Copyright: Copyright © 1997 RIT Research Labs


Legal Information

Information in this online help system is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of RIT Research Labs. The software and/or files described in this online help system are furnished under a license agreement or nondisclosure agreement. The software and/or files may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The purchaser may make one copy of the software for backup purposes. No part of this online help system may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information and retrieval systems, for any purpose other than the purchaser's personal use, without the written permission of RIT Research Labs.

RIT Research Labs may have patents or pending patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from RIT Research Labs.

Copyright © 1997-1998 RIT Research Labs. All rights reserved.


Internet

The Internet is a global computer network, covering the entire globe. The Internet evolves as if it is a core, ensuring the correct interrelationship of different information networks, belonging to various organisations around the world.

The first networks were used solely for the transmission of files and e-mail, but today it resolves the more complex problems of shared access to resources. Several years ago, programs were created to support the necessary functions of network search, and access to shared information resources, and electronic archives.

The Internet, was initially only used by research groups and educational establishments whose interests spread up to the access to supercomputers. These resources became all very popular in the business world, and in no time the Internet has grown phenomenally

Big companies were seduced by this quick and easy global connection, well suited to group-work, centralised programs, and a single database over the Internet networks. They considered a global network as an addendum to their own local networks. With the low service costs (often only a fixed monthly charge for lines used, or telephone charges) users are able to gain access to commercial and non-profit information services from across the USA, Canada, Australia and many European, and other countries. Using the Internet it is possible find information on practically any sphere of human activity, in the "free access" archives, from new scientific openings, to the weather forecast for tomorrow.

Besides all this, the Internet offers a unique possibility of cheap, reliable and confidential global communication with the whole world. This turns out to be extremely efficient for companies having various sites around the world, international corporations, and other organisations. Usually, using an Internet infrastructure for all international communications is vastly cheaper than direct computer communication through a satellite link or telephone lines.

E-mail is the most widespread service on the Internet. Sending e-mail messages over the Internet is vastly cheaper than more conventional means. Besides, messages sent on the Internet will arrive in several hours, while other messages (snail mail) can get to the addressee several days later, or even several weeks later.


General Information

The Bat! is an Internet e-mail program. Major objectives of The Bat! are:

 - Providing an efficient way of processing large message flows;

 - Easy-to-use user interface;

 - Allowing users to work easily with several mail accounts with the possibility of exchanging messages between them;

 - Maximum reduction of delays while working. The Bat! extensively uses Window's multitasking capabilities. This means that the user can send and receive e-mail while reading or writing other mail;

 - Providing truly multi-lingual interface. The Bat! can communicate with the user using various languages - the interface's language can be chosen from the main program menu.

The Bat! also allows the user to process mail right on the mail server - without actually downloading messages to the local hard drive. Encrypted log-in to POP3 servers (APOP command - to avoid the transmission of account password 'open') and IMAP4 protocol is supported, and The Bat! has a comfortable editor with many useful functions, Address Book and provides extensive set of tools for processing mail.

The program has been developed mainly for business messaging, which is why we tried to provide as comfortable an interface as possible, without messing the workplace up with excessive interface elements used rarely or for entertainment purposes.

All copyrights to The Bat! are exclusively owned by RIT Research Labs.


Connection to The Internet

The Bat! supports two ways of connecting to the Internet

Using Local Area Network or manual connection

If this way is chosen, The Bat! uses the existing connection established either with your LAN or by dialling your Internet Service Provider. In other words, The Bat! relies on that the connection to the Internet is established and the program itself does not need to do something extra. Some non-LAN systems may be configured so that ISP is dialled automatically whenever an Internet program is trying to connect to an Internet server. This can be used with The Bat! However, in some cases The Bat! needs to two TCP/IP sessions simultaneously and this may cause problems such as trying to establish two dial-up connections at the same time.

Dial-Up Networking Connection

You need to specify this type of connection if your LAN is not connected to the Internet itself and you are using Dial-up connection provided by your ISP. Whenever The Bat! need to open TCP/IP connection, it checks whether the specified ‘phone book entry is active (i.e. the established TCP/IP connection, if there is any, is done by using this ‘phone book entry). If the entry is active, TCP/IP sessions starts. Otherwise, The Bat! will automatically dial the ‘phone book entry to establish TCP/IP connection. In this case, multiple requests such as checking mail for all accounts and combined delivery (which requires two TCP/IP connections to be open at once: one for mail retrieval and another one for sending mail) will be handled correctly.

Auto-disconnect after mail transmission - Use this option if you do not want to remain on-line when The Bat! finishes dealing with mail transmission. This feature is almost useful when you are using periodical mail retrieval (especially when you have to pay for call to your ISP).

Pause between dialling session - This value determines the minimal time interval between two consecutive dialling sessions. Using of this feature is essential in multi-user environment with only one dial-out machine - it prevents the dial-out machine to dial the ISP unnecessarily often. Note that manual requests of mail retrieval from dial-out machine will initiate dialling even in the pause time

Your machine status

If a machine is not a part of a Local Area Network, or all machines in your network have TCP/IP protocol installed, or you simply do not intend to read your mail from other machine within your LAN, the status of your machine is TCP/IP Workstation.

If a machine is connecting to the Internet by either LAN or Dial-up networking and it is intended to retrieve and send mail for all accounts defined in The Bat!, the status of your machine is TCP/IP or Dial-out Server.

If a machine does not have TCP/IP protocol installed and it is a part of a network with TCP/IP or Dial-out Server, it must have status of Non-TCP/IP Workstation.

See also:

 Working in Multi-User Environment

The Bat! Networking Course


Logging on to POP Server

POP (Post Office Protocol) - a “post office” protocol is used for retrieving mail from host by client.

Once you have an e-mail address, your ISP should give you a user name (which is usually the same as the part of your e-mail address before “@” symbol) and a password to access your mailbox on the mail server, and the address of the POP server.

This information should be entered in the account properties, in the appropriate fields. The password may be left blank if you want to enter your POP password each time you check for new mail.


Choosing an SMTP Server

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) - a simple protocol for mail transmission which is widely used on the Internet. The SMTP server's function is to receive mail from other servers and clients, and to deliver mail to other hosts and to its clients’ mailboxes.

Usually, the address of an SMTP server is provided by your system administrator or Internet Service Provider. However, you may use other SMTP servers available on the Internet known to you, since SMTP does not require any special authorisation.


E-mail Address

On the Internet, each user has a unique address (some people have more than one e-mail address) which identifies the mail server or zone address, and the name of the mailbox. The usual structure of an e-mail address is <user name>@<mail server/zone>, e.g., john.smith@ritlabs.com. E-mail addresses cannot be anything like “John Smith” or “John Smith from Magic Island”


Adding a New Entry to the Address Book

Invoke Address Book command on the Tools menu in the main program window, or click the appropriate button on the main window toolbar.

Invoke New Address entry in the Edit menu in Address Book.

Edit user's data, especially his name and e-mail address - all other fields are optional.

The new entry may be added to the Pop-up menu of address entry fields, if the check box Add to Pop-up menu is checked.


Setting up an E-mail Account

Account settings are divided into the following sections:

General settings

Transport settings

Advanced Transport settings

Preferences

Files and directories

Message templates

Notification of new mail arrival (sound)

Sorting Office / Filters

Each e-mail account set-up in The Bat! has its own folder structure which is used for storing incoming, outgoing and sent messages. Other folders may have any name (depending on their use) but there always are four default folders, which cannot be deleted or renamed. These folders are:

Inbox	the default incoming mail folder
Outbox	the outgoing mail folder
Sent	default folder for sent mail
Trash	folder for storing deleted messages before they are removed permanently


Account General Settings

This section is for setting up the title of an e-mail account, as it appears in The Bat!'s account list, and the data used for generating the sender's data in message headers.

Name - the name of the e-mail account. It may be any combination of characters. The only limitation is that the name must be unique within the program; in other words, there must not be another account with the same name

From name - the originator's name, which will be put in the header of each message created for the account

From address - originator's e-mail address

Organisation - organisation to which originator belongs (if any)

Reply name - the name of the person to which replies must be sent. Usually it is the same as the originator's name

Reply address - the e-mail address used for replies to the original e-mail. (return address, and the address to which confirmation must be sent)

Notes:

Avoid using characters disallowed in system file names (such as “+,"/\><|”) in account’s name. Otherwise, non-default directory names for disk storage must be used.

Try to use only ASCII characters in From and Reply names - this will help to avoid problems with some mail servers which don't allow of non-ASCII characters in message headers.


Account Transport Settings

SMTP server - the address of your SMTP server to which all outgoing e-mail messages from the account must be sent. The address may be represented as a traditional URL (e.g.: mail.ritlabs.com) or as an IP numeric address (e.g. 193.219.214.38); if an IP address is used you should be aware that sometimes it may be changed. The advantage of using of IP addresses is that a DNS lookup is not used, thus it is slightly faster on connecting to the server. Generally speaking, if there are several mail accounts set in the program, it is possible to use just one SMTP server for sending messages from all accounts.

POP3 server - the address of your POP3 server where the account’s mailbox is located. All messages from the Internet are accumulated on POP3 servers and may be retrieved from there by the “Get new mail” command or by Message Dispatcher. The address may be represented as a traditional URL (e.g.: mail.ritlabs.com) or as an IP numeric address (e.g. 193.219.214.38); if an IP address is used you should be aware that sometimes it may be changed. The advantage of using of IP addresses is that a DNS lookup is not used, thus it is slightly faster on connecting to the server.

User - the POP3 user name for access to your mailbox on the server. Usually, it is the same as the part of the account’s e-mail address before “@” symbol. For example, if the e-mail address is john.smith@ritlabs.com, the user’s name will be john.smith

Password - the password for logging on to the POP3 server. You may leave this field blank - in this case you will be prompted to enter the password each time you try to receive mail.

Encrypted logon - if set, APOP authentication method will be used instead of traditional authentication, which will make your password “invisible” when it is sent over the Internet. To use APOP you must ask your service provider or network administrator whether your POP3 server supports this type of authentication (it is not a complementary feature of POP3 servers)

8-bit characters are treated - this radio group allows you to set the method used to handle 8-bit (non-ASCII) characters. If you are using only the English alphabet, this feature is not very significant to you because all English characters are ASCII characters and will go through the net without any problems. However, if you are using accented characters or character sets other than English, you should choose the method carefully because there still are some mail servers which do not allow appearance of 8-bit characters in e-mail messages. If you are not sure that such servers are functioning in the way you write your messages, it is better to choose either Base64 or Quoted-printable encoding. The difference between these two encoding methods is that Base64 produces totally unreadable text. Quoted-printable encoding still can be read if your alphabet is almost Latin, only accented characters are encoded. If your recipient's are using The Bat! or another program which can recognise Base64 and quoted-printable encoding automatically, you may choose either of these two methods.

