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To PRINT this file: At the DOS prompt, type: C> COPY WNAVCIS.DOC PRN: then press the <Enter> key. This document is approximately 27 to 30 pages long (depending on printer type). NavCIS (tm) Special Edition v.1.1 for Windows 3.1 (c) 1993 Dvorak Development and Publishing Corp. --- DOCUMENTATION --- .......................................................................... NavCIS SE has been tested and checked for application errors and bugs, however, it is impossible to test NavCIS on all possible configurations, so it is possible that problems may be encountered. Please report such problems to us by leaving a message in GO NAVCIS, section 11. In your address book you will find an ID for our tech support department. When reporting possible bugs, please tell us about your configuration: amount of RAM, Windows version, DOS version, modem type, and anything else that you feel may be pertinent. By using this software, you release Dvorak Development & Publishing Corporation from any and all legal responsibility for any consequence of using NavCIS SE. NavCIS is a trademark of Dvorak Development and Publishing Corp. Other names may be trademarks of their respective companies. --- ORGANIZATION OF THIS FILE -------------------------------------------- This documentation file is ordered so that the information you need is presented in the order you will most likely use it. This includes an overview (INTRODUCTION), installation, configuration, NavCIS configuration and finally using NavCIS. There is important information to be found even at the end of the file so it is recommended that you read the entire file. This is especially true if you have any problems running NavCIS. In APPENDIX A is a list of problems that could occur when using NavCIS and possible solutions. APPENDIX B contains a list of error numbers and a definition for each. --- INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to NavCIS SE for Windows. NavCIS is an off-line CompuServe navigator designed with the ease of use in mind. The user interface is graphically based so it can better represent concepts of navigation to you. The feel of NavCIS reproduces the actions you normally take in accomplishing tasks such as writing letters and sending packages. This makes using NavCIS as natural as possible. The SE version is a free release of NavCIS that is intended to be used, without time limit, by users who's needs do not exceed its features. If NavCIS SE does not satisfy your needs, NavCIS PRO may be what you are looking for. You can try NavCIS PRO for 30 days by downloading the TE (Timed Edition) version. The file name to look for is WNAVTE.EXE. What is a CompuServe navigator? A navigator is a tool that allows you to access CompuServe without knowing the details of how CompuServe works. With a navigator you do not have to learn all of the CompuServe on-line commands. A navigator can access CompuServe much faster than you could by hand. This means that you will save money using a navigator over manual operation. A navigator such as NavCIS also gives you advantages over CompuServe's interface such as providing you with a text editor for writing your messages and archiving received messages for you so that they can be quickly accessed. An on-line navigator such as CIM and WinCIM help you to move around CompuServe but they do most of the work while you are connected to CompuServe. This means that your CompuServe account is being charged as the navigator runs. An OFF-LINE navigator, such as NavCIS, does as much work off-line as possible. When NavCIS goes on-line it is designed to go quickly and not need user intervention. Therefore less time is spent on-line using an OFF-LINE navigator rather than an ON-LINE navigator. NavCIS will let you set up its actions off-line and then, when ready, it will call CompuServe and perform the defined tasks quickly. NavCIS SE accomplishes many of the navigational tasks for you but not all of them. Some can only be done by hand or using other software such as NavCIS PRO or CompuServe's CIM and WinCIM. We made sure that NavCIS SE is a good entry level navigator that covers the basic navigation tasks. Some of the features of NavCIS SE are: - Allows five user definable forums and two predefined forums (Mail and NavCIS) for a total of seven. - Keeps an address book of other users that you correspond with. You can also assign these users to distribution lists (Groups). Each user can be assigned to any number of groups. - NavCIS overcomes the CompuServe limit of 50 recipients for e-mail by allowing you to send e-mail to any number of recipients. - NavCIS is smart when receiving e-mail files. If the filename is present in the subject of the message then NavCIS will find it. If not then it will create a filename based upon the last name of the sender or use an incremental filename. - Threads that you are interested in can be downloaded in the first pass by NavCIS. This is done by allowing you to specify keywords that the subject of the threads may contain. If they do, the threads can be auto-marked, auto-highlighted, or auto-downloaded for you. Another method of having them read on the first pass is to place a thread that you wish to follow into a 'Watch Bin'. Here, all updates to the thread are read when seen by NavCIS. You can set a Watch Bin item so that it will delete itself after a specified time or a time limit of inactivity. - Catalogs of forum libraries can be auto-updated by NavCIS. Just tell NavCIS how long between each scan and it will do the rest. - Joining of forums is done automatically for you. NavCIS will join the forum, set options, and download section lists automatically the first time NavCIS visits the forum. - Forums are highly configurable in NavCIS. You can define exactly how NavCIS will behave in each forum. - Name changes in forums are done for you automatically. Just change your global name or a forum alias and NavCIS knows it must update the information next time it is online. - If you see headers that you might want to read later but you don't have time for them then you can tell NavCIS to HOLD the headers until further notice. - To compose a message, just drag the letter template onto a forum and drop it. Then, just fill in the message. Its also this easy to setup e-mail file uploads and to create catalogs of forum libraries. Of course, you can always use the menus if you prefer. - You can have NavCIS delete old messages for you automatically by setting the maximum days NavCIS will hold a message on a forum by forum basis. This will allow NavCIS to delete