Windows Expert/Windows Expert.iso/network/helldivr.zip/README

Text File | 1992-10-21 | 10KB | 205 lines

            Helldiver News Reader 1.07

         Copyright (C) 1991-1992 Rhys Weatherley

                [e-mail]

Permission to use, copy, and distribute this material for any purpose
and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice
and this permission notice appear in all copies, and that the name of Rhys
Weatherley not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to this material
without specific, prior written permission.  RHYS WEATHERLEY MAKES NO
REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR SUITABILITY OF THIS MATERIAL FOR ANY
PURPOSE.  IT IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES.

This program is an off-line news reader for versions 1.64 and 1.65 of the
Waffle UUCP system and Windows 3.x.  It has similar functionality to the Unix
program "nn".  The name Helldiver comes from a paperback I read which I liked:
"Antares Passage" by Michael McCollum (a fleet of starships dives into a
supernova in an attempt to reach Earth - that sort of thing).

You should have received the following files with this package:

    README        This file describing the Helldiver installation.
    HELLDIV.EXE    The newsreader itself.
    HELLDIV.HLP    The help file for the Helldiver package.
    HBIFF.EXE    A mail notification utility.
    HSEND.EXE    A program used by HELLDIV.EXE to send mail and news.
    HSEND.DOC    Programmer's documentation for HSEND.EXE.

The bulk of the documentation is in the help file HELLDIV.HLP.  Either start
HELLDIV.EXE and read it, or select Run from the Program Manager's File menu,
and run "WINHELP [d:][path\]helldiv.hlp" to view the help file.

Helldiver requires that the environment variable WAFFLE point to Waffle's
STATIC file.  If not, Helldiver will refuse to load.  You need to set
this variable before executing Windows, perferably in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
If the file "admin/index" (the password index file) exists under your Waffle
installation directory, then it is assumed that you are using Waffle 1.65
instead of Waffle 1.64.  If you are using Waffle 1.64, but for some reason
that file is present, then Helldiver will get confused and won't be able to
process the mailbox correctly (news will still work ok though).

You also require a Waffle user-id and password, which HELLDIV.EXE asks you for
when it first starts.  This must be created in the usual Waffle fashion,
together with a home directory for the user-id.  The following special files
are manipulated in the home directory:

    MAILBOX        Default save filename.
    USERID.*    Messages in the user's mailbox.
    NEWSRC        A file which keeps track of read messages.
    JOIN        Waffle JOIN file (NEWSRC is the default and is better).
    SIG        Signature file for the user.
    ADDRESS.BK    Address book for the user (see the help file).
    DEAD        Where dead letters that failed during delivery end up.

The files HELLDIV.EXE, HBIFF.EXE, HSEND.EXE and HELLDIV.HLP must all be
installed in the same directory.  HELLDIV.EXE may be installed in a Program
Manager group, or similar launch facility.  HBIFF.EXE is best installed in
the WIN.INI file in the load line, as follows:

    load=d:\path\hbiff.exe

where "d:\path" is the drive and pathname of the directory where HBIFF.EXE
resides.

There may already be other command names on your load line, in which case
you should append the path to HBIFF.EXE to the line.  The first time HBIFF.EXE
is run it will ask for the user-id to be scanned for new mail.  This can be
subsequently changed as required.  See the section "Helldiver Biff" in the
help file for more details.  If you do not wish to be notified of new mail,
then there is no need to use HBIFF.EXE at all.  HBIFF.EXE checks for new mail
every 30 seconds.

HSEND.EXE is called by HELLDIV.EXE to send mail and news via Waffle's RMAIL
and RNEWS programs.  It merely needs to reside in the same directory as
HELLDIV.EXE, with no other special considerations.  You can also create a
HSEND.PIF file for HSEND.EXE if you wish to change the default execution
conditions.  The file HSEND.DOC is provided for programmers who wish to make
use of Helldiver Send for their own programs.

All configuration options for Helldiver reside in the file HELLDIV.INI in
the same directory as HELLDIV.EXE and HBIFF.EXE.  There is one entry in
HELLDIV.INI for each user, and an extra entry for HBIFF.EXE.

HELLDIV.EXE takes an optional command-line argument representing the user-id
to use by default in the login dialog box.  The following example will start
Helldiver for the user-id "fred".

    helldiv fred

If the command-line argument begins with '$', then it indicates the name of
an environment variable to be fetched to get the user-id.  For example:

    helldiv $USER

This will fetch the environment variable "USER" and use the user-id found
there.  Using these command-line options, it is possible to configure your
newsreading system for more than one user.  For example, you can create two
or more icons in the Program Manager for two or more users, each linked to
a different command-line, or create a single icon linked to a command-line
containing an environment variable specification and arrange for the
environment variable to be set to a user's user-id before running Windows.
This can be very useful for shared-computer situations.

