Copyright: Copyright ©tfmSoftware/JD Wells
Citation: tfmSoftware tfmEditor help topic


Contents
Contents - tfmEditor Help

This help file applies to tfmEditor v1 beta5

Overview

If you can't enter text in the editor window

Menu Commands

Email Features

Email and Directory Settings

Some Random Stuff

Author, Contacting tfmSoftware

Registration, Legal


Overview


Menu Commands

File

Edit

Text Attributes

Options


Email Features

Sending Email

tfmEditor was conceived as primarily a communication tool for printing or emailing short letters, memos, etc.  As such, it was never intended to be a fully-featured email client, however some effort has been made to include enough features that tfmEditor users can make effective use of email from within the application itself.  tfmEditor will send email,via an SMTP server.  tfmEditor email can include one attachment and can be addressed to the main recipient as well as one 'cc' recipient.  If the Save Copy to Self setting is selected on the Communications Settings page under Options/Settings then a copy of each email sent will be saved to the currently selected Copy to Self directory.

Retrieving Email from your Server

In addition to sending email, tfmEditor can download email from your server (operated by your internet service provider).  When you choose File/Retrieve Email ,the Retrieve Email window opens.  Click on the lightening bolt or choose from the menu items to download email here.  The window will fill with a list of senders and subjects for each email message downloaded from the server.  Double clicking on a message listing will cause the message to be displayed in the editor window.  It is important to note that messages you wish to keep need to be saved explicitly before the Retrieve Email window is closed.  If a message has been deleted from your server during download and then is not saved before closing the message list of senders and subjects ( the Retrieve Email window ), it will be lost forever.  Messages can be saved by highlighting them in the list (the message that gets saved is the selected message in the messages list, not necessarily the one displayed in the editor window)and then clicking the arrow-pointing-into-the-folder icon or choosing Save Message from the menu.  Attachments may be executed from within tfmEditor by choosing from the menu or tool bar of the Retrieve Email window, however, this version of tfmEditor does not support saving them to file (watch for this in version 2).


Email and Directory Settings

By using the Options/Settings menu item of the main form, you can save certain important settings as defaults that will be available each time you open tfmEditor.  Defaults for these settings will be written to the Windows registry and saved between sessions.  Also temporary changes can be made for the current session, or even temporarily between each operation that would use the setting.  For example you could change the saved email directory before saving each email message to save each one to a different directory.  tfmEditor is not really designed to support multiple POP3 accounts, and the above method would be somewhat awkward, but it could be used in a pinch.  If a fully-featured email client is what you're after there are better choices than tfmEditor, which has been designed with different objectives.  The above explanation is to emphasize the difference between choosing settings with the Make These Settings Permanent radio button or the Use Them For This Session Only radio button clicked.  In the former case the settings will be written to the registry and used by default each time tfmEditor is opened.  The latter setting will affect only the current session or current operation and will be gone when tfmEditor closes.


File

New

Open

Save

Save As

Send Email

Retrieve Email

Page Setup

Print

Exit


Edit

Cut

Copy

Paste

Undo

Find

Replace


Text Attributes

Font

Bold

Italicize

Underline

Plain Text Only


Options

Default Editor Width

Default Width Only

Use Page Setup Width

Word Wrap

Stay on Top

Short Date Format

Start Clock

Start Timer

Settings


New
File/New

Begins a new document in the editor window; checks to save unsaved changes first if a document is already open.


Open
File/Open

Opens a saved file; checks for saving unsaved work if a document is already open in the editor window.  It will initially point to the folder set as the save directory in Options/Settings


Save
File/Save

Saves the file currently displayed in the editor window.  If the file already exists this command will save the document with any changes made since last save, or if it is new document this command will call the Save As command.  If this menu item is selected while there is an email message displayed in the editor window the message will be saved as a document, but not as an email message.


Save As
File/Save As

Use this menu choice if you have made changes to a document and you wish to retain the original and save the changed document with a new name.  Also use this if you wish to save the same document again with a new name, or to a different folder.