Delivery - the default delivery method. This is implemented almost for defining the function of "F2" and "Shift+F2" keystrokes in the message editor. If the delivery method is Immediate, pressing F2 within the editor will send the message immediately, whereas if Deferred is selected, the message will be queued in Outbox.

Combined delivery - if this check box is ticked, “Get new mail” command will also invoke sending of queued messages from Outbox and “Send queued mail” command will also invoke new mail retrieval.

Always ask for POP3 password - If this check box is ticked, you will always have to enter the POP3 password to retrieve new mail (this is equivalent to leaving POP3 password field blank).


Advanced Account Transport Settings

Message management options and port numbers for servers are defined in this section

Message management

Delete received messages from server - if this method is chosen, The Bat! does not leave copies of the received messages on the server. This may save some amount of disk storage of your provider (especially when your mailbox size is limited)

Leave messages on server - the opposite to the above method. This method is useful when you are accessing the server from several places and wish to be able to get a copy of any message from each of those places

Keep messages on server for n days - the maximum age of messages left on the server. When a message is older than the age stated, it will be automatically deleted from the server.

Delete message from server when it is removed from Trash - use this option if you are sure that you delete only messages not needed in the future.

Receive header only if message size if greater than n K bytes - use this option if you do not want to receive large messages from the account. This may be useful when you are away from your home and want to read only significant messages (messages of such kind are usually relatively short)

Message Dispatcher

Message lines to download with header - this determines how many lines of the message test must be downloaded together with the message header to be viewed within Mail Dispatcher. This allows you to read a part of a message to decide whether you wish to download it this session

Invoke automatically at each mail check - if this check box is ticked, Mail Dispatcher will be invoked at each “Get new mail” command if there are new messages in the mailbox

Show all messages left on server - This option is available only if the previous option is set. If it is set, Mail Dispatcher will show all messages left on the server, otherwise only new messages will be shown

Ports

Mail service port numbers can be changed sometimes to disallow other systems from the outside world to connect to servers used within the given network. In this case, you must re-define the port numbers.

SMTP	the port number used by SMTP protocol (default 25)
POP3	the port number used by POP3 protocol (default 110)
IMAP4	the port number used by IMAP4 protocol (default 143)


Account Preferences

This section is designed for setting some miscellaneous parameters for a mail account.

Check mailbox at startup - if ticked, “Get new mail” command is invoked automatically each time The Bat! Starts

Periodical checking each n minutes - The Bat! will automatically examine your mailbox for new mail periodically, if this check box is ticked.

Empty Trash folder on exit - trash folder of the account will be automatically emptied each time you exit The Bat!

Time of reading to mark a message as read - within this time interval, unread messages will retain their status. As soon as an unread message is marked as read, some actions may take place (Read Mail sorting rules, generation of Reading confirmation)

Maximum Log file size - the account’s activity Log file is stored in the account’s home directory and called ACCOUNT.LOG. To prevent this file from getting too big, you may limit its size with this parameter

Ignore “Check All Accounts” request - use this option only if your account is not password-protected. It must not be checked for all your other mailboxes (for example, when POP3 server only works within a specific time interval)


Account Files and Directories

Home Directory  - the path to the directory where all files related to the given account are stored. This directory is also used for creating default sub-directories (each mail folder keeps its messages in MESSAGES.MSB file in its mail-folder directory, which by default is placed in the home directory of the account it belongs to)

Attachment management

Default encoding - the default encoding type for attachments (used by the button on the toolbar of the message editor. It can be either Base64 (MIME standard) or UU-encode

You may choose the storage method for received file attachments. They may be either kept in a separate directory (so you can copy them from there using explorer, or DOS. This method is the most preferable if you receive large files), or in message bodies. If you choose to store attached files in the <default> directory, files will be stored in the sub-directory named ATTACH in the account’s home directory.

Option Delete attached files when the message is deleted from Trash makes The Bat! keep your disk storage in order, so you don’t keep file attachments to messages you no longer need.


Cookies

Cookies are some funny phrases (aphorisms, quotations etc.) that could be inserted randomly in your messages if you are using %cookie macros in your message template. Use of cookies may entertain your correspondents. The more cookies you use - the more colourful your messages look.

Another way to use cookies is to use them for greetings or one-line signatures.

These are some examples of cookies:

Editing is a rewording activity

If you save the world too often, it begins to expect it

I like kids, but I don't think I could eat a whole one


New Mail Notification (Sound)

The Bat! can notify you about new mail arrival with a custom sound (WAV files are used, so you need a sound card installed on your machine). Account’s sound settings are set to messages arriving to any account’s folder by default. It is possible to define additional sound for user defined mail folders so you may hear what folder new mail came in to.

Sometimes it is necessary to disable sound within a certain time interval (for example, if a PC is used at home usually you do not want to hear it reporting to you about new mail in the middle of the night). Allowance time interval is designed specially for such cases. Example: 9:00-20:00.


Sorting Office (Message Filters)

Sorting Office is implemented in The Bat! for auto-classification of incoming, outgoing, read and replied mail. Each of the above mentioned message flows can be sorted by folder, accordingly to its set of rules.

Each rule is determined by its name, the source folder (for incoming mail it is always Inbox, for outgoing - Outbox and this cannot be changed), the target folder, sets of signal strings and defined actions. To create a new rule, open “Account | Sorting Office/Filters” dialogue, select the desired rule set (depending on what type of messages you want to classify) in the tree, and press New button.

Related topics:

Signal strings

Filtering actions

Using special syntax in signal strings


Signal strings

Each set of signal strings is a list of strings to be present or absent in a certain part of a message (it can be one of: sender, recipient, subject, whole message header (kludges), message text, or whole message (kludges and text together). A message which contains (or does not contain - depending on the presence flag for a particular string) ALL the strings included in the set, satisfies the condition defined by the set.

To define several signal string sets for one rule, use the Alternatives page of the Sorting Office dialogue box. If a message satisfies any of the signal string sets for signal strings, the message will be moved from the source folder to the destination folder and the actions defined by the rule will be executed

Example:

String: [John Smith], Location: [Sender], Presence: [Yes]

String: [beer], Location: [Text], Presence: [Yes]

String: [orange], Location: [Anywhere], Presence: [No]

This rule set will be satisfied by any message, which originates from John Smith AND beer must be mentioned somewhere in the message text AND orange must not be found anywhere in the message.

See also: Using special syntax in signal strings


Filtering actions

Each filtering rule has its own set of actions, which will be executed whenever a message satisfying filtering condition appears in the source folder. A very widely used action is moving a message to another folder for filing purposes - that is why the target folder is set at the very first page of rule properties. However, it is an option, therefore, you can set the target folder to be the same as the source folder to leave message at its place and proceed other rule actions which can be defined at Actions page of Sorting Office configuration dialogue.

The actions currently available are:

Mark message as read - can be used for incoming messages because messages filtered by other rule sets are supposed to be marked as read already.

Delete message - this is similar to making the Trash folder as the target folder. To remove the message from the server as well as deleting it from your message base, use Kill Filters.

Add/delete the sender’s address to Address Book - this function allows you to maintain your address book and is especially useful for maintenance of your mailing lists.

Send auto-reply - automatically generate a reply message to the sender’s address using a template and the message’s text as the text for quotation.

Create a message for - automatically generate a message to specified address(es) using a template and the message’s text as the text for quotation.

Forward to - forward the message to a specific address(es). Options allow you to use the entire message including header for quotation, send the message as an attach and skip sending of attachments. Forwarding template of the target folder is used for generating of the forwarded message.

Redirect the message to - automatically send a copy of the message to another address(es).

Export message to a file - write the message to a plain text file. Options allow you to append the text to the file or override the existing file.

Run External Program - plug-in hook. Enter a command line for the external processor of the message. For example: C:\Util\MyLists.EXE -c %1. This means that MyLists.EXE will be started, the message will be stored in a temporary file and the file name will be passed as the second parameter. Create a detached process option allows to “hide” the started Win32 from the task bar.

Create a copy of message in another folder - duplicate the message in additional folder. This may be useful if you want another user to read messages of specific type.


Using special syntax in signal strings

Special syntax is used for signal strings:

Pipe character “|” means that signal string contains two alternatives. For example, string John|Jack means that search will be successful if John or Jack (or both) will be found in the specified location.

Square brackets [ ] mean that text embraced by them must be searched as a phrase. i.e. search for [Jack] will be successful for sentence “Jack is a good man”, but not for “Jackson guitars are very good for beginners”.

Text embraced in quotation marks is case-sensitive, i.e. “Internet” will be found in the sentence “The Internet is growing very rapidly” but not in “InTeRnEt RuLeZ”

The text containing special characters mentioned above, must be embraced in single quotes, like this:

‘["New" generation mailing list]’


Templates General Concept

Message templates are used for composing messages. They include static textual information in the message body. It may have, for example, a salutation and a signature as well as defining the location of quoted text in replies. From our point of view, the use of templates is a more flexible way of message composition than the use of just “signatures”.

It is also possible to use macros in templates to include message-dependent information such as addressee name, subject, current time, etc. With macros, it is also possible to define additional addressees and a message subject.

Templates defined in the account’s properties are used by default for all messages created within the account, but it is also possible to create special templates for each mail folder - these templates will be used when the folder is selected in the main window’s folder panel.

The current version of The Bat! supports four types of templates:

New message

Reply to a message

Forwarding of a message

Reading confirmation

It is possible to add “Cookies” to a message using template macros

Example of a message template

Hiya %tofname,

  %cursor

Bye now,

   %fromfname              mailto:%fromaddr

...%cookie

The initial look of new message addressed to Mike Brown <mike@domain.com> from John Smith <john@site.net> will be:

Hiya Mike,

  | - the editor cursor will be placed here by default

Bye now,

   John              mailto:john@site.net

...Put knot yore trust inn spel chequers


New Message Template

New message template is used whenever you create a new message. Once the message editor window is opened and you have all the header information (From, To, Subject) fields filled in correctly, text will appear in the editor window, depending on the new message template. It is also possible to define some message options for new messages such as:

- Default character set

- Message priority

- Confirm Receipt Request.

- Reading Confirmation Request.

Note that these options will be used only for new messages. Replies and forwards will not use them. Also, macros related to "original message" will not function (they will be replaced by empty strings).


Reply Template

Reply template is used whenever you reply to a message you have received (“Reply” and “Reply to all” commands). In this case, you will see the initial text once Reply command is invoked. However you may change anything in the message header - in this case, the initial text will be adjusted accordingly to reflect the new information unless you have changed the message before editing the header. To include the original message’s text in the initial text of a reply, use %QUOTES macros to put it in the mail as a quotation and %TEXT to put it in as normal text.