old messages unless they are marked otherwise. You can also manually delete the messages. - NavCIS will import address books from other navigators such as WinCIM, Tapcis, OzCIS, and CIM. - Support for multiple nodes. This means that you can keep a list of CompuServe phone numbers that you use to call CompuServe. You can have NavCIS switch nodes when re-dialing by using the redial list. NavCIS PRO has extra features that go beyond basic navigation. Some of the features are yet unseen in the world of CompuServe navigation and they provide extra functionality to the definition of navigators. Some of the extra features that PRO has are: - Unlimited number of user definable forums. * WYSIWYG messages. You can actually place different fonts and emitocons (graphical representations of emotions normally represented by character sequences such as <g> for 'grin') in your messages. When other NavCIS users see the message they will also see it exactly as you composed it... the fonts and emoticons intact. * Multiple views of forum messages such as thread order, date order, sender, receiver, and others. You can also search on this information to quickly find a particular message. A thread tree view gives you a representation of threads similar to a directory tree of your hard disk. You can easily scan through the many threads in a forum using this view. - Stock Quote information. Using this feature you can quickly download stock information from CompuServe. - Weather maps and information. With a quick press of a button you can tell NavCIS what weather information you are interested in and NavCIS will download it from CompuServe. - If you need to find a file and you don't know the forum then you can use NavCIS PRO to access any of the File Finders. - Searching for text in catalogs or changing the order in which they are viewed is supported. * PRO will import forum information from some other navigators. This includes importing of messages, forums, catalogs, and other data. - Upload and Download of files can be setup as an action while offline. You can also upload a file with Carbon Copies of the file going to additional forums. * Messages are saved to disk in a compressed format to save disk space. * Supports download-resume for the B+ protocol. --- INSTALLATION --------------------------------------------------------- FROM DOS (in Windows go to the DOS prompt): 1. Create a separate directory for NavCIS SE, for example WNAV. C: CD \ MD WNAV 2. Change to the new directory. CD \WNAV 3. Run the WNAV.EXE program and it will extract itself into multiple files. It may ask you to confirm creation of a subdirectory, if so then respond with Y. WNAV 4. You need to now add NavCIS to the program manager. The program file is WNAVCIS.EXE and the work path can point to any location where you wish the data directories to exist. NavCIS will create a DATA and DL directory under the location you specify in the work path. The work path MUST exist. 5. The copy of BWCC.DLL that we ship with NavCIS is a newer version than you may have installed on your hard disk. If it is newer then delete all older versions and place this new version in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory so that all programs who access this DLL can use this new release from Borland. --- TECHNICAL SUPPORT ---------------------------------------------------- Please use CompuServe for technical support. Post any inquiries in section 11 of GO NAVCIS. This is where NavCIS SE technical support takes place. Do not post messages to Sysop or they may be delayed in getting to a technical support representative. Post them to ALL, Navsysop, or to the technical support ID # that is in your NavCIS SE address book when you install the program. The latter option will give you the quickest response from technical support. Other users may be just as helpful in answering your questions. The technical support ID for NavCIS is 71333,12. More information about technical support can be gained from Dvorak Development's SALES line at (303) 661-0345. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ========================== GETTING STARTED =============================== >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< --- FORUM ICONS ---------------------------------------------------------- The forum icons default to a mailbox appearance. The little red flag goes up when you have mail to be sent, letters stick out of the mailbox to represent received mail, and other animations help identify the state of the forum. You can switch to the alternate set of icons by selecting the Configuration menu's Options choice. Here you can also change the color of the icon's text. The second set of icons are in/out boxes. The IN or OUT light up to represent received messages or outgoing messages. A headers checklist will appear when new headers are available. An up/down arrow represent file actions to be performed (includes new catalog information). These and other animations give you a quick update on the forum state with just a glance. --- GETTING HELP while in NAVCIS ----------------------------------------- Not all functions of NavCIS are documented in here to their full extent. If you are looking for more information on a topic then check the online help system from within NavCIS. To make NavCIS SE as easy to use as possible, we have included a context sensitive help system. When you press <F1> you will receive a window with help information about the topic that currently has the focus. The focus is represented by a dotted line around the object (such as a button or window). The focus can be moved to an object by using the TAB or SHIFT-TAB. On the main NavCIS screen you can use the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON to get help for any of the icons or buttons. Other help screens can be brought up by pressing any of the HELP buttons that are spread throughout the program. --- CONFIGURING NAVCIS --------------------------------------------------- When you start NavCIS for the first time you will be presented with the option to alter the Hardware configuration and the Global configuration. You should do both. The Hardware configuration has the following settings: PORT - This is the serial (COM) port where your modem resides. You can set this to 1, 2, 3, or 4. If your COM port has special IRQ settings or special BASE ADDRESS settings then you need to set SPECIAL SETTINGs. MAX BAUD - Set this to the maximum baud rate your modem handles. A 9600 baud modem should have this set to 9600. Do not set this to the baud rate of the CompuServe node you are calling since NavCIS