Send Email
File/Send Email

Clicking on File/Send Email pops up the above window at the top of the editor window.  Fill in the appropriate information, and , assuming your SMTP server info has been entered in Options/Settings, the text in the editor window will be sent via email to 'somebody@someisp.com'.  tfmEditor email operations of course require an operational Internet connection.  For more information about emailing with tfmEditor see 'Email Features'


Retrieve Email
File/Retrieve Email

Clicking on File/Retrieve Mail pops up the window below:

Using the Email Menu Commands you can download mail from your server, save messages, open saved messages and open copies-to-self which are save to the directory specified in Options/Settings if the 'Save Copy to Self of Sent Email' check box is checked.  Also attachments to a message can be executed by the associated application on your machine and messages can be deleted from your local folders if they are no longer wanted.  For more information about email using tfmEditor see 'Email Features'


Email Menu Commands

These are the menu choices available under Messages on the Retrieve Email window which is opened by choosing File/Retrieve Email from the editor window menu.  Many of these tasks can also be accomplished by choosing a button on the tool bar, or right clicking in the Retrieve Email window and choosing from the items on the pop-up menu.

Retrieve From Server

Save Selected Message

Retrieve Saved Mail

Retrieve Copies to Self

View Selected Message

Reply to Selected Message

Forward Selected Message

Delete Selected Message

View with Full Header

Execute Attachment


Page Setup
File/Page Setup

Clicking on 'Page Setup' will pop up the page setup dialog where margins can be set.  When the 'Use Page Setup Width' choice is checked under 'Options', the editor will show approximately the printed page width (if your paper width is 81/2'').tfmEditor was designed and runs best at a screen resolution of 1024x768; the 'Use Page Setup Width' may not give satisfactory results at lower screen resolutions.  For 81/2' paper the Page Setup Width gives an approximation of how the page width will appear when printed; this is not the case for page length.  If you set your top and bottom margin to 3 inches each, the printed page will have these margins even though this can't be seen in the editor window.


Print
File/Print

Prints the contents of the editor window to the selected printer.


Exit
File/Exit

Choosing this command closed all windows and exits tfmEditor.  The application will check to save unsaved changes to the document in the editor window.


Cut
Edit/Cut

Choosing 'Cut' from the Edit menu will cut any selected text in the editor window and place it on the Windows clipboard.  This can also be accomplished by right clicking in the editor window and then choosing 'Cut' from the pop up menu.


Copy
Edit/Copy

Choosing 'Copy' from the Edit menu will copy any selected text in the editor window to the Windows clipboard.  This can also be accomplished by right clicking in the editor window and then choosing 'Copy' from the pop up menu.


Paste
Edit/Paste

Choosing 'Paste' from the Edit menu will paste any  text on the Windows clipboard at the cursor position in the editor window.  This can also be accomplished by right clicking in the editor window and then choosing 'Paste' from the pop up menu.


Undo
Edit/Undo

This will reverse the effect of the last editing or text attribute change made to the document displayed in the editor window.  Undo can also be accessed by right clicking on the editor window and choosing 'Undo' from the pop up menu.


Find
Edit/Find

This menu choice calls up a standard text find dialog box. Text can be searched case sensitive or not, and whole-word or not.


Replace
Edit/Replace

This menu choice presents a standard dialog that allows searching for and replacing text.  If the Replace All option is chosen each instance of the search text will be found and confirmation asked before replacement takes place.


Font
Text Attributes/Font

Brings up the standard Windows font dialog box, which allows changes to font face, size, color ,and bold, underlined or italicized attributes.  The changes only affect selected text in the editor window, or text added after the cursor if no text is selected.  Any one attribute can be changed without affecting other attributes if the selected text includes text with various attributes, for example if your selection contains one line of 10 pt. red text and another line with 12 point blue text you can use the font dialog box to bold the entire selection without affecting other attributes


Bold
Text Attributes/Bold

This toggles Bold on or off for the text currently selected in the editor window.


