The Form you are currently viewing consists of a Bar Menu and a Picture box.
Picture Box
The Picture Box normally appears blank until a QWK packet has been opened. When a packet downloaded from a BBS has been Opened (See below Bar Menu Open Packet) this box will show a few basic details pertaining to the QWK packet and it's source BBS as stated in the packets CONTROL.DAT file. Those details are as follows
BBSID
Name of the BBS where the QWK packet was downloaded from.
TELEPHONE
Tel Number for the Above BBS
SYSOP
BBS sysops name
CALLER
Your name on that BBS
QWK DATE
The date and time that the packet currently open was downloaded. The date and time are expressed in the format
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM
BAR MENU
The Bar menu shown consists of 3 main Sections, File, Window, and Door. Not all the items may be active at any one time dependant upon whether you have a packet open or not. For example Window will not be enabled unless a packet is open whereas Orator Configuration as a submenu of File will not be enabled if a packet *is* open.
Each item on the Bar menu and there subsequent sub menus can be activated when enabled by either clicking on the item with the mouse or by pressing the ALT+the letter that is Underlined. Eg to activate the File Bar Menu press ALT+F.
File
Open
Select this item in order to be able to Open or Delete a mail packet. Any mail packet that is currently open will be closed automatically upon selection of the Open Function.
Close
Select to close an already open mail QWK packet. This function will archive any Replies into a .REP file using the archiver specified by yourself in Orator Configuration. The .REP file will be placed in the directory stated by you when you configured Orator.
Orator Configuration
Runs the separate configuration program to allow you to change such items as the default archiver, Files and libraries.
Exit
To quit Orator. Any open packet will be automatically closed.
Window
All the items in this menu rely on a packet being open. Orator automatically enables each function dependant upon whether the currently opened packet contains the required items. For example the Bulletin option will not be enabled if the packet does not contain a Bulletin to read.
Welcome
Will display the Welcome screen as included in the current packet. This item may not be present in the packet dependant upon how you have set up your Mail door. This screen is displayed using the ORATVIEW ansi viewer. ORATVIEW requires that you are using the DOS ANSI.SYS or other suitable ansi driver.
Session
Displays session information using ORATVIEW ansi viewer. ORATVIEW requires that you are using the DOS ANSI.SYS or other suitable ansi driver.
Messages
Starts a new form to handle the displaying of messages contained in the packet.
Replies
Allows the editing/deleting of existing replies or creation of new replies.
Bulletins
If present then bulletins can be selected from a sub menu for display. The bulletins are always displayed using ORATVIEW ansi viewer. ORATVIEW requires that you are using the DOS ANSI.SYS or other suitable ansi driver.
News
BBS news as supplied by the BBS can be viewed using this option. News is shown using ORATVIEW. ORATVIEW requires that you are using the DOS ANSI.SYS or other suitable ansi driver.
Files
To view a list of new files.
Services
Displayed by ORATVIEW
Goodbye
The goodbye screen is displayed if included by ORATVIEW.
ORATVIEW requires that you are using the DOS ANSI.SYS or other suitable ansi driver.
Door
This section allows for the Mail Door to be remotely configured. At the present moment only Qmail doors are supported however future versions will definitely include routines for remote configuring of other door types eg MarkMAIL, KMail and RoseMail
For a detailed description of how the configuration works consult the Orator Documentation.
@Open1@
QWK Packet Opening/Deleting (File menu)
The Form displayed is used to open/delete QWK mail packets. Any Mail packet that was open prior to this window appearing has now been closed.
Dialog Box Options
File:
Type or select the filename of the packet you want to open/delete
Drives
Select the drive in which the QWK packet resides
Directories
Select the directory in which the QWK packet resides
OPEN
Either select the filename from the file box with a double click to automatically open the selected packet or select the filename and follow it with a click on this button.
DELETE
Will delete the selected file.
CANCEL
Will cancel without selecting a file of opening.
Pressing ESC on the keyboard is the same as pressing the CANCEL button. Pressing ENTER will open the selected packet.
@Messages1@
Messages Command (Window Menu)
Use this command to view and handle the mail contained within the Mail Packet you have opened. Using the functions here one can sort, read, reply to and search for mail messages. The current mail message is displayed in the centre of the form and is displayed in a text box to allow the operator using a mouse to cut and paste it's contents to a a reply or other Windows application.
LABELS
Conf
Shows the conference name and number for the current shown mail message.
To
Shows who the mail message is to.
Subj
Shows the message subject.
Msg#
Shows details about the message like Number, Reference Number and whether the message was for your private attention.
From
Shows who the message is from
Date
Date and time the message was entered.
When a message is for your personal attention a Square with a red background will appear showing Personal.
When you are viewing messages sorted according to a text search done by you then a Similar red box will appear showing SEARCH to warn you that search is active.
To the bottom of the horizontal scroll bar there are two pictures showing up and down hands. These two symbols denote whether there is more message text above or below the text currently in the viewing port.
CONTROLS
The following controls are present and have the following meanings.
Next
Hops to the next message in this conference. Should you be viewing the last message then the next conference is automatically opened and reading commenced.
Prev
Hops to the previous message being viewed. Note this will not work beyond the first message in the current conference.