can still talk to your modem at a higher speed than the connect speed. If you have problems then try changing the baud to a lower value. (special note) If your COM port has different IRQ settings or BASE ADDRESS settings than the normal default then you will have to use these settings. You can alter these settings in the Windows Control Panel. PHONE - This is the current node phone number that NavCIS will use NUMBER when dialing CompuServe. The drop down combobox will display other available nodes when you have added some at a later date. MODEM INIT - You have two modem init strings that you can enter. Usually you will only require one. If your modem needs two specific strings sent then you can place one in MODEM INIT 1 and the other in MODEM INIT 2. DIAL - To dial a number your modem needs a dial command. This is PREFIX where you should enter the command. For modems that are dialing on a phone line that supports tone dialing you will most likely use the default, ATDT. For pulse dialing you would have to alter the string to ATPT. You can also use this string to enter any calling card numbers that must be dialed before a phone number. Only enter numbers here that will work for all of the phone numbers you will use. DIAL - After dialing a phone number you may have more calling card SUFFIX numbers that need to be dialed. Place them here. By separating the phone number from these types of number sequences it makes it easier to change the phone number without affecting the other information. The GLOBAL configuration screen has the following information that you must enter (the rest is optional unless using the ORDER NAVCIS PRO option and then this information is used as the default for the order form): NAME - This is your user name as you want it to appear on CompuServe. This is used for your e-mail name and as the default name in a forum (unless you specify an alias for a forum). In MAIL you must interactively enter your name (NavCIS PRO does this automatically). It was not implemented in time for SE. USER ID - This is your CompuServe ID number. PASSWORD - Your password for CompuServe. This is encrypted in the data files. The Hardware and Global settings can also be accessed from the Configuration menu on the main screen OR from the toolbar. The toolbar icon for Hardware settings is the icon representing a modem and the Global settings icon is the one with the Earth on it (Globe). The CAPTURE SYSTEM INFO setting in the Global settings determines if NavCIS will capture the Whats New menu that CompuServe sometimes shows on login. If you have it captured then it will appear in your e-mail as a message from NavCIS. --- FORUM CONFIGURATION -------------------------------------------------- When NavCIS starts up you have two pre-defined forums. In SE you can add five user defined forums beyond the original two. To maintain the forum list you can either select the forum CFG icon from the toolbar (it looks like a mailbox with a letter sticking out that says CFG) or from the Configuration menu Forum Settings. Here you can Add and Remove forums. You can also change forum settings and set the default values for new forums. To remove an icon from the screen without removing the forum you can go to the forum settings and deselect the Active checkbox. If it is disabled then the forum basically sleeps with no activity until activated by having this box checked. To Remove a forum just click on the forum making sure that it now has the focus line. Then hit the remove button. When you remove a forum you delete all data associated with the forum. To Add a forum just click on the Add button. You can also add a forum by drag-and-dropping the NEW FORUM template from the right side of the screen to any place on the NavCIS desktop. Once you have added the forum you will have to configure the forum. You need to fill out the GO word and make sure the forum is Active. The GO word is the word used to go to the particular forum on CompuServe. The PCVENF forum would have the GO word of "PCVENF". If the forum is in another gateway besides CIS you need to fill in the gateway. An example is any of the ZiffNet forums which have the gateway of "ZNT". You can select GO words from the Browse box. The list can be updated by going to the Actions main menu and selecting Services option. Then check the UPDATE FORUM LIST box. The next time NavCIS goes online it will download the complete list of forums again to make sure you have an updated copy of the list. To see the list just hit the Browse button next to the GO WORD entry field. Other settings found in the Forum Settings (note that MAIL doesn't require all of the settings and therefore has a subset of these listed) are: USE AN ALIAS - if you decide to use an alias this means that you can have a name in the forum that is different from the name us specified in the Global Settings. If you change to using an Alias or from using an Alias then NavCIS will update the name in the forum the next time it visits the forum. ALIAS - This is the name by which you will be known in the forum. If you change the text and you have USE AN ALIAS marked then NavCIS will update your name in the forum for you. UPDATE FORUM - This is turned on for a new forum. If this is marked INFO then NavCIS will grab new section lists for a forum the next time it visits the forum. If you know that the section lists have changed then you can turn this option on therefore telling NavCIS to update its information. NavCIS turns this check box off after it accomplishes the task once. NavCIS will always gather the section list the first time it visits a forum. Therefore on the first visit NavCIS plays it safe and does NOT download any message or headers from a forum thereby giving you a chance to select particular sections of interest. You also have two sub-settings screens SECTIONS and MESSAGES. These can be accessed by pressing the corresponding buttons at the bottom of the Forum Configuration screen. The settings for SECTIONS screen are: MSG HEADER - When NavCIS reads the list of new headers in a forum KEYS it can scan that list of subjects for keywords that you specify. If any match then it can perform an action on those headers. The keywords should be listed all in the one field with a space separating them. The keywords will be found in a header subject if they either start a word or end a word. All punctuation is ignored and treated as spaces when checking. Use the longest word possible when searching since if I used "PRO" as a keyword then the following words would all be found: PRObably allPRO The longer word you use the less chance of