Italicize
Text Attributes/Italicize

This toggles italics on or off for the currently selected text in the editor window.


Underline
Text Attributes/Underline

This toggles underlining on or off for the currently selected text in the editor window.


Plain Text Only
Text Attributes/Plain Text Only

This menu choice toggles on or off plain text only.  When tfmEditor starts it is set by default to plain text.  Toggling Plain-Text-Only off allows the use of font attributes, and documents are saved as rich text format files.  The user can choose to use plain text if rich text features are not wanted.  If you choose Plain Text Only  the default filter in the open dialog will be '.txt' and files will be saved in the plain text format.  Though the default filter is '.txt' this can be changed, and any text file can be opened.  If you are working on a document for which formatting changes have been made you will be warned that all formatting will be lost.  If you choose to continue all the text in the document will be converted to plain text.  Changing back to rich text will not restore the formatting.


Author, Contacting tfmSoftware

Hi,

I'm JD Wells, the person responsible for tfmSoftware and tfmEditor.  If you have any questions, suggestions or whatnot I'd love to hear from you at

tfm@pacifier.com

or	jdwells@seasurf.com

I am on the verge of releasing (12/27/97) what I consider the final beta version ( beta 5) of tfmEditor version 1.  I will continue to develop tfmEditor (a spell checker, more word processor like features, better email integration, among other things, are on the horizon), as well as begin work on on other projects I have on the back burner.  Drop in at:

http://www.pacifier.com/~tfm

to stay abreast of the progress, or better yet, email register your version of tfmEditor (tfm@pacifier.com) and receive email announcements of updates.

Thanks for trying tfmEditor...

JD Wells

tfmSoftware


Registration, Legal

This is a free beta version of tfmEditor, subject to the following conditions

tfmEditor Version 1 Beta 5

Copyright (C) 1997 JD Wells/tfmSoftware

All Rights Reserved

License Agreement

You should carefully read the following terms and conditions

before using this software.  Unless you have a different license

agreement signed by JD Wells, your use of this software indicates

your acceptance of this license agreement and warranty.

Disclaimer of Warranty

THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND

WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY

OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  Because of the

various hardware and software environments into which tfmEditor may

be put, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS

OFFERED.

Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be

thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it.

The user must assume the entire risk of using the program.

Evaluation and Registration

This Beta version of tfmEditor is free.  Subject to the terms below,

you are hereby licensed to use this software. You may not alter or modify

the Software and cannot give anyone else permission to modify the software.

Distribution

You are hereby licensed to make as many copies of Version 1 Beta 5

of this software and documentation as you wish; give exact copies of

the original tfmEditor V1B5 to anyone; and distribute tfmEditor V1B5

and documentation in its unmodified form via electronic means.

You are specifically prohibited from charging, or requesting

donations, for any such copies, however made; and from

distributing the software and/or documentation with other products

(commercial or otherwise) without prior written permission.

###


Default Editor Width
Options/Default Editor Width

Choosing this option simply adjusts the width of the Editor window to the size it is when tfmEditor first opens.


Default Width Only
Options/Default Width Only

This toggles on or off Default Width Only.  When default width is set you will be unable to resize the width of tfmEditor.  The default width is the width at which tfmEditor opens.  This setting only persists during the current session.


Use Page Setup Width
Options/Use Page Setup Width

This menu choice sets the width of the editor window so that, after calling Page Setup from the file window, the width of the current document appears roughly as it will print.  tfmEditor does not support hard page breaks so there is no reason to attempt showing page length.  tfmEditor prints within the margins chosen from Page Setup, and when the page length is reached it begins printing a new page.  tfmEditor was designed with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 in mind.  At other resolutions this setting will be less useful.