The style of the quotation prefix is determined by Sender information used for quotation option. Example (John A. Smith is used as the sender)

Information used:	Prefix

None	>

Initials	JAS>

Name	John>

Last Name	Smith>

First Initial	J>

Full Name	John A. Smith>


Forward Template

There are two ways of forwarding messages: with a template, which places the original text into the message text, and using MIME to attach the file. When messages are forwarded using MIME, it is possible to send several messages enveloped in one (message digests), however not all mail clients can manage MIME digests.

In the case of a message forwarded by placing original text in the message text, the template could be:

From:    %OFROMNAME <%OFROMADDR>

To:      %OTONAME <%OTOADDR>

Subject: %OSUBJ

--------------- Original message text -----------------

%TEXT

----------- End of Original message text --------------

Hello %TOFNAME,

  %CURSOR

Best regards,

   %FROMFNAME

In the case of MIME-forwarding, the template could be:

Hello %TONAME,

 %CURSOR

All the best,

  %FROMNAME


Reading Confirmation Receipt
Reading Confirmation Receipt Template

Whenever you receive messages with Reading Confirmation Receipt Request, The Bat! will generate a receipt message using this template (unless it is configured to ignore these requests).

There are four options for processing Reading Confirmation Receipt Requests:

Put in Outbox	generate the receipt and store it in Outbox. This allows you to make changes to the receipt or even delete it if you do not want it to be sent.
Send immediately	generate the receipt and send it immediately
Edit	the same as writing a reply, but receipt template is used instead of reply template
Ignore	one of simplest ways to finish your correspondence
Prompt before the Action	option is functional only if one of the first three methods above are chosen. In this case you will be prompted when the receipt is about to be created, if the action is not confirmed, the request is ignored


Folders

Folders are the place where messages are kept. There are two types of folder in The Bat!: standard (or system) and user-defined (or custom). The general purpose of folders is classification of messaging so that you may easily find messages related to a particular topic.

Each account has its own folder hierarchy. Folders can be named depending on their use, but any account has four standard folders:

Inbox	the default folder for incoming mail
Outbox	the folder for outgoing messages
Sent	the default folder for sent messages
Trash	Wastebasket - all deleted messages from other folders are stored here, when a message is deleted from the Trash folder, it will be erased permanently (unless you keep a copy on the server).

Standard folders cannot be deleted.

With sorting rules (Account | Sorting Office/Filters), you can determine in which folder messages should be placed after they have been received, sent, read or replied to.

For example, if you have a contact from which you receive messages often, and wish to keep track of mails from him/her, you can create a folder with a relevant name, which gives you a clue that the folder keeps messages from this contact (his/her name, for instance). You can now create a sorting rule in the Incoming Mail group with the person’s e-mail address or name as a signal string, located in sender information for the sorting rule. Once done, all incoming messages from this contact will go into the folder you have created.

User-defined folder may also have its own templates for new messages, replies to messages from this folder and for message forwards, as well as sounds for notification about new messages.

It is possible to move and copy messages from one folder to another by a simple drag-and-drop operation: if no keys are pressed, a Move operation is performed, if Ctrl key is held down while dragging, the message is copied.

A folder can have sub-folders.

To re-position a folder within the account’s hierarchy, press and hold Alt key and then use drag-and-drop to move the desired folder.


Folder settings

Name - the name of the folder as it appears in the folders hierarchy of the account. The name is also used as the default name for the folder’s message base sub-directory

Directory - the directory where folder’s message base file (MESSAGES.MSB) will be stored. If it is set to <default>, make sure that the folder’s name does not contain characters disallowed by the file system ("\", "/", "+", "|", "<", ">", ":"), otherwise you will be asked either to rename the folder or to change the folder’s directory

Maximum number of stored messages- the maximum amount of messages allowed to be kept in the message base. If the number of messages exceeds this value, earlier messages may be automatically deleted from message base by the Purge command

Keep messages in the base for n days - The maximum age of a message allowed in the message base. If a message is older than this, it may be automatically deleted from message base by Purge command

On Exit actions

Remove old messages - purging messages using the values above

Compress the folder - compress the folder’s message base file (if there were some messages deleted or moved from the folder). This option helps you to use your disk storage more efficiently

Identity

It is possible to re-define identity (i.e. default “From:” and “Reply-To:” fields’ contents) for a particular user folder using settings located on “Identity” page of Folder Properties dialogue.

See also:

Templates

New mail notification (Sound)


Text Editor

The Bat! provides an easy and fast way of editing messages. The text editor has number of commands and useful features. The main difference between it and most of other Windows-based e-mail message editor is that the text being edited is shown the same way as it will appear on recipient’s screen - no matter what system or e-mail client is running on the recipient’s computer.

The command set is described in sections below:

Block and formatting commands.

Insertion and deletion commands.

Miscellaneous editor commands.

Cursor movement commands.

Spell checking functions.

URL highlights.


Reading Your Mail

Received messages can be read in message auto-view panel located of the bottom of the main program window, or in a separate window, which gives the capability to read subsequent messages from the folder. It is possible to list messages by pressing the space key. In this case you will read messages from page to page, and when you reach the bottom of the current message, the first page of the next message in the folder will be shown (this applies to both modes of reading).

When folder message list box is active, it is possible to view the message using Alt+Arrow keys to scroll the message text in the window. Use <Del> key to remove messages you do not want to keep in your message base. By pressing <Enter> the separate message viewer window will be opened with the current message shown. To sort messages within a folder, use the mouse to click on the appropriate header section.

It is possible to set the amount of reading time for a message, after which the message will be marked as read (note that this setting can vary from account to account) - this reduces the risk of missing an important message.


Block and Formatting Commands

To mark a block of text, you can use the standard cursor keys, together with the <Shift> key. With the mouse you can select text by moving the mouse cursor while pressing the left mouse-button.

Action	Key combination
Mark the beginning of a block	Ctrl+K B
Mark the end of a block	Ctrl+K K
Copy the block to Clipboard	Ctrl+Ins or Ctrl+C
Cut the block	Shift+Del or Ctrl+Xl
Paste the block from Clipboard	Shift+Ins or Ctrl+V
Paste the block from Clipboard as quotation	Alt+Ins
Read the block from file	Ctrl+K R
Write the block to a file	Ctrl+K W
Move the block left to right	Ctrl+K I
Move the block to the left	Ctrl+K U
Switch block type to stream (default)	Ctrl+O K
Switch block type to column	Ctrl+O C
Switch block type to linear	Ctrl+O L
Justify the block or paragraph	Alt+J
Align the block on left end	Alt+L
Align the block on right end	Alt+R


Insertion and Deletion Commands

Command	Key combination
Toggle Insert/Overwrite Mode	Ins
Delete the current line	Ctrl+Y
Delete to the end of line	Ctrl+Q Y
Delete character at the left	Backspace
Delete character at the right	Del
Delete word after cursor	Ctrl+T
Delete word before cursor	Ctrl+Backspace


Miscellaneous commands
Miscellaneous Editor Commands

Command	Key combination
Save message and continue editing	Ctrl+S
Save message in queue and exit editing	Shift+F2
Send message immediately	F2 or Ctrl+Enter
Undo	Alt+Backspace
Place a position marker in the text	Ctrl+K n (n=0..9)
Return to a marker	Ctrl+Q n (n=0..9)
Insert Current Date	Ctrl+Q D
Insert Current Time	Ctrl+Q T
Uppercase Current Word	Ctrl+[
Lowercase Current Word	Ctrl+]
Capitalise Current Word	Ctrl+/
Search for a string	Ctrl+Q F
Search and replace	Ctrl+Q A
Repeat the last search	Ctrl+L
Cancel operation	Esc


Block Modes

Text blocks can be:

Stream - Standard - as they are in most Windows-based text processors

Linear - whole text rows are selected

Column - rectangular text areas are selected. This is based on the fact that plain text editors use only fixed pitch fonts. Column blocks are sensitive to the Insert mode of the editor. If Insert mode is on, column blocks are inserted in the text while shifting the original text the corresponding number of character positions to the right, otherwise the original text is replaced within the rectangular area of the inserted block

If Persistent blocks are used, text selection remains until you select another region, hide the selection or delete the selected text. Otherwise, selection will be automatically hidden when you move the cursor to another position, type some text in, or insert text from Clipboard.

Override blocks option works only if Persistent blocks are not used. If this option is selected, a text selection will be replaced with anything you type in, insert from the Clipboard, or press <Del> key, - selected text will be deleted.


Cursor Movement Commands

Left to one character	Left arrow
Right to one character	Right arrow
Word left	Ctrl + Left arrow
Word right	Ctrl + Right arrow
Up to one row	Up arrow
Down to one row	Down arrow
To the start of the row	Home
To the end of the row	End
Scroll up to one row	Alt + Up arrow
Scroll down to one row	Alt + Down arrow
Up to one screen height	PgUp
Down to one screen height	PgDn
To the start of the text	Ctrl+Home or Ctrl+PgUp
To the end of the text	Ctrl+End or Ctrl+PgDn
To the selection start	Ctrl+Q B
To the selection end	Ctrl+Q K


Automatic Text Formatting

When typing text, you may use the auto-formatting options of the editor. Note that text in the plain text editor is not re-formatted automatically when you modify the text you have typed in already - in this case you should use block formatting commands

Auto wrap mode-if the length of the row you are typing in exceeds the value set as Right margin, the text will be automatically wrapped to the next row

Auto indent mode- positions the cursor under the first nonblank character of the preceding nonblank line when you press Enter.

Backspace unindents - aligns the insertion point with the previous indentation level when you press Backspace, if the cursor is on the first nonblank character of a line.

Justify on wrap - when a text row is automatically wrapped while typing, the text in the row is justified accordingly with the Right margin value


Spell Checking

The Bat! implements two most commonly used spell checking engines - Sentry Spelling-Checker Engine (SSCE) and Common Speller API (CSAPI) for Standard and Just-In-Time Spell Checking.

Sentry Spelling-Checker Engine (SSCE)

SSCE is shipped inside The Bat! installation package and comes with superb 100,000-word American English and British English dictionaries with comprehensive coverage of general words, contractions, abbreviations, and capitalised proper names. It is VERY fast - checks over 100,000 words per minute on a modest hardware (66Mhz 80486). The major advantages of SSCE are:

- Advanced User Dictionaries - add your own words to any of up to 30 user dictionaries. Words can be added to or removed from user dictionaries at run time. Words in user dictionaries may be offered as suggestions for misspelled words.

- Intelligent suggestions for misspelled words - SSCE can locate suggested replacements using either typographical (looks like) or phonetic (sounds like) matching. Suggestions are scored by the degree of closeness with the misspelled word, and the list of suggestions is returned in decreasing score order. The most commonly misspelled words are underlined by square-wave-line and can be corrected with mouse double-click on this word.

- Case sensitive - incorrect capitalisation (e.g., canada instead of Canada) can be reported as a misspelling. Case sensitivity can be disabled if necessary via a simple run-time option setting. Dictionaries included with SSCE contain correct capitalisation forms.