getting matches that are not what you intended. DOWNLOAD ALL - This stops NavCIS from reading any headers and has NEW MSGS it download all new messages (full text) that are in the active sections for a forum. AUTO READ - If one of the message keys (mentioned above) is found in KEYED HDRS a header then this will cause the thread associated with the header to be downloaded during the same pass that the headers were read. MARK KEYED - Same as AUTO READ KEYED HDRS but the header is marked HEADERS to be downloaded on the next pass rather than read in the same pass. This gives you a chance to unmark the header between sessions. HIGHLIGHT - Same as AUTO READ KEYED HDRS but the header is set to KEYED HEADERS be highlighted the next time you go to mark headers manually. This brings the header to your attention but does not read or mark it. AUTO READ - If a header is scanned and set to be AUTO READ then THRESHOLD it is checked to see how many replies it has. If the number of replies exceeds the auto-read threshold then the thread is marked rather than downloaded. If set to 0 then no checking is done on thread size. This setting gives you control on the maximum auto-reading that NavCIS can do. MESSAGE - A list of message sections should appear to the left. SECTIONS A highlighted section is active. NavCIS will only pay attention to these active sections when reading headers and new messages. If you double click on a section name you can decide if you want all new messages in that section read instead of the headers. LIBRARY - A list of library sections should appear under this SECTIONS heading. You can mark certain sections as active by highlighting the section name. By double clicking on the name you can decide if all new files in that library section are auto-downloaded when found during an AUTO LIBRARY SCAN. The active sections are the sections used when doing an AUTO LIBRARY SCAN of the forum. AUTO SCAN - If this checkbox is active then the libraries for LIBS this forum will be auto scanned for new files by NavCIS. You can specify the time between the scans in the DAYS BETWEEN SCANS setting. If any manual scans are done they do not affect the timing of the auto scan. Auto scans are done using the short file descriptions. If you have a library section marked for DOWNLOAD NEW then when an auto scan is done, the file is marked for download for the next session. This gives you a chance to unmark those you do not wish downloaded before the next session. NEW MSG/LIB - When NavCIS updates the forum's section lists it can SCTS ACTIVE either make new sections active or inactive by default. This setting controls that decision. The settings under the MESSAGES settings are: DOWNLOAD - To control when NavCIS is allowed to download waiting WAITING MSGS messages in a forum or mail you can alter this setting. The options are NEVER, DURING A NEW ONLY, or ALWAYS. OUTGOING MSGS - When you compose a message or construct a reply, you can have a copy of the message placed in with the messages that you have received for a forum. This is done by either prompting you, always, or never. The settings in this box let you set whether you are asked each time you compose or reply, whether NavCIS always does it, and if NavCIS never does it on a forum by forum basis. DOWNLOAD HDRS - If you want a list of new headers downloaded during a NEW online session for a forum then you must have this box checked. DOWNLOAD - If you want a copy of the forum announcements ANNOUNCEMENTS then you need to activate this checkbox. If you have it active then NavCIS will capture the announcements each time you enter the forum. It will then place them in with the normal messages you read for that forum. NavCIS tries to be as smart as possible with these announcements. If it senses that the text it captured is the normal text that is displayed every time you enter the forum then it will place the announcements BEFORE your new messages. This means that when you view new messages you will not see the announcements but if you hit PREVIOUS to go back before the new messages then you will see the normal forum entry information. If NavCIS decides that the text is a REAL announcement then it will place it into your NEW messages to make sure you see it. RESET HIGH - After doing all forum activity, NavCIS will reset the MSG NUMBER forum's high message number before it leaves ONLY if you have this option selected. This is only done during a NEW online session. DAYS BEFORE - This is not active for SE in the terms of compressing ARCHIVING messages. It DOES provide you with a method of defining what the OLD button does when reading messages. If you press the OLD button in a forum's window then you will be brought to the first message that is as old as this setting. MAX DAYS TO - NavCIS can auto-delete messages for you if you have HOLD MSGS this setting defined. When a message in the forum reaches this age then it will be deleted UNLESS you have marked the messages KEEP flag (this is done when reading the message). You can also manually delete messages when reading them. No messages are removed from the databases until the program is terminated. Then the messages are checked to see if they should be deleted permanently. Some of these settings can be defined in the FORUM DEFAULTS. You should set these defaults right away so that all new forums you create use these as a template when being created. You can also get to a forum's settings by double clicking on a forum icon on the main screen and then hitting its settings button. --- ONLINE SESSIONS ------------------------------------------------------ For NavCIS to talk to CompuServe you must tell it to do a session. The online menu provides 4 different session types: NEW - Goes through each selected (and active) forum and gathers new information such as headers and waiting messages. This also does everything PERFORM ACTIONS does. PERFORM - Goes through each selected (and active) forum that ACTIONS has outgoing actions and does the actions. This includes sending messages, reading threads, performing library scans and more. INTERACTIVE - Logs into CompuServe and then lets you take over control to access CompuServe manually. During an online session you can turn capturing of the scrolling text ON or OFF by pressing the Capture button. This causes the text to be appended to the end of CAPTURE.TXT which is located in the DL directory under the directory where you installed NavCIS. To clear the captured text you must erase the CAPTURE.TXT file (in our installation example the file would be located at C:\DNAV\DL\CAPTURE.TXT). During any non-interactive