Print
Print a hard copy of the message to the current active Windows Printer.
List
Activates the message list showing the contents of the current conference. From there you can hop direct to a specific message shown in the listbox.
Steal
Steal a tagline. Note that one can also steal taglines from the middle of the message by editing the tagline file Tagline.ora in your Orator subdirectory with Windows Notepad and 'Cutting and Pasting' the taglines with your mouse.
Search
To search the message base in the current packet for specific messages containing a specific text. (Note Non-Case Sensitive)
CANCEL
To return to the Menu form and stop reading messages.
@Messages2@
List Command (Messages Form)
Pressing the List command shows a list box on the screen over the top of the currently viewed message. The list box shows the contents of the current conference. If Search is active or you are viewing personal mail then the contents of these classes are shown instead.
To select a message for viewing click with your mouse on the message required.
@Steal1@
Tagline Theft Function (Messages Form)
This function will attempt to extract taglines from the end of the message. The tagline extracted is shown in a textbox where it can be edited and then the operator can then either select the Steal button or Cancel.
CONTROLS
Steal
The text box's contents are appended to the tagline file Tagline.ora which resides in the Orator subdirectory.
Cancel
No Tagline is taken.
@Search1@
Search Command (Message Form)
Use this command to search the message base dependant upon certain criteria. It creates a separate heading under Active Conferences for all the messages containing the search text supplied.
See Confer. Control on the Messages Form.
Text to Search For:
Self explanatory. The text you wish Orator to search messages for.
Search Criteria-1
State here by checking the relevant box with your mouse which part of each message should be checked for the text entered above.
Search Criteria -2
Check the relevant box dependant upon your requirement. This conference only means that only the messages in the current conference will be searched. NOTE: If you were already reading messages from a previous search then this function is disabled and you can only search all conferences.
CONTROLS
SEARCH
Click with mouse button or press ENTER to start search process.
Cancel
To exit without searching.
A message box will popup to tell you how many messages were found with the text you were searching for.
@Reply1@
This box allows the user to enter the details for a reply or new message. After this Selecting OK will allow you to enter the Message Text.
Dialog Box Options
From:
Is automatically completed with your name as stated in the CONTROL.DAT file.
To:
Enter here the name of the person to whom the message being entered is to be sent. If you are replying to a message that you were viewing then more than likely this field has already been completed for you.
Subj:
Enter the subject of the message. If you are replying to a message then this field will be already completed with the viewed messages subject.
Conf:
Click here to be presented with a dialog box to select the conference on the BBS where this message is to be entered. See help screen in Dialog Box for more information.
TAGLINE
This is a combo box and only works on registered copys of Orator. A random tagline from the Tagline file Tagline.Ora is shown or alternatively you can type a new one. NOTE typed taglines are not saved in the tagline file. NOTE ALSO that unregistered copies of Orator will only show a fixed tagline.
Personal/Public
Select the relevant option to reflect your wish regarding status of the message.
OK
Select to continue entry of the message/reply text. Note if you are replying to a message then the message text is carried into your reply with Quotes consisting of the senders Initials followed by a greater than sign eg ND>
Cancel
Select with mouse to cancel without creating a message/reply.
@Reply2@
Reply/Messages
Use this dialog box to enter you message/reply text. The maximum size is 64K characters and the actual size of you message is shown at the bottom of the box in a 3D depressed label box.
When you have completed entering your text select with a mouse or select by pressing ALT+F the File option of the Menu Bar.
Save
Save message and exit.
Exit
Confirmed with a Messagebox allows you to exit without creating the message. WARNING. If you are Reediting an existing message then the message will be lost if you do not save this newer edited version.
If you have a signature file selected then the contents of the file are appended to your message followed by the tagline (if any) requested by you on the previous Dialog Box.
@Confer1@
Conference Selection
Use this dialog box to select a conference. The Box may look differently dependant upon whether you are reading mail or entering a new message.
Numerical Conference Groups
Since the advent of Off-Line reading BBSes have grown to the point where thousands of conferences are now available. In this Section of this dialog box the conferences are divided up into groups of 250 conferences making it easier to hop to a particular group. There is no limit to the number of conferences that Orator can handle.
The first item in the list is always a summary of those conferences (irrespective of number) which have messages in them. Active also shows the messages that are to you and those that you have done a text search for. NOTE If you are reading mail then this List Box will be disabled allowing you only to choose from the Active Group in the List box below.
Group Contents
Show here is the conferences within the numerical group selected by you above. For information about Conference Groups see above.
To select a particular conference, you merely have to click on it with your mouse.
Search For Conference.
A useful facility when echoing on Mega BBSes with a lot of conferences. Allows you to quickly go to a conference to enter a message without 'wading' through all the preceding names. Simply supply some text in the Conference Name and press Enter. If it finds the conference Orator will display that Numerical Group and show the contents starting at the matching conference. NOTE this function is not enabled if you are reading mail.
@Replysel1@
Reply Entry/Selection
Use this dialog box to edit/delete existing replies or to create new ones.
The list box shows a list of all replies entered in the packet which can be selected and then deleted or re-edited.
Delete
Deletes the reply selected in the above list box.
ReEdit
Re-edits the reply selected in the above list box.