- Low resource consumption - SSCE typically uses a maximum of 450K of memory at run time and 400K of disk space. You will really appreciate this feature!

- Works with other applications' user dictionaries - SSCE can read and write user dictionaries created by other applications, including Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office (*.dic files).

Common Speller API (CSAPI)

The CSAPI is intended for use by all Microsoft applications, which include spell-checking. CSAPI is currently provided by many vendors and used by Microsoft Office family and many other applications. CSAPI engine is not shipped inside The Bat! installation package, but if you have Microsoft Office installed, The Bat! does automatically detect the presence of CSAPI and uses it. CSAPI is not as fast as SSCE, but the major advantage of CSAPI is good support of multiple languages. Available CSAPI dictionaries are displayed in “Language” submenu of “Spell Checker” menu below a horizontal splitting line. The absence of a splitting line in “Language” submenu indicates that no CSAPI engine is installed.

Spell Checking Functions of The Bat!

While in Message Editor Window, you can enter Spell Checker menu. "Automatic Checking" option activates Just-In-Time Spell Checker that underlines misspelled words without any speed degradation.

Right-click on a highlighted word and a popup menu displays, letting you choose from the suggestions for the correct spelling of the word. Or, choose Ignore All to ignore the current and all subsequent occurrences of the word. Or, choose Add to add the word to the user dictionary. If it is no suggestions in its dictionary for the correct spelling of the misspelled word, suggestions are not listed in the popup menu.

It is also possible to check the text using Standard Spell Checking dialogue box (press “Check Entire Text” submenu of “Spell Checker” menu or simply F4). Below is the description of Spell Checking dialogue box buttons:

- Ignore: skips the current word (word displayed in “Not in Directory” field) without changing it and goes to the next misspelled word.

- Ignore All: skips all occurrences of the current word in the message without changing it and goes to the next misspelled word. This word would be treated as spelled correctly during the entire current The Bat! session.

- Change: replaces the current word with the correct word taken from “Change To” field.

- Change All: replaces all occurrences of the selected word in the message with the correct word taken from “Change To” field.

- Add: adds the current word to the current user directory. The name of the current user directory is displayed in “Add Words To:” drop-down list.

- Suggest: gets the list of similarly spelled words for the current word (word displayed in “Not in Directory” field).

- Undo: takes the selected word from Message Editor and places it to “Not in Directory” field.

- Options: invokes Spell Checking Engine specific options dialogue box.

- Dictionaries: invokes Spell Checking Engine specific user directories configuration dialogue box.

User Dictionaries Configuration

User dictionary is a file with is a set of words in text form, and the usual extension is *.tlx for SSCE and *.dic for CSAPI. Words can be added to or removed from a user dictionary. User dictionaries are generally fast to access, but they take up more space per word than main dictionaries. User dictionaries can be configured using Edit Dictionaries dialogue box (press “Dictionaries” submenu of “Spell Checker” menu or pop-up menu (Right Mouse Button or Alt-F10) on misspelled word or “Dictionaries” button of Standard Spell Checking dialogue box). Edit Dictionaries dialogue box displays the entire word list and the language of current dictionary, you can easily manipulate its contents here. The file name (without path) of a current dictionary is displayed in Dictionary/File drop-down list. This list shows all active files that are used for spell checking. You can also add an existing or create a new dictionary file by pressing “New File” or “Add File” buttons. If you press “Remove” button, the current file will be discarded from the list of active dictionaries. Clicking “Import” / ”Export” buttons imports / exports a user dictionary to a text file, one word per line.

The main purpose of user dictionary is allowing user to add custom words in it. There are three ways of adding a word: from Standard Spell Checking dialogue box, from Edit dictionaries dialogue box and from pop-up menu (Right Mouse Button or Alt-F10) on misspelled word.

The Bat! checks the only text that you has entered plus your template text. If your template includes unknown words for spell checker, you can simply add them to the default user directory. Note that the user directories for different languages may vary. The quoted text and URL links are not checked.


Character Translation Tables

Character Translation Tables are designed to manage countless national character encoding tables. For example, in there are three different encoding tables used in Russia (DOS Code Page 866, Windows 1251 and KOI-8), the same situation arises in many other countries where a non-Latin alphabet is used or a Latin alphabet with accented characters.

Translation tables determine what characters of a particular alphabet correspond to their equivalents in Windows national code page. To add a translation table to The Bat! from Options | XLAT tables dialogue, press Add button, select the file containing the translation table, then you will need to enter the name of the table being added as it appears in the program menus and the name of the character set determined by the table and as it appears in charset field of message header (for example, “koi8-r” for Russian KOI-8 character set).

The format of a file containing a Translation table is fairly simple. It is a stream of character pairs: <national character 1><Windows equivalent 1><national character 2><Windows equivalent 2>...<national character n><Windows equivalent n>


Interface Language

The Bat! is an international program, the language of its interface can be changed from Options | Language sub-menu. Language file TheBat.LNG must be placed in the same directory where the program executable is located. This file determines the contents of Options | Language sub-menu.


Creating a New Message

A new message can be created in four different ways:

1. By clicking on New message button or invoking New message command in the main program window menu. In this case you will have to enter the addressee manually or use the address pop-up menu.

2. By selecting the address needed from Address Book and invoking New message command from there.

3. When viewing a message if an e-mail address is highlighted, click the right mouse button and choose Write a message... command - the highlighted address will automatically be placed in the “To:” field.

4. By clicking Ctrl+N

You can assign a priority to outgoing messages and request a Confirm Receipt and Reading Confirmation.


Message Priority

You can assign a priority to outgoing messages. The priority is only for you and your recipients – it does not affect the way mail transport systems handle the messages. New messages are created with a Normal priority. To change the priority of the current message, in Message Editor Window, use the Priority popup or Options menu. Unread received messages are displayed in the list with differently-coloured envelopes: high priority messages are red, normal priority messages are yellow and low priority messages are blue.


Confirm Receipt and Reading Confirmation

You can request that your recipient’s mail server notify you when your message has arrived to the user’s mailbox on the server. To do this, in Message Editor, click on the Confirm Receipt in the pop-up or Options menu. The Confirm Receipt options may or may not work as described, depending on your recipient’s SMTP server software.

You can also request that your recipient notify you when he have read your message. To do this, in Message Editor, click on the Reading Confirmation in the pop-up or Options menu. When your recipients open the message and have read it, a dialog is displayed asking them to create a confirmation message, depending on Reading Confirmation Options. The Reading Confirmation options may or may not work as described, depending on your recipient’s e-mail client software.


Sending Mail

To send messages to their destination, you must establish a connection to the Internet. If you are in the message editor window and have just finished editing a message, use the Send now command. If there are any problems with sending your message to the SMTP server, the message editor window will re-appear on the screen, otherwise you may see what was wrong with the message in the log panel of the main program window. If you have queued mail in Outbox, use Send queued mail command, and if the messages are not sent (i.e. the messages are not moved from Outbox folder to Sent mail or whatever folder is determined by Sorting rules), again, examine the account’s log.


File Attachments

To send files attached to an e-mail message:

Open message editor and enter all the information you need (i.e. addressee information, subject, and message text)

From sub-menu Utilities | Attach a file choose the encoding type, or click the right mouse button on attachments panel and choose the encoding type from there, or click attach a file button on the editor window toolbar. In this case the encoding will be the one you set as default for the account you are writing from).

In the subsequent dialogue, select the file you would like to send, and press the Open button.


Viewing and Opening Received File Attachments

Files attached to a particular message are shown on the left of the message text as icons. You may use right mouse click to invoke the pop-up menu with possible actions for the file you have selected, or just double-click on the selected file to open it (note that the appropriate file associations must be defined in your system).


Address Book

The Address Book provides you an easy way to maintain the list of contacts you have. It is possible to create groups dedicated to a particular classification or use as a mailing list. There are four possible ways to add a record to the Address Book:

1. When you see an e-mail address highlighted while viewing a message, click the right mouse button and then choose Add to Address Book command in the pop-up menu.

2. When you are filling in the “To:” field in the message editor, press the button with an arrow on it - e-mail addresses contained in “To:” field will be added to Address Book.

3. Using Add to address Book command of message list local pop-up menu.

4. Using New address entry menu command in Address Book.

It is possible to sort Address Book entries automatically using “Edit | Sort” sub-menu of Address book or manually using drag-and-drop operations.


Addressing Your Message

The Bat! requires an address to be able to send your messages the same way as the postal service needs an address to be able to deliver a letter. The destination e-mail addresses must be entered in “To:”, “CC:” or “BCC:” fields. This is possible to do using either “direct” typing or Address Book aliases or Address Pop-Up menu (available by right mouse button click or clicking a button at the extreme right of the input field). Multiple addresses should be divided by a semicolon.


Message Parking

Message parking is designed to prevent occasional deletion. When a message is parked, it will not be moved to another folder, deleted or purged automatically. It is also impossible to delete a folder that contains one or more parked messages.


Working in Multi-User Environment

If you want to share the access to the Internet mail between several users, you may need to set access rights for particular accounts or account groups.

Users are classified by two categories:

Administrators - these users can see all accounts defined in the running copy of The Bat! and can change all account properties, program preferences and settings

Ordinary Users - these users cannot see all defined accounts. The properties they may change are determined by Administrators

If at least one ordinary user is defined, initial Log on dialogue is invoked at the program’s start-up and a user has to enter his/her account name and the password (if any) to have access to his/her account. The password for a particular account can be set using “Account | Set Access Password” command from the main program window.

To allow an ordinary user to have several accounts and to see them simultaneously, the Administrator must define the account group for such a user.

Within a network, it is possible to give access to a particular account from a machine connected to the network. All the Administrator needs to do is to set as the account’s home directory a directory accessible within the network and to create a copy of the account on machine from where the account is intended to be accessed. Even if machine does not have TCP/IP protocol installed on it, it is still possible to use The Bat! - just define the machine as Non-TCP/IP Workstation and working directory of the copy of The Bat! running on the machine must be the same as on the machine which is running The Bat! with status of TCP/IP or Dial-out Server.

See also:

The Bat! Networking Course


The Bat! Networking Course

Introduction to E-Mail Exchange

The Internet is a global computer network covering the entire globe. The Internet evolves as if it is a core, ensuring the correct interrelationship of different information networks, belonging to various organisations around the world. The first networks were used solely for the transmission of files and e-mail, but today it resolves the more complex problems of shared access to resources. By now, E-mail is the most widespread service on the Internet.

In order to process E-Mail exchange within either Internet or corporate network, each E-mail client should have either permanent or on-demand connection with its mail (POP and SMTP) server. A mail server is a computer that processes distribution and storage of E-Mail messages until they rich the destination address. Generic E-mail client supports at least two most commonly used E-mail exchange protocols: POP and SMTP. POP (Post Office Protocol) is used for retrieving mail from host by client. Particularity of protocol - mail message exchange is initiated by the client's request. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is simple protocol for mail transmission which is widely used on the Internet. The SMTP server's function is to receive mail from other servers and clients, and to deliver mail to other hosts and to its clients' mailboxes.

