Phone Number............................45
Prefix Names and Prefix Numbers...............45
Extensions....................................46
Does This destination have a BackMail?........46
Handle........................................47
Availability Times............................47
Availability Update...........................48
* Priority....................................49
# Polled Destinations.........................49
Destination Scripts...........................49
Maximum Retries...............................49
* Accept return mail..........................50
* Secure Mail Delivery........................50
'Automatic' Directory Updates.................51
'Merging in' other phone directories..........51
Deleting phone directory entries..............51
Change Setup......................................53
Availability time.............................53
Compatibility Switch..........................56
DOS 4.........................................56
Welcome unknown...............................57
Display Status................................57
Phone dialing mode............................57
Letterhead....................................58
Select groups.................................58
Ring to answer................................60
Hot keys......................................60
Lag Time......................................60
Answer Mode...................................62
Notification..................................62
Data only line................................63
Phone prefixes and suffixes...................63
Prefix or suffix?.............................64
Prefix types..................................64
Screen Retrace Handling.......................65
Script names..................................66
Technical Settings............................66
Phone Number..................................66
Wait for Dial Tone............................67
VOICE CALLS.......................................69
Voice calls...................................69
Placing a voice call..........................69
Dialing from your phone directory.............70
Entering numbers by hand......................70
Adding a number to your phone directory.......71
When BackMail Dials out.......................71
When the dialer is finished your call.........72
If BackMail is using the phone...............72
Receiving voice calls.........................73
From the caller's point of view...............73
Using BackMail on Voice lines.................74
BACKMAIL SCRIPTS..................................75
What Scripts are for..........................75
SCRIPT FILES..................................75
ADDING A SCRIPT TO BACKMAIL...................75
Deleting Script File names....................77
How to use Scripts............................77
Display Status Script messages................78
Unsent
Script logging error..................78
Unsent
Script language error.................78
Error Handling............................79
The BackMail Script language......................80
FILE STRUCTURE................................80
COMMENT LINES.................................80
COMMANDS......................................81
COMMAND LINES.................................82
Field Sizes...................................85
SPECIAL CHARACTERS IN SEND STRINGS...........85
SENDING <CR> and <LF>.........................85
DESTINATION PHONE NUMBERS.....................86
SENDING SPECIAL CHARACTERS....................88
PARAMETERS....................................89
SCRIPT LANGUAGE COMMANDS......................89
An Wait for n seconds.........................89
Bn Set TIMEOUT time to n seconds..............89
C Wait for carrier............................90
PLACE Marker Dn...............................91
Controlling program Flow.....................92
En JUMP BACK (ONCE) TO MARKER Dn..............92
F Open the SCRIPT.LOG file....................94
What is recorded in the script log............95
SCRIPT ERRORS.................................97
TURNING OFF SCRIPT LOGGING....................97
Command G Go into regular BackMail mode.......97
H Hang up....................................98
I Ignore. Do nothing..........................98
Jn Jump forward once to marker Dn.............98
Tracking the Script Sequence..................100
Script parameter values.......................100
BackMail Utilities
SEND, PMERGE and Convert......................101
SEND - command line file sending utility......101
Send Exit Codes...............................102
PMERGE
BackMail phone directory merge utility........104
PMERGE Usage Notes................................104
PMERGE Limitations and Cautions...............105
PMERGE Error Messages and Exit Codes..........105
CONVERT
Phone Directory Conversion Program............107
CONVERT Error Messages........................107
Phone numbers And extensions......................108
Automatic phone number formating..............108
International Numbers.........................108
UnDERSTANDING EXTENSION NUMBERS...............109
Declaring your own extension..................109
The Internal Prefix...........................109
Customizing BackMail for your Modem...............111
Dip Switches..................................111
Modem Definition Files........................111
MAKEMDF.COM...................................111
MNP Modems....................................112
Special Modem features........................112
Busy Detect, Wait for Dial Tone...............112
Sluggish Modems...............................112
CAVEAT........................................112
Technical Settings................................114
TECH 0 - 17
Modem Command STRINGS.....................115
TECH 18
Phone number delimeters (for screen dialing)..118
MODEM RESPONSE VALUES
TECH 50 - 100.................................118
TECH 102
Modem Reset Time..............................120
TECH 104
Graphics Display Handling.................120
TECH 105
Minimum Number of phone number digits.....121
TECH 106
Modem initialization..........................121
TECH 80 - 111
Color Table...................................122
Trouble Shooting..................................124