Word Wrap
Options/Word Wrap

This menu choice toggles on or off Word Wrap which is on by default when tfmEditor opens.  If Word Wrap is on the text will be wrapped to the margins set by the call to Page Setup on the File menu or to the default margins tfmEditor uses when it opens.  If you print a document with Word Wrap off, the text will still wrap to the default page margins used by tfmEditor.


Stay on Top
Options/Stay on Top

This menu choice toggles Stay on Top.  If Stay on Top is set tfmEditor will stay visible even when another application is made active.  Stay on Top is automatically toggled off temporarily when the Retrieve Mail window is open because it stays on top of the editor window, if both windows were set to Stay on Top the behavior of both would be unpredictable.


Short Date Format
Options/Short Date Format

This toggles on and off the short date format.  When you click it you will see the results in the date edit field.  What shows in the  date field is what will be inserted into the document when the date edit is double clicked.


Start Clock
Options/Start Clock

Allowing the clock to run uses Windows resources.  The time field on the tool bar in tfmEditor is not running by default.  It sets itself to the current time when tfmEditor opens and then synchronizes to your computer's system time when the clock icon on the tool bar is clicked.  If you wish to monitor the time continuously, you can toggle the clock on with this menu command.  The clock will keep time fairly well but if more accuracy is desired you may wish to click the clock icon on the tool bar occasionally to resynchronize the tfmEditor clock to your system clock.  Double clicking the time field on the tool bar will insert the time into your document.


Start Timer
Options/Start Timer

As opposed to running the clock, running the timer uses virtually no Windows resources.  Choosing this menu option simply records the current time.  Then when this menu choice is clicked again the time is recorded and the elapsed time between the two events is returned via a message box.  For example you could open tfmEditor, choose Start the Timer, begin composing email or what ever, then when you're finished with your task, choose Options/Stop the Timer (the text changes when you choose Start the Timer) to find how long your tasks have taken.  It looks like this:


Settings
Options/Settings

Configuration settings made from the menu commands are for the session only; they will not still be active the next time you open tfmEditor.  The settings made in Options/Settings, however can be saved between sessions.  The settings dialog has two pages as below:

The first page is for setting directories that tfmEditor will use by default when opening and saving documents or saving and opening email messages.  The Copy to Self Directory is where a copy of email messages you send will be saved if this option is checked on the Communications Settings page.  These settings can be made the permanent default, or used for the current session only depending which radio button is selected when the 'OK' button is clicked.  Double clicking on each field will call a folder browser dialog to facilitate choosing a directory.

Communication settings:

These are the settings that allow email communication via an internet email account.  If you don't know what to enter in these fields contact your internet service provider.  They can give you this info.  If you have more than one email account you can change these settings each time you want to download mail from a different account, though tfmEditor is not really designed to support multiple accounts.  If Save Copy to Self of Sent Email is checked then each time you use tfmEditor to send email, a copy of the message will be saved in whatever is currently set as your Copy to Self directory (on the Directory Settings page).  If Delete Mail From the Server After Downloading is checked, then messages downloaded will no longer be available from the server.  It would be good to know that messages downloaded by tfmEditor need to be explicitly saved by choosing the appropriate menu item in the Retrieve Mail window.  If mail is downloaded, deleted from the server and then tfmEditor is closed without having explicitly saved messages, they will be lost forever.  As with the Directory Settings page, these settings can be made permanent defaults or set for the current session only


Retrieve From Server

This menu choice will retrieve mail via a current connection to the Internet from the server set in Options/Settings on the Communications Settings page.


Save Selected Message

This menu choice will save the currently selected email message.  Note that this is the message currently highlighted in the list of messages, and is not necessarily the message currently displayed in the editor window.  It is also important to be aware that messages downloaded by tfmEditor must be explicitly saved by choosing from the menu or tool bar; messages not saved will be lost for good when the Retrieve Email window is closed.  This is an especially crucial consideration if the messages have been deleted from the server.