session you can tell NavCIS to STAY AT END by marking the associated checkbox at the top of the online window. When NavCIS is done with its activities, the window will enlarge and you are now in interactive mode. If you want to speed NavCIS's processing then you can switch it into FAST MODE where no text is shown in the online window. You will still see the online status line change and the timer but the scrolling text will not be there. Any session can be terminated by pressing ESC or the DISCONNECT button. A file transfer requires that ESC be pressed. For NavCIS to log into CompuServe it requires a LOGIN.SCR file which should be in the directory where NavCIS was installed. You can modify this script to suit the type of network you talk to CompuServe through. The script commands are listed in the SCRIPT LANGUAGE section. To have NavCIS be able to call more than one CompuServe access number you can go to the Configuration menu and select the NODE option. Here you can add, edit, or remove nodes from the list. Each NODE can have its own BAUD rate, PHONE NUMBER, DESCRIPTION, and LOGIN SCRIPT. The baud rate is used for your information only. NavCIS always talks to the modem at its fastest speed. CompuServe will answer at the baud rate set for the node and cause your modem to switch to that rate also. Each CompuServe access number may require a different login script so you can specify the name of the script here as well. The name must be 8 characters (do not include the file extension or path) and the file must be located in the same directory as you installed NavCIS. Each node can also be added to the redial list. If a node that is not in the redial list is dialed and is busy then the same node is re-dialed. If a node in the redial list is dialed and is busy then after 5 seconds the next node number in the redial list is attempted. This proceeds through the list and starts at the top again when done. If you only have one node in the redial list then it will be re-dialed every 5 seconds. If you remove it from the redial list then it is dialed every 30 seconds. --- SCRIPT LANGUAGE ------------------------------------------------------- A script is a text file that contains a script command on each line. A line that is blank, starts with a space ' ', or a ';' is treated as a comment line and is ignored. Other lines should have the first character representing the command followed by a space and then the command's parameters. The commands are as follows: E <text> echo the <text> to the screen. P <numsec> pause for <numsec> seconds. W <text> wait for <text> at the end of an incoming line. L <text> wait for <text> anywhere in an incoming line. N send user name followed by a CR + LF. M send user name. I send user ID. X send user password. T <numsec> change the timeout value for the script. H hangup and abort the session. S <text> send text out to the modem. U <text> send text out to the modem (same as S). C <filename> start capture to a file, this will close a previous capture. C close previous capture. O <txt1>|<txt2> look for one string or another anywhere in an incoming line. Q <txt1>|<txt2> look for one string or another at the end of an incoming line. R <txt1>|<txt2>|<numsec> look for <txt1> in an incoming line, if not found then send <txt2> every <numsec> seconds until it is found or the timeout has been reached. For the S or U command you can include ^C and ^M in the text. For the W or L command you can include ^H or ^G in the text. The following script commands are only implemented in NavCIS PRO and may be available in SE by the time PRO is released. They are not guaranteed to be in SE at any time. They should not be needed in most cases. If you have a place where you must wait for one prompt or another then see if the prompts have a common character sequence and wait for that sequence. The commands from above that are not implemented are: T, C, O, Q, and R. The login scripts should get NavCIS up to the point where the password has been sent. From this point on NavCIS should be given direct control for it to work properly. A ^M should be sent by the script after the password as the last command in the script. Look at the LOGIN.SCR file as an example of a login script. Some login scripts shipped with NavCIS SE are listed below. Others are available in section 11 of GO NAVCIS. CISLOG1.SCR logon to CIS network that allows ^C (default) CISLOG2.SCR logon to CIS network that doesn't respond to ^C DATAPAC.SCR logon to CIS through a DATAPAC network INFONET.SCR logon to CIS through an INFONET network TELENET.SCR logon to CIS through a TELENET network TYMNET.SCR logon to CIS through a TYMNET network For information on what your login script must handle you can GO PHONES and get node information or ask NavCIS technical support. --- ACCESSING FORUM INFORMATION (messages, headers, etc.) ---------------- To get to a forum's information you can either select the FORUMS main menu option or double click on a forum's icon. The forum icon is either a mailbox or a in/out box icon. Both forms of the icon animate to show the current status of the forum. White text indicates that the forum is selected and black text indicates that it is not selected. When you do a NEW or PERFORM ACTIONS session, NavCIS will only act upon the selected forums. If none are selected then NavCIS will treat this as if all are selected. This feature gives you the ability to specify sub-sets of the forums quickly. Again remember that forums that do not appear on the main screen (marked inactive) are ignored by all online sessions. When you open a forum you will be presented with a window with some buttons on the left and a sub-window on the right. The sub-window contains a list of all outgoing actions for a forum. You can double click on an action to edit or delete the action. The other buttons are defined as: NEW - brings you to the first NEW message in the forum. The number of new messages is represented next to the text on the button. If it is 0 then the new button will bring you to the newest message in the forum. Every time you do a NEW online session and the forum is active the new message button will show you the new message from that session unless you have not read the last set of new messages. If you have not read your new messages then the new button will show you the first new message set that you have not read. When you are reading messages you can reply to them, forward a message, add the thread to the watch bin, and more. During message reading you can use the accelerator keys to move quickly through the messages (ALT-N = next, ALT-P = previous). If you use PAGE-DOWN or PAGE-UP to read the message then when you hit the bottom or top of a message and page again, you will go to the next or previous message. Other features are available when reading messages. To find them look at the buttons that are presented and also look at the window's main menu which will have some options in it. To go from forum to forum without exiting the reading screen you can use the JUMP button. This is documented below in another section (JUMP BUTTONS). HEADERS - shows you the header marking screen. Here you can mark threads to be downloaded. You can set some threads to be placed on HOLD. Threads that are on HOLD are never erased by NavCIS until taken off HOLD. This lets you keep some headers around till you have time to read the threads associated with them or you decide what you want to do with them. Double clicking on the header will toggle its HOLD state. A single click will toggle its marked state. You can also add threads to the Watch Bin at this point. If a thread is in the Watch Bin then any new messages added to the thread will automatically be downloaded by NavCIS when a header is downloaded for the thread. You can remove items from the Watch Bin by going to a forum and hitting the WATCH BIN button which is described below. A Watch Bin item can also delete itself. When you add an item to the watch bin you can specify a maximum days for it to be active (then it deletes itself). You can also specify a number of days where if there is no activity in the thread then it deletes itself. The last setting is the threshold. If the thread has more replies than the threshold then the header is marked for the next session instead of being downloaded. All three of these settings can be set to 0 to disable their function. When reading messages you can also add them to the Watch Bin from the OTHER menu. To go from forum to forum without exiting the header screen you can use the JUMP button. This is documented below in another section (JUMP BUTTONS). OLD - This takes you into reading messages at either the very first message in the database or at the point of the first message that isn't compressed. Even though SE doesn't compress messages it still will let you use the forum setting DAYS BEFORE ARCHIVING to set this entry point into reading messages. To go from forum to forum without exiting the reading screen you can use the JUMP button. This is documented below in another section (JUMP BUTTONS). SEARCH - not active in SE. In NavCIS PRO this will allow you to search for a starting read point based on many different search settings. CATALOG - Takes you into the catalog viewing screen. All library searches are added to their forum's catalog. You will see the short description for each element and you can at any time switch to viewing the long descriptions. Catalog entries with white text are ones that also have long descriptions. To go from forum to forum without exiting the catalog screen you can use the JUMP button. This is documented below in another section (JUMP BUTTONS). WATCH BIN - Pressing this button lets you see the Watch Bin entries for a forum and here you can edit their settings or remove entries. SETTINGS - Takes you to the forum's settings. --- FORUM ACTIONS (compose, upload, library searches, etc.) -------------- ]--- COMPOSE: To compose messages from scratch you can either drag-and-drop the letter template from the right side of the screen over to a forum icon or go to the ACTIONS menu option and select COMPOSE NEW. There is also a toolbar icon that will start a new compose (the icon is the piece of paper with the pencil signing the red X). If you select the menu option or the toolbar option then you must select the forum since the default is mail. When drag-and- dropping, the forum is selected for you but you can change it at any time. When you compose you can send Carbon Copies (CC) of the message to other users. ALL CARBON COPIES GO OUT VIA E-MAIL since you should not post duplicate messages in a forum. When writing e-mail you can specify groups instead of users (a group will appear in the address list preceded by a '*') but in a forum you can only send to one original user. In the CC list you can specify groups or individuals, even in a forum, since the carbon copies go out through e-mail. There is no limit to the CC list except memory. NavCIS will split the message into multiple actions to handle CompuServe's maximum of 50 recipients per e-mail message. A group does have the limit of 50 people since NavCIS never splits a group when splitting an action into multiple actions. When you compose a letter or send a reply (or even forward a message) you have the option of having a signature file appended to the end of the message. This is done automatically if the signature file is present. A signature file just consists of one or more lines of text (with embedded macros). It should not be too long since posting long signatures in forums cost other people online time and therefore money. You can have a GLOBAL.SIG file that handles this task for all forums that do not have their own signature file and also have signature files that are forum specific. Just take the first 8 letters of the GO word and add the .SIG extension and that is the filename to use. All of the signature files should be placed in the DATA subdirectory under the directory where you installed NavCIS. This directory is created after running NavCIS the first time. The macros for a signature file are: ${N} - user's global name or their forum alias if any. ${G} - user's global name. ${I} - user's ID. ${D} - date the message was written or last edited. ${T} - time the message was written or last edited. ${C} - date the message was posted to CompuServe. ${P} - time the message was posted to CompuServe. ${V} - current version of NavCIS. This is here so that you can place it in your NAVCIS.SIG file so that when you leave support questions to technical support you don't have to tell us the version number. You just have to place this in your signature file. These macros can be placed anywhere in the signature file. If you specify a time macro then it is a good idea to also include the time zone that you are in. CompuServe is a world-wide network so this is very helpful. An example signature file could be as follows (note that the file is placed between the ==== ==== ==== lines but does not include these lines). ==== ==== ==== ==== - Fredi Sahzco | ${D} Sahzco Publishing | ${T} MST CIS: ${I} ==== ==== ==== ==== A blank line at the beginning of the file is a very good idea since it makes sure that the