Networking Modes of The Bat!

The Bat! can work either as a stand-alone program or as a replacement of a mail (POP/SMTP) server within a local network (e.g. Windows Workgroup, Windows NT Domain or Novell Netware) also providing a client part. There are three network modes in which The Bat! can function: stand-alone (TCP/IP Workstation), server (TCP/IP or Dial-Out Server )or client (Non-TCP/IP Workstation).

TCP/IP Workstation: the  stand-alone  mode

The Bat! acts as a generic e-mail client in this mode. Generic e-mail client must have a connection with its mail (POP/SMTP) server, which can be located either inside in the corporate network or somewhere in the Internet. The Bat! can connect to the Internet using two ways:

Local Area Network or manual connection. If this way is chosen, The Bat! uses the connection to the Internet already established either via your LAN or by dialling your Internet Service Provider. In other words, The Bat! itself does not need to do something extra to connect to the Internet. Some non-LAN systems may be configured so that ISP is dialled automatically whenever a program is trying to connect to an Internet server and this method can be used with The Bat! However, in some cases (combined delivery or multiple account operations) The Bat! has to establish two or more TCP/IP sessions simultaneously and this may cause problems such as trying to establish two dial-up connections at the same time. We recommend to use the second way if you have a Dial-up connection to your ISP

Dial-Up Networking Connection. You should specify this type of connection if your LAN is not connected to the Internet itself and you are using a Dial-up connection provided by your ISP. Whenever The Bat! needs to open TCP/IP connection, it checks whether the specified 'phone book entry is active (i.e. the established TCP/IP connection, if there is any, is made using this 'phone book entry). If the entry is active, TCP/IP sessions starts. Otherwise, The Bat! will automatically dial the 'phone book entry to establish TCP/IP connection. In this case, multiple requests such as checking mail for all accounts and combined delivery (which requires two TCP/IP connections to be open at once: one for mail retrieval and another one for sending mail) will be handled correctly.

TCP/IP or Dial-out Server: the  server  mode

It is possible that client computers of a local network have no access to the Internet or there are some restrictions applied preventing these computers use mail transfer protocols. In order to provide to users of such machines E-Mail exchange within the Internet and/or corporate network, there must be a mail (POP/SMTP) server inside the workgroup or domain.

The Bat! in the server mode can replace a mail server for such a network. This means that it allows you not to install a mail server inside of your local network and moreover, it gives users a possibility to process E-Mail exchange over the Internet without having their own Internet connection. A computer with The Bat! in the server mode is basically the same as in the stand-alone mode plus the use of its own Internet connection to provide E-Mail exchange of computers with The Bat! in the client mode over the network and/or the Internet.

Non-TCP/IP Workstation: the  client  mode

The Bat! in the client mode uses neither Internet nor local connection to a mail (POP/SMTP) server for E-Mail exchange. It uses The Bat! in the server mode within the network to which it belongs. There is no limitation of the number of computers running The Bat! in the client mode within a network as long as the server machine is unique for each group of the client machines. The latter also means that it is possible to have several groups of client machines using different servers but those groups must not intersect.

Setting up The Bat! Networking

The Bat! Networking: How Does This All Work

All account data and message bases that are used by computers in the client mode are located on the server computer and the data is being accessed using the local network.

When the user of a client machine wishes to send a message to an Internet address, it places the message into the Outbox which is physically located on the server machine and invokes the command that makes the server send the outgoing messages using the server's connection to the Internet.

When a client wishes to check its POP account, it invokes the command to the server to check the client's mailbox on the mail server. The server connects to the POP server using its own Internet connection, receives the messages, stores the messages to the client's message base and invokes the command to the client to re-read its message base contents. When the client receives this command, it notifies the user that the new mail has arrived. The new message arrival is indicated in the folder tree screen of the client, and on the MailTicker™, if the MailTicker™ is configured.

To turn on the MailTicker™ (there must be some unread messages though), use "Options | MailTicker™ | Show Always" or "Show Automatically" options of the main window menu.

Setting up a TCP/IP or Dial-out Server (server), Step by Step

1. Within your local network, select a computer, which is connected to the Internet. This computer will be a "TCP/IP or Dial-out Server" (server).

2. Using "My Computer" desktop icon, choose the local drive or directory with The Bat! installed or where you are planning to install The Bat!. This location will be used to store message bases. Share this path to the network users that will run The Bat! in client mode on their computers. If you are already using a network drive, e.g. on a dedicated file server, you may skip this and the next step.

3. Map the resource you have shared to a network drive's letter. Other computers that will act as clients within your network using this network drive to exchange the information with the server.

4. If you do not have The Bat! installed yet, install it to the mapped network drive in order to machines with The Bat! in the client mode can access it. Run The Bat! from the network drive that you have mapped.

5. Click "Network & Administration" item of "Options" menu to make sure that this machine is in "TCP/IP or Dial-Out Server" (server) mode.

6. Create the accounts that will be used by client machines. Make sure that the home directories of these accounts are located on the network drive so the client users can access them.

7. Invoke "Network & Administration" dialogue box again and manage the privileges of accounts you have created.

Setting up a Non-TCP/IP Workstation (client), Step by Step

1. Map the resource that server has shared to the same drive letter as it is mapped on the server.

2. At the installation of The Bat! on a client machine, select the program's working directory on the network drive letter that you just have mapped. The working directory must be the same as on the server.

3. If you have The Bat! already installed on this computer, please proceed the following steps, otherwise, if you just have installed The Bat! accordingly to the previous step, the setup is finished.

These sub-steps describe how to change the machine mode from stand-alone to client without reinstalling The Bat! If you are not familiar with RegEdit, it would be better for you to uninstall The Bat! and to go to the step "Installing The Bat! on a client computer"

 a) Enter "Network & Administration" dialogue box and make sure that this machine is "Non-TCP/IP Workstation".

 b) Exit The Bat!

 c) Change the mail directory using RegEdit. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\RIT\The Bat!, Value name: Working Directory, and the value data is the path to mail directory, which should be on a network drive, and it should be the same as on the server.

Using The Bat! As a Core Element of E-Mail Exchange within a Corporate Network

There may be some reasons to establish E-Mail Exchange for local corporate networks that have neither POP/SMTP servers nor Internet access. In this case, there should be a technology of a local message delivery, i.e. the messages must be routed, delivered and stored locally without using POP/SMTP servers.

Local Delivery Technology is provided by The Bat! with the appropriate option turned on. To activate it, open "Network & Administration" dialogue box on server, and tick the "Allow Local Delivery" checkbox. This option allows several machines to work in a local network exchanging messages without using SMTP/POP server at all. This feature brings an efficient solution for building corporate mail-exchange networks without using Internet Mail Transfer Protocols. When "Allow Local Delivery" is on, the outgoing messages addressed to local users, are dispatched directly and put into appropriate message bases instead of sending them to SMTP server.

See also:

Working in Multi-User Environment

Account Groups


Account Groups

If a particular user wants to have access to several e-mail accounts, it is possible to define a group of accounts to be displayed whenever such a users logs on to The Bat!

To define an account group, use “Options | Network and Administration” command from the main program window.

To log into The Bat! using access to an account group, just enter the group name and password instead of an account’s logon data in the login screen.

See also:

Working in Multi-User Environment

The Bat! Networking Course


Common Errors

Mail cannot be sent

- Is your connection to the Internet is established?

- Make sure that TCP/IP protocol is installed on your system.

- Check network or modem cables connection to your computer

- Does your Internet Service provider have SMTP and POP3 servers?

- If all above is set up correctly and present but the problem persists, contact your network administrator or Internet Service provider.

Message text is unreadable

Check that you are using correct character translation table. If you are, check the message header for field named “Content-transfer-encoding” - it is possible that the message is encoded using method unknown to The Bat!; you have to ask the sender to re-send the message using either base64 or quoted-printable encoding.


POP
POP3 (Post Office Protocol Version 3) - a “post office” protocol is used for retrieving mail from host by client. Particularity of protocol - mail message exchange is initiated by the client's request.


SMTP
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) - a simple protocol for mail transmission which is widely used on the Internet. The SMTP server's function is to receive mail from other servers and clients, and to deliver mail to other hosts and to its clients’ mailboxes.


IMAP4
IMAP4 stands for Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4. It is a method of accessing electronic mail or bulletin board messages that are kept on a (possibly shared) mail server. In other words, it permits a "client" email program to access remote message stores as if they were local. For example, email stored on an IMAP4 server can be manipulated from a desktop computer at home, a workstation at the office, and a notebook computer while travelling, without the need to transfer messages or files back and forth between these computers. Speaking other words, IMAP4 is a superset of POP3 that provides good support for all three modes of remote mailbox access: offline, online, and disconnected.


About the name of e-mail account
The name of the e-mail account as it appears in account tree of the main program window. It may be any combination of characters. The only limitation is that the name must be unique within the program; in other words, there must not be another account with the same name.


About the path to the messages directory
The path to the directory where all files related to the given account are stored. This directory is also used for creating default sub-directories (each mail folder keeps its messages in MESSAGES.MSB file in its mail-folder directory, which by default is placed in the home directory of the account it belongs to)


Click this button if you want to specify another Home directory


Click this button to specify default Home directory


Click this button to perform the next step


Click this button to return to the previous step


The originator's name which will be put in the header of each message created for the account. For example, John Smith.


The Originator's e-mail address which will be put in the header of each message created for the account. For example, john.smith@mydomain.com


Organisation to which originator belongs (if any). Example: Mythical Software, Inc.


The address of your SMTP server to which all outgoing e-mail messages from the account must be sent. The address may be represented as a traditional Internet symbolic name (e.g.: mail.ritlabs.com) or as an IP numeric address (e.g. 193.219.214.38).


The address of your POP3 server where the account’s mailbox is located. All messages from the Internet are accumulated on POP3 servers and may be retrieved from there by the Get new mail command or by Message Dispatcher. The address may be represented as a traditional URL (e.g.: mail.ritlabs.com) or as an IP numeric address (e.g. 193.219.214.38)


The POP3 user name for access to your mailbox on the server. Usually, it is the same as the part of the account’s e-mail address before “@” symbol. For example, if the e-mail address is john.smith@ritlabs.com, the user’s name will be john.smith


The password for logging on to the POP3 server. You may leave this field blank - in this case you will be prompted to enter the password each time you try to receive mail.


If this option is set, APOP authentication method will be used instead of traditional authentication, which will make your password “invisible” when it is sent over the Internet. To use APOP you must ask your service provider or network administrator whether your POP3 server supports this type of authentication (it is not a complementary feature of POP3 servers)


If this options is set, your messages will not be deleted from the server after their retrieval. This gives you an option to re-download a message later if you have lost its copy on your machine.