The message will be saved by default to the directory set in the Directory Settings page of Options/Settings.  If you wish to save email to different directories you can change the email directory to a different directory before saving messages.  The chosen directory must already exist.

Note:

Any time a message is displayed in the editor window it can be saved from the File menu of the editor window.  This will save the contents of the editor window as a text or rich text file, but not as an email message.  Choosing the Save Selected Message from the Retrieve Email window menu will cause the message to be saved as an actual email message.


Retrieve Saved Mail

Choosing this menu command will fill the Retrieve Email window list with messages saved to the currently set email directory on the Directory Settings page of Options/Settings.  If you have saved email to different directories you can choose the directory where you would like to retrieve messages from by going to Options/Settings before retrieving saved email.  The retrieved messages may then be replied to, forwarded or have any attachments executed, or be viewed in the editor window.


Retrieve Copies to Self

Choose this menu item to view copies of messages you have sent.  tfmEditor does not automatically save copies of sent email; this option must be set on the Communications Settings page of Options/Settings on the menu of the editor window.


View Selected Message

This menu choice will cause the message currently selected in the message list to be displayed in the editor window.  Any time a message is displayed in the editor window it can be saved from the File menu of the editor window.  This will save the contents of the editor window as a text or rich text file, but not as an email message.  Choosing the Save Selected Message from the Retrieve Email window menu will cause the message to be saved as an actual email message.


Reply to Selected Message

This option makes it easy to reply to a selected email message.  The message replied to will be the one selected in the Retrieve Email window message list and not necessarily the one currently displayed in the editor window.


Forward Selected Message

This option makes it easy to forward a selected email message.  The message forwarded will be the one selected in the Retrieve Email window message list and not necessarily the one currently displayed in the editor window.


Delete Selected Message

This will delete the locally saved copy of the currently selected email message The message deleted will be the one selected in the Retrieve Email window message list and not necessarily the one currently displayed in the editor window.

Note: This is not the same as deleting an email message from your server.


View with Full Header

This menu choice allows you to view an email message with a lot of header information that you may or may not wish to see.  But it's there if you should happen to wish to see it.


Execute Attachment

This will execute an email attachment using the currently associated application.  For example a bitmap file will probably be opened by Paint and a text file will probably cause Notepad to open and view the file.  In this version of tfmEditor, saving attachments to a file directly is not supported.  (Watch for it in version 2)


Some Random Stuff

ComCtl32.dll

This is a function library that is part of the Windows 95 operating system.  Unfortunately there are different versions of Windows 95 and comctl32.dll.  tfmEditor needs the version 4.70 of comctl32.dll.  If you have recently installed a copy of Internet Explorer on your computer (3.0 or later, I believe) then you probably have version 4.70 or later.  If you wonder which version you have you can find the file (In Explorer choose Tools/Find/Files or Folders, search your hard drive, or just the Windows directory for comctl32.dll) on your computer and right click on it.  Choose 'Properties' from the pop-up menu then choose the 'Version' tab of the dialog.  The version number will be there.  If you want an updated version of comctl32.dll and don't want to install Internet Explorer on your computer, you can download a self extracting update file from the Microsoft web site.

Here is the info page:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q165/4/87.asp

Here's the actual download address:

http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/Com32upd.exe

The Microsoft site changes over time so I don't know how long these addresses will be valid.  If you have a problem with comctl32.dll, email me:  (jdwells@seasurf.com), and I'll see what I can do.

Screen Resolution:

I unabashedly favor the 1024 x 768 screen resolution, and tfmEditor will look and behave better at this resolution.  It may perform acceptably at other resolutions, but it was designed in and for 1024 x 768.


If you can't enter text in the editor window

If nothing happens when you try to enter text in the editor window, click on the menu item Options/Max Size - 1 Meg. This should fix the problem.  By default the maximum document length for tfmEditor's editor window is 100 MB.  For reasons I'm not sure of, this setting won't work on some machines.  Setting the maximum document length to 1 MB should solve the problem.