signature always has a line between it and the main message text. Be sure that if you use the above sample as a base for your signature files that you do not include the ==== ==== ==== lines unless you want them to appear in every message you write (they will <g>). An example filename for the signature file using the example installation we went over at the beginning of this documentation would be: C:\DNAV\DATA\GLOBAL.SIG And a signature file for the NavCIS forum would be: C:\DNAV\DATA\NAVCIS.SIG And a signature file for the NOVB forum would be: C:\DNAV\DATA\NOVB.SIG ]--- UPLOAD E-MAIL FILES: To upload e-mail files you can either drag the package icon from the templates over to the forum's icon or select the ACTIONS menu FILE TRANSFER option. You can only do e-mail upload file transfers as actions in NavCIS SE. Other types such as forum uploads and downloads can be done from interactive mode or in NavCIS PRO through menu actions. In interactive mode you just tell CompuServe to download a file and then select B+ protocol and give a filename. When CompuServe is ready it will send a sequence of characters telling NavCIS to start the file transfer. NavCIS will receive e-mail files automatically when reading mail and place the files into the DL subdirectory under the directory you installed NavCIS. If a file exists with the same name as NavCIS tries to use for the new file then the new file is renamed incrementally. The same rules apply for Carbon Copies of e-mail files. You can only use CC's when uploading to e-mail. There is no limit to the number of recipients. NavCIS PRO does allow sending one file to multiple forums using the CC list. Remember that when you e-mail someone a file you can include the name of the file in the subject so that, as a NavCIS user, NavCIS SE will know the filename you intended for the file. If you receive a file this way then it makes it easier for you to identify the file (the filename is stated in your e-mail messages for each file received) since you have the exact filename the sender intended. If you receive a file that doesn't include the filename in the subject then hopefully the user's last name is obvious and NavCIS will use it as the base for the filename. If you upload a file to e-mail as an ASCII FILE then the file will be uploaded to Compuserve which will then place the text file into the message as if it was a normal composed message. This is how you can send long messages if you can not send it as a binary file. Usually this is used when sending files to INTERNET and other networks that cannot accept binary files from Compuserve. When you receive a large text message that is over 10k in e-mail then NavCIS will spool the message to a disk file in your DL directory. This directory is located in the path where you installed NavCIS. The message will appear in with the rest of your received e-mail but will inform you that the LONG message was downloaded to a file and will give you the filename. ]--- CATALOG SEARCHES: To do manual catalog searches you can either drag the library search icon from the templates to a forum or select the ACTIONS menu CATALOG item. The library sections that you marked as active in the forum settings will appear as the default sections for the scan. You can double click on either section list to move them from one to another. The default scan type is short descriptions. If you specify a 0 for the age then all files matching the other criteria are scanned. Keywords should be separated by spaces. --- OTHER FEATURES ------------------------------------------------------- ]--- JUMP BUTTONS: Jump buttons will appear when you are reading mail, marking headers, or viewing catalogs. These allow you to jump to the same action in a different forum without having to leave the current forum. If you are reading NEW messages then the Jump button will show other forums with NEW messages. The same holds true for viewing OLD messages. If an * appears next to a forum in the Jump list then that means that the forum has something you have yet to look at. For reading messages this indicates the forum has new messages you have not seen. For headers and catalogs it shows the same. ]--- IMPORTING TAPCIS ADDRESS BOOK (USERID.CIS): If you import a Tapcis address book file you need to make sure the file follows the correct format as specified by the Tapcis 5.x manual. This is as follows: username userid | notes If you use other formats that Tapcis allows then modify your file to this format before importing it. The "| notes" is not required but if you have notes they should only appear after the pipe symbol. ]--- EDIT OUTGOING ACTIONS: Remember that you can edit any outgoing action up until the time NavCIS sends it. Just go to the forum's window (double click on a forum icon or select FORUMS main menu option and select a forum) then double click on the action to edit or delete. ]--- ONLINE SPEED: NavCIS SE will continue to be enhanced to increase its online speed. By the time that NavCIS PRO is shipped then both products will be quicker than they are now (not that they are slow, they probably just could be better!). A lot is being done to improve the buffering of data received from CompuServe. ]--- OTHER FEATURES: Not all of NavCIS SE's features are listed or mentioned in this documentation. They can be found by experimenting with menu options, checking all buttons, and keeping an eye out for menus to appear. If you do not think that NavCIS has a feature then please ask first since it might be that you have not found it yet. ]--- NON-IMPLEMENTED FEATURES: Some of the features that are represented by menu options, toolbar icons, and buttons are not active in NavCIS SE. They will let you know if they are not active. These include the following toolbar icons: Umbrella (weather reports) Stocks (stock quotes) FF (file finders) Some menu options that are not active are: CONFIGURATION | IMPORT FILES (import messages, catalogs, etc from other navigators) ACTIONS | WEATHER ACTIONS | STOCKS ACTIONS | FILE FINDER ========================================================================== Thanks for using NavCIS SE. We hope that you enjoy it and one day consider purchasing our commercial NavCIS PRO product. If not then we are happy that SE satisfies your navigation needs. Dvorak Development and Publishing Corp. Phone (303) 661-0345 385 S. Pierce Ave. Fax (303) 661-0635 Louisville, CO 80027, USA Technical Support: 71333,12 Sales: 71333,11 THANK YOU! --- APPENDIX A -------------------------------------- TROUBLE SHOOTING --- The following is a list of problems that could occur and a brief explanation