Closes this dialogue box without saving the changes you have made.


The To field indicates the primary recipient(s) of a message.


CC (Carbon Copy) recipients of a message are the persons you want to “listen in” to the message you are sending to the primary recipient. CC recipients receive the message normally, but they do not see themselves as the primary recipient of the message; nevertheless, all CC recipients are listed in the message header.


Use a BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) if you do not want the primary addressee to know that the message is sent to somebody else. This may be helpful when it is necessary to send a notifying message to a huge group of people - using BCC will seriously reduce the message size.


Configuring The Bat!

After you have installed The Bat!, the program starts automatically. If you are installing The Bat! for the first time, you will be prompted about working directory. The working directory is the most important directory for The Bat! functioning - all account home directories, account data and address books will be stored in there by default. You also will be prompted about adding The Bat! icon to your Desktop, Start Menu and Sent-To menu. If account list file is found in the directory you have specified, The Bat! will automatically add the listed accounts into your copy of The Bat!, otherwise the New Account Wizard will open.

Choose the name of the account you want create and specify the home directory of this account. If the home directory contains account configuration files (file names begin with ACCOUNT), the data from those files will be used as default for your newly created account. If you choose <default> as the home directory, The Bat! creates a sub-directory of the working directory with the same name as the account.

After you have the new account name and home directory chosen, click Next, the New Account Wizard begins walking you through the fields for which you need to enter setup information.

You will need to supply the following items in the panels of the New Account Wizard (click Next after filling out each page):

Your Name - Enter your name as you would like it to appear in the From field of all of your outgoing messages from this e-mail account, indicating to your recipients who the mail is from.

E-mail Address - Enter the e-mail address that has been assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider or your organisation’s e-mail administrator. This is the address that other people will use to send you e-mail. E-mail addresses are generally of the form username@domainname, and serg@ritlabs.com is an example.

Organisation - Organisation which you represent (if any). The information about your organisation name is placed in the header of all messages you write. Mythical Software, Inc is an example. If you do not want to identify your organisation, leave this field blank.

SMTP Server - To send messages in The Bat!, you must have access to a computer running an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server. Your outgoing messages are sent to the SMTP server, which delivers them to your recipients. The address may be represented as a traditional Internet symbolic name (e.g.: mail.ritlabs.com) or as an IP numeric address (e.g. 193.219.214.38).

POP3 Server - All of your incoming e-mail messages are delivered to your incoming e-mail account, which resides on a computer that runs your incoming e-mail server. Once your messages arrive at your mail account, The Bat! picks them up and transfers them to your PC. Your incoming e-mail server must use one of the two Internet-mail communications protocols POP (Post Office Protocol) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). In the edit box, type the full name of the computer that runs your incoming e-mail server: mail.ritlabs.com is an example.

Username - Enter the name that you will use to log in to this e-mail account. This name is provided by your Internet Service Provider or your organisation’s e-mail administrator, and it usually consists of the text that appears before the at sign (@) in your return e-mail address. In the example serg@ritlabs.com, the login name is serg.

Password - Enter the password you use to access your mail server. You may leave this field blank - in this case you will be prompted to enter the password each time you try to receive mail

Use encrypted login method (APOP) - APOP is a secure login method, which prevents transmitting your password over the net in clear. This feature is not a complimentary for POP3 servers, however some systems do not allow other login methods but APOP. Please consult to your Internet Service Provider or Network Administrator whether you should use APOP.

Leave copy of messages on the server - You can use your account from different places. In this case, you may want to leave messages on the server to make it possible to retrieve them from other places where you use your mail account. If you do not want to leave copy of messages on the server, the messages will be deleted from the server mailbox after their successful retrieval.

Once you have completed setting up your account via the New Account Wizard, you are now ready to send and receive messages. However, you may need to take an additional step in order to send messages.

If the computer that runs your POP3 or IMAP server (incoming e-mail account) also runs an SMTP server, then no additional setup action is required. You are now ready to send and receive messages in The Bat!.

If you ever wish to change the settings of your e-mail account, you can do so from the Account Properties dialogue. It is available by “Account | Properties” menu command when the account is selected in the folder tree of the main window.


Registering your copy of The Bat!

The Bat! is a Shareware program. If you intend to use The Bat! after the trial period of 30 days, you must register your copy of The Bat! or stop using it. When you register The Bat!, you are eligible to receive Technical support from The Bat! support team as well as features for registered users can be used from then.

 Note: If you are part of a site license, you do not need to register. Contact your organisation’s e-mail administrator for support.

To get the latest licence prices and register your copy on-line using credit card, please visit The Bat! official WWW home page located at http://www.ritlabs.com/the_bat/ or contact The Bat! support team via e-mail info@thebat.net


Tip of The Day

Each time you open The Bat! (including the first time after install), the Bat! Tip of the Day dialogue is displayed, showing you the Tip of the Day. You can display next and previous tips by clicking the Next Tip and Previous Tip buttons. To prevent the Tip of the Day dialogue from being displayed on start-up, uncheck the checkbox. You can always display the Tip of the Day from the Help menu. Click the Close button to close the Tip of the Day dialogue.

You can add your own tips or your favourite quotations by editing the file named “TheBat.tip” located in the directory where The Bat! is installed. To change the order of tips, delete the file “tips.ini” located in the same directory.


Technical support

If, after reviewing all of the available materials, you are still in need of assistance, contact your e-mail administrator (your Internet Service Provider or your company’s The Bat! support coordinator) or The Bat! Support team. If you are eligible for technical support, select “Feedback | Information request” from the Help menu.

You must register your copy of The Bat! to receive technical support. See Registering Your Copy of The Bat! for details.


Quitting The Bat!

To quit The Bat!, select Exit from the Message menu, or press Alt+X. If you have any mail retrieving or sending sessions, you will hear the Windows exclamation sound which means that you cannot quit The Bat! right now.

The Trash folders of accounts are emptied if the Empty Trash on exit option is on in the Account Properties. Also, all folders will process their Exit actions (purge and/or compress) which can be set in Folder properties dialogue.


Uninstalling The Bat!

You can uninstall The Bat! by using the tools provided with your Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 (or later) operating system. Open the Control Panel, double-click on Add/Remove Programs, select The Bat!, and click Remove.


Creating an Outgoing Message

An outgoing message is a message you send to someone else. The simplest way to create an outgoing message is to select New from the Message menu or to press Ctrl+N. A new message window is displayed, called the message editor window).

You can assign a priority to outgoing messages and request a Confirm Receipt and Reading Confirmation.


Using the Message Editor

The message editor window in invoked whenever you edit/reply/forward a new e-mail message. Message editor window consists of the menu bar, the Toolbar, the message header, the Status bar, the attachment window and the message body (text editor with Spell Checking)

Menu Bar

The menu bar provides common commands that can be used while you edit messages including:

-	saving messages in various ways

-	attaching files

-	standard editing functions such as Copy/Paste/Cut operations as well as additional Pasting/Copying text from/to disk files, pasting as Quotation;

-	special operations like block mode switching, inserting current date/time;

-	spell checking functions;

-	PGP functions and options;

-	changing view options (switching on/off header fields, original message text when replying, toolbar and header fields visibility);

-	changing message preferences such as priority, character encoding, confirmation receipt requests and the active account from which the message should be sent.

Toolbar

The toolbar consists of a series of buttons that are displayed just under the title bar. It allows you to perform the operations, which are used often by one mouse click.

Message header

Outgoing mail headers consist of six fields: From, Reply-To, To, CC, BCC, Subject and Follow up. All the fields can be directly edited. To move the cursor from field to field, press either the Tab key or use Up/Down arrows or click in the desired field with the mouse. Most of header fields have history drop-down list, which is used for auto-complete and also can be activated by Alt+Down arrow keystroke.

Addressee fields (To, CC and BCC) have quick buttons to invoke address selection dialogue. You can also use Shift+Enter keystroke for this. The other feature is quick address pop-up menu which can be invoked either by pressing Alt+Enter or by right mouse click - the menu contains the addresses from the address book with “Add to pop-up menu” option set. When you type an address, you can press Ctrl+Plus to let The Bat! find an addressee with the name or address beginning with whatever you have typed, pressing Ctrl+Plus again takes you to another addressee with matching name or address.

From and Reply-To fields contain sender’s identity and the address to which replies must be sent. These fields can be edited either directly or by choosing alternate addresses from their drop-down lists or by choosing Active account from the Options menu.

The Follow up contains the identifier of the message to which a reply is created (empty for a new message) - this field should not usually be edited.

The Subject is some brief text indicating the contents of the message. This field can be left blank, although it is considered a point of e-mail etiquette to include a Subject with each message.

Status bar

The status bar is the line below the message body. It shows current status of the editor and message preferences (left to right): Caret position, Modified flag, current Block mode, current Input mode, the message priority and receipt requests flags, the last is the message’s character set). If you click with right mouse button on any section except two first ones, you’ll get a pop-up menu to change an option, which attached to a particular status panel.

See also: Text Editor


Autosave function automatically saves your message while you editing it within a certain period of time. To enable this facility, use “Options | Editor preferences” dialogue.


Saving a Message for Later Changes; Road works sign
Saving a Message for Later Changes

Sometimes it is convenient to save an outgoing message either as a safeguard when typing long messages, or so you can return to it later to make changes. You can use either “Save” or “Save as draft” or “Autosave”

To save the current message, select Save from the File menu. Saved messages are put in the Outbox and the saved message is shown with a Road works sign in the Status column. The Road works sign indicates that the message is not yet completed and thus cannot be sent from the outgoing queue.

You can continue making changes to the message or close it. If you try to close an outgoing message window without saving that version of the message, an alert is displayed asking if the message should be saved or the changes discarded. If you select Discard and the message has never been saved, the message is deleted.


Sending a Message Immediately

If you want to send your messages immediately instead of putting them in a queue to send later, use F2 key while you are in the message editor (be sure the Immediate delivery option is chosen in the Account Properties, use Shift+F2 otherwise).

To send the current message, click on the Send button or select Send Now from the Message menu. A progress window is displayed to show the progress of the transmission.

See also: Queueing a Message to Send Later.


Queuing a Message to Send Later

If you want to put your messages in the outgoing queue (in the Outbox) to send all together at a later time use Shift+F2 key (be sure the Immediate delivery option is chosen in the Account properties, use F2 otherwise).

To put the current message in the queue, click on the Queue button or select Queue in Outbox from the Message menu. The message window is closed, the message is saved in the Outbox without Road works sign which means that the message is ready to be sent.

To send all of your queued messages, select Send Queued Mail from the Account menu of the main window. A progress window is displayed momentarily at the top of the screen indicating the progress of the transmission.

See also: Sending a Message Immediately.