Comments and suggestions should be sent to Rhys Weatherley ([e-mail]).

HELLDIV.EXE Revision History.

1.07        Fixed the parsing of the "forums" line in the STATIC file,
        and the processing of the USENET/LOCAL files.
        Forwarding from the Waffle 1.64 mailbox fixed.

1.06        Quick fix release to rectify some protection faults and a
        bug with Waffle 1.65 and users who don't have passwords.
        Thanks to Stefan Olson and Rob Amos for pointing these out.

1.05        Complete the Waffle 1.65 support.
        Modify the handling of article files: articles can now be
        extracted if they only occupy a subset of a file, rather
        than the whole file.
        Find-tuned the code which remembers the window sizes.
        Multi-message deletion upgraded for Waffle 1.65 peculiarities.
        Use standard Windows colours (not quite right yet for really
        strange colour combinations).
        If a user name is supplied on the command-line which has a
        null password, then skip the login dialog box (nifty for
        single-user systems).
        Change default save name when the home directory changes.
        Don't quote empty lines when building reply skeletons.
        The notepad now uses global memory so can edit larger messages
        (the maximum size is now 32K - a limit imposed by Windows
        rather than me. :-(  I should really write my own editor
        from scratch instead of using edit controls).
        Support 4 digit timezone values like +1200 in the STATIC file.

1.04        Lots of bug fixes and enhancements arising from comments
        from beta-testers of version 1.03.  Still in limited beta.
        Add user name to command-line of HELLDIV.EXE.
        A few more accelerators for the menu options.
        Modify the behaviour of some header lines when sending mesgs.
        Fix newsgroup rewinding for systems that run expiry programs.
        Center various dialog boxes on the screen.
        Fix the Lines: header line and the signature processing.
        Kill a bug that caused UAEs when deleting from empty mailboxes.
        Change "real name" processing so that spaces are squashed and
        if there is no real name, the user-id is extracted from the
        e-mail name.
        Lots of new functions for the notepad editor.
        "Quick Search" option for the "Goto Group" dialog box.
        Eliminate bugs with multiple copies of the one newsgroup in
        a "Newsgroups:" header during posting.
        Add "Headers" option to the "Read" menu.
        Put a warning into skeleton follow-up messages when follow-ups
        have been redirected.
        Enhance message deletion to include multi-message deletes.
        Allow forwarding to newsgroups as well as e-mail addresses.
        Fix a serious bug with saving all selected articles.
        The window sizes are remembered from one execution to another.
        Display control characters in articles in the ^X style.
        Fix a bug with the parsing of To, Cc and Bcc headers, and
        the Reply-To line in HSEND control files.
        Started support for Waffle 1.65.  Can't read the mailbox yet.

1.03        Major re-write and first real beta release.  Only Waffle 1.64
        support so far.

1.00-1.02    Initial versions.  A few beta-testers, but mainly just
        an internal prototyping exercise.

HBIFF.EXE Revision History.

1.04        Add support for Waffle 1.65 mailboxes.
        Released with HELLDIV.EXE 1.05.
        Scan for both "From " and "From:" lines when getting the
        header lines.

1.03        Add from line viewer and convert dialog boxes to Helldiver's
        main class library.  Released with HELLDIV.EXE 1.04.

1.02        First real beta release with HELLDIV.EXE 1.03.

1.00-1.01    Initial prototyping versions.

HSEND.EXE Revision History.

1.03        A few tweaks and bug fixes, especially in the parsing of the
        control file.  Released with HELLDIV.EXE 1.04.

1.02        Change Message-Id generation, and suppress a few more article
        header lines.  Limited beta release packaged separately.

1.01        Major overhaul to use control files which specify how to send
        a mail or news message.  Most of the final message preparation
        smarts is now in HSEND.EXE rather than HELLDIV.EXE.  Released
        with HELLDIV.EXE 1.03.

1.00        Initial version.  Just ran either RMAIL or RNEWS depending on
        the command-line.  Needed extensive support in the newsreader.

Acknowledgements.

Many thanks go to Warwick Allison for designing the Helldiver icons, and to
Rob Amos, John Lemon, Mark Looi and Stefan Olson for suffering the
idiosyncrasies of the early Helldiver betas.