of how to solve the problem. ]--- PROBLEM: You change your global name in the GLOBAL SETTINGS but NavCIS does not change the name in MAIL but rather only in FORUMS. SOLUTION: NavCIS SE does not perform this function for E-MAIL. You must go in an INTERACTIVE session and then: 1. Type GO MAIL <ENTER> 2. At the MAIL! prompt type ADDRESS <ENTER> 3. At the ADDRESS! prompt type NAME <ENTER> 4. Then answer the following questions. You should fill out all of the information including your return address. ]--- PROBLEM: You receive an error 160 when reading mail. SOLUTION: This means that the MAIL that was read by NavCIS did not follow the expected format. This could be caused by line noise or an invalid CompuServe configuration. ]--- PROBLEM: NavCIS returns an error 214 or says that it cannot automate a particular forum. SOLUTION 1: This occurs when CompuServe determines that a forum you have added cannot be automated. Forums that are not message and library based have this problem. You can tell if this is the case by seeing if the GO <forumname> presents you with a menu instead of a FORUM! prompt. If NavCIS sees the menu then it will decide that it cannot deal with the forum. Most offline navigators cannot. SOLUTION 2: This could also mean that the forum you intended to go to was not the same one as the GO WORD you provided. For example if I have NavCIS go to the IBMOS2 forum it will actually present me with a menu of other forums. I should decide which forums I want NavCIS to access and include the direct GO WORD for that forum. You can determine the GO WORD by starting an interactive session and GOing to the forum menu. Then select the forum you would like to visit and watch for the WELCOME TO message. You will see the GO WORD at the right of that line. This is the CompuServe PAGE that you really want to access. SOLUTION 3: Some forums have special questions that they ask new members. This may include having you accept an agreement or type additional information. Once you have done this interactively then NavCIS may be able to handle the forum from that point on. SOLUTION 4: If you have not visited a forum in a while, the forum may cancel you as a member. You will need to re-join the forum. NavCIS can auto-detect this in some cases but if it fails then do an interactive session and GO to the forum, then type JOIN and follow the questions asked until you return to the FORUM prompt. NavCIS PRO handles this situation. ]--- PROBLEM: When reading messages sometimes you cannot get any of the buttons to respond after clicking the mouse on various portions of the screen or bringing up a menu. SOLUTION: The focus is still on the menu bar or somewhere else on the screen so press <ESC> to revert the focus back to the window as a whole and you can then continue. --- APPENDIX B ------------------------------------------- ERROR CODES --- 100 - Cannot create a configuration file. 101 - Error writing to configuration file. 110 to 119 - Cannot open or create a data file or its indexes. 120 - Not enough memory to load all of the forum information. 121 - Forum configuration file is corrupt. 122 - Too many forums in configuration file. The added size of all of the forum information is > 64k. 123 - Not enough memory to allocate forum section lists. 130 - Cannot start an online session with the current configuration. This means that an important configuration setting has not been set. 131 - Cannot open COM port. 132 - COM port is no longer accepting output. 133 - Cannot write to COM port. 140 - LOGIN.SCR file (or appropriate node script) is missing. This file should be placed in the same directory that contains the NAVCIS.EXE file. 141 - A script command in the current script file is not valid. This can mean that it is not used properly or that it is a command that is not one of the supported script commands. 142 - Invalid syntax for a 'P' script command. 143 - Invalid syntax for a 'W' or 'L' script command. 144 - Timeout while waiting for a specific string from Compuserve. This could either be during a 'W' or 'L' script command or an internal use of the same command such as waiting for a FORUM prompt. 145 - Same as 144 but only for internal commands. 150 - Cannot open reset script file. Only affects versions prior to and including 1.0C. Please upgrade to current version, OR, you can download RESET.SCR from Lib 11, and place it into your main NAVCIS directory, and it will solve the problem. 160 - Invalid E-MAIL message format. A message read from Compuserve MAIL did not follow the expected format. 161 - NavCIS timed out when reading mail. This means that a prompt that NavCIS was expecting never came or communications stopped for a longer period of time than is accepted. 162 - Not enough memory left to read a message. 163 - Message buffer overflow. NavCIS will spool a message out to disk if it is larger than 20k but if anything fails in doing so then NavCIS reports this error. The message is left in the e-mail and is not deleted. You can then either try again or interactively download the message as a file. You should not receive this message unless NavCIS has errors writing to the spool file such as no free disk space and other disk errors. 164 - Cannot create a message file. 165 - Cannot write to a message file. 180 - An unrecognized action was found in the database. 181 - Error reading section names. The forum must at least have one message section for NavCIS to work with it in this release. If there is at least one message section then there can be any number of library sections including 0. 182 - Not enough memory to download the section lists for a forum. 183 - Not enough memory to start BPLUS protocol. 190 - Not enough memory to allocate and expand the CC: list. 191 - A message was attempted to be sent with no user ID's to receive the mail. This could be caused by using a group when composing and then deleting all members before sending the message. 192 - An invalid group was used as a recipient of a message. 200 - Cannot open a data file (CATALOG.*) or its indexes. 201 - Cannot create a data file (CATALOG.*) or its indexes. 210 - Bad filename given when trying to download from Compuserve. 211 - A download failed. 212 - An invalid library number was given when trying to access a library either for a catalog search or a file transfer. 213 - The catalog information read was of an invalid format. 214 - The forum that you attempted to make NavCIS access is one that cannot be automated. This is the case with forums that have numbered menus and aren't really message/library based forums. End of WNAVCIS.DOC --version 1.1-- Oct. 22, 1993