Protecting your account's mail with a password
Protecting your account’s mail with a password

With The Bat!, you can “lock” your account with a password so nobody can read your mail without your permission. This can be often used when your computer is located in office where anybody can access your computer while you are away. Do not confuse the account access password with your mail server password - these are two different things so make sure that you use two different passwords for your privacy sake.

In multi-user environment, the account access password is also used for logging on.

To protect your account with a password, use Set Access Password command of Account menu or press Ctrl+F12. You will be prompted about the password you want to use to access your account. If you have a password set already for your account, you can enter empty string as your password - the account will be unprotected after doing this

Note that the account’s mail is encrypted if you set a password. Make sure that you won’t occasionally forget your password, it is recommended that you write down your access password somewhere.


Secure messaging with PGP

The Bat! uses Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) software to protect your messages from unauthorised reading and/or modification. For proper use of cryptography provided by PGP in Electronic Mail exchange, you need to know more about gaining message privacy - please visit PGP official Web site at http://www.pgp.com

To use PGP v2.6.3 with The Bat!, just install PGP completely, and make sure that PGP executables stay in your system's PATH Environment variable and you have PGPPATH is set accordingly to PGP documentation. Please read the documentation on PGP carefully before using it. Outside U.S., you may download PGP v2.6.3 International. U.S. version of PGP 2.6.3 is no longer available.

To use PGP v5.5.3 or higher with The Bat!, just install PGP completely and make sure that all PGP DLL's can be located using your system's PATH Environment variable. United States and Canada residents may download PGP 5.5.5 (U.S. Export Restricted) from its official Web site. Outside the U.S., you may download PGP 5.5.3 International and PGP 5.5.5 User's Manual from the International PGP WWW site - http://www.pgpi.com.

After you have your version of PGP installed accordingly the above instructions, you can start your secure messaging and PGP functions in the main window’s Tools menu and the message editor’s PGP menu are available to use.

See also: 	Encrypting your message with PGP

Decrypting PGP signed messages

Signing your message with PGP

Verifying PGP signed messages

Adding PGP public keys from a message


Signing your message with PGP

To ensure your recipients that messages they receive are from your e-mail address, it is recommended to encrypt your messages with PGP. PGP signed messages contain their original text plus your key information so if somebody tries to modify a message signed by you, the message won’t be verified successfully by its end-recipients. PGP signing can be used together with encryption.

With The Bat!, you can sign your messages from the message editor either manually using “PGP | Sign block” (“Sign entire text”, “Sign and encrypt entire text”) command or automatically using the on/off option “Sign when completed” of PGP menu.

Before sending signed messages, make sure that your recipient have your public PGP key, otherwise they won’t be able to verify your signature validity. Please refer to PGP manual about the distribution of your public key.

See also: 	Encrypting your message with PGP

Decrypting PGP signed messages

Verifying PGP signed messages

Adding PGP public keys from a message


Encrypting your message with PGP

To send message securely over the Internet, it is recommended to encrypt your messages with PGP. A PGP encrypted message cannot be read by anybody but the persons whose public PGP keys are used to encrypt the message. PGP Encryption can be used together with signing.

With The Bat!, you can encrypt your messages from the message editor either manually using “PGP | Encrypt block” (“Encrypt entire text”, “Sign and encrypt entire text”) command or automatically using the on/off option “Sign when completed” of PGP menu.

To encrypt your message to a particular recipient, you must have the recipient’s public key. If you don’t, please refer to PGP manual to learn how you can obtain public keys.

See also: 	Decrypting PGP signed messages

Signing your message with PGP

Verifying PGP signed messages

Adding PGP public keys from a message


Verifying PGP signed messages

Whenever you receive a PGP signed message, you can check whether the signature is valid so the information in the message has been sent by an authorised person and is not changed before it has arrived your mailbox. To do this, you should have PGP properly installed and the sender’s public key in your public key database.

To verify a signed e-mail message from The Bat!, use “Check PGP signature” command from the Tools menu. If the message is encrypted, it will be automatically decrypted (PGP may ask you for your passphrase).

See also: 	Encrypting your message with PGP

Decrypting PGP signed messages

Signing your message with PGP

Adding PGP public keys from a message


Decrypting PGP messages

Whenever you receive a PGP encrypted message, you can decrypt it you have PGP properly installed and an appropriate private key in your key database. Please refer to PGP manual to get more information about PGP key pairs.

To decrypt an encrypted e-mail message from The Bat!, use “Check PGP signature” command from the Tools menu. If the message is signed, PGP automatically checks its signature validity. Note that the message is NOT stored so you need to decrypt it this way each time you read the message.

Another way is decryption as a message into your message base using “Decrypt PGP...” command of the Tools menu. Note that in this case your privacy might appear as defenceless because the message is stored in your message base in clear text so anybody else can read it.

See also: 	Encrypting your message with PGP

Signing your message with PGP

Verifying PGP signed messages

Adding PGP public keys from a message


Adding PGP public keys from a message

PGP public keys can be distributed in plain ASCII text and therefore it is possible to embed public key blocks in an e-mail message. Below is an example of a message with public keys embedded.

Hello John,

  This is my public key:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Version: 2.6.3i

mQBtAzPHTM0AAAEDAKCJ5/hM+qpxHaa4wFumqU2DEV4KfkKe5hkkfS6knTtn0rnD

Zm/90txo+29gOFARBL8ynIpGA7fUgmNG13mprN9q/9xrtH4gg6jV/cYJ3ZtnKN9B

sfw7QLKsW3r6eMYGsQAFEbQiU3RlZmFuIFRhbnVya292IDxzdGVmQHJpdGxhYnMu

Y29tPokAdQMFEDPHTM2sW3r6eMYGsQEBft0DAIi04Yya7Q5ZZAtz2K4bKHitMBFV

j1g0Vmr87Cr5qZYgGBzbNasyFwUuFqwqEuiwnLVNSpPiK8QsJTff6Ky9hqMUiZaL

ENOzJ5f9GKw0pmMio7rOlKRE8Szbl6RkpeCUQw==

=u13G

-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

All the best,

   Stefan

To import PGP public keys from an e-mail message with The Bat! use “Import PGP key” command from Tools menu.

See also: 	Encrypting your message with PGP

Decrypting PGP signed messages

Signing your message with PGP

Verifying PGP signed messages


Submission Forms

Submission form are a tool for creating queries that should be automatically processed. A query is actually a message with strictly defined fields and string variables.

The queries come from a user equipped with The Bat! software with form templates (files with a TBC-extension). Such a user is called the client. Before submitting a query, The Bat! asks the user to fill out a form, that looks very much like forms that you have probably filled out on the Web. The program that processes user requests is called a server. The Bat! transforms data filled in by the user to an e-mail message, encrypts and signs the message digitally. This message is sent to the server via e-mail. The address of the server is defined in a form template. The system of interacting of client and server by means of queries and replies is called The Bat! Client-Server.

This system is intended for remote access to data and managing data in off-line mode securely. The purpose of this system is to control bank accounts, make ticket and hotel reservations, etc. In order to provide secure transactions, encryption and digital signing is used (RSA/IDEA/MD5 algorithms), defined in RFC-1991. Server software is specific and depends on its tasks: Internet-shops, Banks or Ticket Reservation Agencies may use different types of server software, but the client, using The Bat!, can seamlessly use all of their services.

In order to provide a proper transaction, format of query fields must be equal on both client and server parts. As the server usually works with more then one client, the form templates (TBC-files) are usually being created on the server, signed and sent to clients before starting any transactions between the client and the server. While making transactions, the server can start new kinds of services for its users; in this case, the server would send any new versions of form templates in order for the client to be able to use those new services. Upon reception of a template file and verification of the digital signature, the client adds it to the list of template forms.

The presence of a digital signature is mandatory. It does not only ensure that the formats are equal on both client and server, but protects the system from intrusion of unauthorised templates. This unauthorised intrusion can come as a templates renewal and can cause all or a part of clients to have unauthorised templates instead of authorised ones. This can cause “freezing” of networks or information drain. The changing of a server’s e-mail address in a form template can cause such a drain.

See also: The Format of a Submission Form Template.


The Format of a Submission Form Template

Form templates are stored in a text file with a TBC-extension. The file content is signed by a digital signature. Form templates (TBC-files) are usually being created on the server, signed and sent to clients before starting any transactions. Upon reception of a template file and verifying the digital signature, the client adds it to the list of template forms (Options/Submission Forms). See introduction to learn more about submission forms.

A template describes the properties of a screen form window (which is filled in by the client), e-mail message attributes (in which the query will be sent) and variables of request. Each string of a form template can contain one keyword with one or more parameters. Lines that start with “;” character are treated as comments.

Window and Message Properties

Keyword MSG is used to define the properties of a screen form window and message attributes, other keywords are used to fill in the form. MSG keyword can have the following parameters: FORMTITLE (title of screen form window, string value), FORMWIDTH (width of the window, numeric value), FORMHEIGHT (height of the window, numeric value), AREAWIDTH (width of area inside a window, this are will be scrollable if it exceeds the window, numeric value), AREAHEIGHT (height of the area inside a window, numeric value), TO (e-mail address of destination server, string value), SUBJ (Subject filed of the message, string value), PRIORITY (priority type of the message, string value), ENCRYPT (whether the message should be encrypted, ON/OFF), SIGN (whether the message should be signed, ON/OFF).

Query Content

Query content is the data that a user has entered while filling in the screen form. When the user clicks OK button in a form, The Bat! creates an e-mail message with the query content. If stated in a form template, the message content will be signed and/or encrypted. Then the message will be sent via e-mail to the server. E-mail address of the server is also stated in a form template. The message body looks like an unlimited-length line and contains the variables, which are separated by the ampersand (“&”) character. The names of the variables are defined in a form template. The values of the variables are taken from the fields of a screen form, which the user has filled in before clicking OK. In the query string which is being transmitted to server in message body, the name and the value of a variable are separated by an equal sign (“=” character). E.g., the query contains two variables, named servicetype and accountnumber, the first variable has “getaccountlog” value and the second variable has “849780094“ value; in that case the message body will look like this:

servicetype=getaccountlog&accountnumber=849780094

This method of generating of a query string conforms to RFC1866 (paragraph 8.2.1, application/x-www-form-urlencoded content-type).

Names and values of variables can contain any characters, but some characters should be escaped according to the following rules: the space character should be replaced by a plus sign character. Non-alphanumeric characters are replaced by “%HH”, a percent sign and two hexadecimal digits representing the ASCII code of the character. Line breaks, as in multi-line text field values, are represented as CR LF pairs, i.e. “%0D%0A”.

Overview of Form Elements

A screen form can contain such elements as input lines, lists, check-boxes, labels and buttons. All these elements are defined in a form template by means of keywords: EDIT (single-line input field), MEMO (multi-line input field), CHECKBOX, LISTBOX (standard list), COMBOBOX (drop-down list) – all of these elements define variables, one variable per element. Besides that, there is a special invisible element, HIDDEN – the user cannot affect the value set by this element, and visible LABEL element that doesn’t define a variable and is used as a label for any other visible element. Two elements are used to control the screen form: SUBMIT (button, that causes the query to be sent to server) and CANCEL (button, that cancels the form).

Overview of Element Parameters

Screen form elements can have the following parameters: X, Y (coordinates of topmost left corner within a window), WIDTH, HEIGHT (width and height of an element, most of the elements are defaulted or calculated from font height, so these parameters are optional), NAME, VALUE (defines name and value of variable, applies to all elements except LABEL, SUBMIT and CANCEL). The EDIT element can have a MASK parameter that defines formatted input; LISTBOX and COMBOBOX elements can have an ITEM parameter that adds an item to the list; LABEL, CHECKBOX, SUBMIT and CANCEL elements can have a CAPTION parameter.

Besides that, the LABEL element can have some extra parameters: FOCUSNAME, which links the label to another element - if the value of the CAPTION argument of a label includes an accelerator key (“&” character) and SHOWACCEL is ON, the element named as the value of the FOCUSNAME parameter becomes focused when the user presses the accelerator key. LABEL keyword can also have a JUSTIFY parameter, which specifies how text is aligned within the label. The value of JUSTIFY can be on of: LEFT (align text to the left side of the label), CENTER (center text horizontally in the label), RIGHT (align text to the right side of the label).

List of Form Elements

EDIT	Single-line input field. Use EDIT element to put a standard Windows edit box control on the screen form. Edit boxes are used to retrieve information from client, because the client can type data into an edit box. The client can be forced to enter only valid characters using a MASK parameter. MASK can be also used to format the display of data. Mandatory parameters: X, Y, NAME; optional parameters: WIDTH, HEIGHT, VALUE, MASK.
MEMO	Muili-line input field, which displays text to the client and permits the client to enter text into the application much like the EDIT component. The difference is that the MEMO element permits multiple lines to be entered or displayed, but doesn’t permit masked input, unlike EDIT. Mandatory parameters: X, Y, NAME; optional parameters: WIDTH, HEIGHT, VALUE.
CHECKBOX	Switch. This element is used to present On/Off (Yes/No, True/False) options to the client, particularly where more than one choice at a time is available from a group of choices. The string value of the checkbox can be either “on” or “off”. When the form is submitted with a value of "on", it will be sent as "name=on". Mandatory parameters: X, Y, NAME; optional parameters: WIDTH, HEIGHT, VALUE.
LISTBOX	Standard list. This element defines a Windows list box. A list box displays a list from which users can select one or more items. Mandatory parameters: X, Y, NAME; optional parameters: ITEM, WIDTH, HEIGHT.
COMBOBOX	Drop-down list. This element defines a list that has much in common with LISTBOX, but it drops down and the only one item can be selected. Mandatory parameters: X, Y, NAME; optional parameters: ITEM , WIDTH, HEIGHT.
HIDDEN	Hidden element. Allows embedded information within the form, which cannot be changed by the client. NAME and VALUE of this element will be sent to the server without modifications. Mandatory parameters: NAME, VALUE.
LABEL	Label. It displays text on a window. Usually this text labels some other element. Mandatory parameters: X, Y, CAPTION, optional parameters: WIDTH, HEIGHT, FOCUSNAME, JUSTIFY, SHOWACCEL.
SUBMIT	Submit button. When pressed, sends the contents of the form to the server. Mandatory parameters: X, Y, optional parameters: WIDTH, HEIGHT, CAPTION.
CANCEL	Cancel button. When pressed, closes the form and cancels client input. Mandatory parameters: X, Y, optional parameters: WIDTH, HEIGHT, CAPTION.

List of Element Parameters

X	Horizontal coordinate of left edge of an element within a form. This is a mandatory parameter for all visible elements: EDIT, MEMO, CHECKBOX, LISTBOX, COMBOBOX, LABEL, SUBMIT, CANCEL, e.g. all except HIDDEN. Numeric value.
Y	Vertical coordinate of top edge of an element within a form. Coordinates are incremented from top to bottom. This is a mandatory parameter for all visible elements: EDIT, MEMO, CHECKBOX, LISTBOX, COMBOBOX, LABEL, SUBMIT, CANCEL, e.g. all except HIDDEN. Numeric value.
WIDTH	Width of an element. The width of all visible elements is set by default. This is an optional parameter for all visible elements: EDIT, MEMO, CHECKBOX, LISTBOX, COMBOBOX, LABEL, SUBMIT, CANCEL, e.g. all except HIDDEN. Numeric value.
HEIGHT	Width of an element. The width of all visible elements is set by default or by font height. This is an optional parameter for all visible elements: EDIT, MEMO, CHECKBOX, LISTBOX, COMBOBOX, LABEL, SUBMIT, CANCEL, e.g. all except HIDDEN. Numeric value.
NAME	Variable name. This is a mandatory parameter for EDIT, MEMO, CHECKBOX, LISTBOX, COMBOBOX. Numeric value.
VALUE	Default value. This is a mandatory parameter for HIDDEN and optional for EDIT, MEMO è CHECKBOX. String value.
CAPTION	Caption. This is a mandatory parameter for LABEL and CHECKBOX and optional for SUBMIT è CANCEL. String value.
FOCUSNAME	Name of element to be focused by a label. It defines the element which links the label to another element - if the value of CAPTION argument of a label includes an accelerator key (“&” character), the element named as the value of this parameter becomes focused when the user presses the accelerator key. This is an optional parameter for LABEL. String value.
JUSTIFY	Justifies label text. This parameters specifies how text is aligned within the label. This is an optional parameter for LABEL. The value of JUSTIFY can be on of: LEFT (align text to the left side of the label), CENTER (center text horizontally in the label), RIGHT (align text to the right side of the label).
SHOWACCEL	Control accelerator character. This parameter determines how an ampersand in the caption of a label appears. Boolean value. If value is ON, an ampersand appears as an underline under the character to its right in the caption indicating the underlined character is an accelerator character. If value is OFF, the ampersand character appears as an ampersand.

Example

Below is content of a sample TBC-file that can be used to receive currency trend for a stated period. The screen form contains a drop-down list (COMBOBOX) for selecting currency type and fields for date input (EDIT).

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

MSG FORMTITLE="Currency Rate Request"

MSG TO="Client-Bank <client-bank@bank.com>"

MSG SUBJ="Client-Bank"

MSG PRIORITY="High"

MSG FORMWIDTH=260

MSG FORMHEIGHT=190

MSG ENCRYPT=ON

MSG SIGN=ON

HIDDEN NAME="service" VALUE="getcurrencytrend"

LABEL CAPTION="&Currency"  X=16 Y=8 FOCUSNAME="iso"

COMBOBOX NAME="iso"   X=16 Y=24 WIDTH=120

COMBOBOX NAME="iso"   ITEM="MDL","Moldavian Leu"

COMBOBOX NAME="iso"   ITEM="USD","US Dollar"

COMBOBOX NAME="iso"   ITEM="RUR","Russian Rouble"

COMBOBOX NAME="iso"   ITEM="UAH","Ukrainean Hr."

COMBOBOX NAME="iso"   ITEM="FIM","Finnish Mark"

COMBOBOX NAME="iso"   ITEM="DEM","Deutche Mark"

COMBOBOX NAME="iso"   ITEM="GBP","GB Pound"

LABEL CAPTION="&Starting Date" X=154 Y=8 FOCUSNAME="date1"

EDIT NAME="date1"              X=154 Y=24

EDIT NAME="date1"              MASK="00/00/0000" VALUE="01011996"

LABEL CAPTION="&Ending Date"   X=154 Y=52 FOCUSNAME="date2"

EDIT NAME="date2"              X=154 Y=68

EDIT NAME="date2"              MASK="00/00/0000" VALUE="01011999"

SUBMIT CAPTION="OK"            X=60 Y=112

CANCEL CAPTION="Cancel"        X=154 Y=112

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iQDVAwUANfjoiRQeqwtQAYtzAQHkIQX+JhO61HCBfVw5VF3KqQhpApmOPhk2gEKz

C7qkNwpx7lexjbZvTVNGNfxTk7cTx5AxSFiUV32JH9WPm9fuJ5/bXIfWojDnaYbi

OM/BqS2KykFyoiuy+KULji10oRTt1jdC0Yqyv+OMgo2RuMwI0QhUozpHlVvkEHkk

r3acZ3NVIjBZHdW0I4YCjA3FKxBQmoFsQg9/ndjeE2lHZTCtLK2Kue036PeSCJq1

JWwVgWwT0JfhfFMXjj5tZm7pspNaGLst

=FBRX

-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

When the client clicks the OK button, The Bat! generates the following request line:

service=getcurrencytrend&iso=USD&date1=01011996&date2=01011999

As values of ENCRYPT and SIGN parameters of MSG keyword are set to ON, this string will be signed and encrypted before being sent to the server via e-mail (to client-bank@bank.com). The e-mail message body will look like this:

-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----

hMwDFB6rC1ABi3MBBgBuPwdXPA/obgJJ/fcjDSqO7oh820EHlKpA5mzbYSwg/qWg

wYvNO/iJq4mofSfUnwozK3S5dD4zSeNcEqzQzw3ZZpE5D8aLOlNRAKlRh2ZIfN4W

6pmLJrhcX/GvsH667YUfL97r8LCWbaBtYI8D85ZluPSNGzt8AIgjIEZLKaAcq6yD

eYpO5GpxvvDvT8Vb80QnUZW5kTX9MGFg+gtUGqcb3f3dibyewWZfjndhkjj4Br4I

QLQ5v0mjx76lqxhbi5qmAAABM3PfOx1lpLE7VkHCTuQSPsm09a69rjQqgKimOPxj

hcH8wKXAi2FYDQ8wY8iszRZ9IeDHJtqOsdr0vUltT0Mj0jGvWi1Jb/jFOZ0jW/2J

k1uFMo5Dy/gaGQjjCIZvRT2dWy7CQ67vnegTi2zsvMAPM6/Bz7qTA6lsMMY88E9p

4qDlcN6OZIlY8DGaExcIDpoZwPChgIQfA55VQyNfN5YKzfBxCmtqSWbbLFh7WnkR

8FBLi9E8rPGg2jmzfAn1CczYnlfXinHtuAKmxmt3m3bOyNv5SGmMz+9WWhWIBH8Q

XIBXrfH2yDDldKwkyj0tsjeXs6LFS7D/kMCdBNM1FClWw1EftTBbdwL0ykDX9Z6f

NS6fQxYJxGrfAMp7hSaGydrenSKEviAy5o6HyjBxoCqQLGKdsWQ=

=wflO

-----END PGP MESSAGE-----

Upon reception of the message, the server decrypts it, verifies the digital signature, extracts the request line, parses it and sends the currency trend back to the user.