EnigmA Amiga Run 1995 October/EnigmA AMIGA RUN 01 (1995)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1995-10][Aminet 7].iso/Aminet/comm/bbs/IceOLR32.lzh/IceOLR/IceOLR.Doc

Text File | 1995-05-06 | 17KB | 360 lines

                               IceOLR


            The Off Line Reader for the IceBBS message bases

                   Copyright 1993 Stephen Vermeulen
                       Calgary, Alberta, Canada

                       Voice:  [phone]

                         BBS:  [phone]
                         BBS:  [phone]


                THIS IS A SUMMARY OF WHAT HAS CHANGED IN EACH
                RELEASE SEE THE IceOLR.GUIDE FILE FOR THE COMPLETE
                DOCUMENTATION ON IceOLR IN AMIGAGUIDE FORMAT.

32   Fixed the file names this looks for on sysops systems, now
     it looks for files starting with "IceBBS" rather than "VBBS"

31   Added the keepfile requester (as in IceTERM), this will pop up
     whenever you hit a keep button, it will by default be set to the
     name of the last keepfile that was used, but if that is not suitable
     you can select a new keepfile to use.

     Fixed the bug that was causing erratic crashes.  This was related
     to moving between SIGS with the subject window open.

     When posting messages into the EMail sig, or replying to messages
     in there, if you enter an address (not subject) that consists of
     the single character '@', then the email system will ignore the
     address and subject entered via the requester and it will assume
     that the message body contains a valid internet message, which means
     it must be something like:

        To: [e-mail]
        From: [e-mail]
        Subject: ain't editing RFC-822 headers fun

        Hi name, this is
        the whole message.

        Joe.

     Note that the blank line between the message header and the text MUST
     be there, that's how USENET mail code figures out when to stop
     processing the header.


30   Added some enhancements to the reply to message function, now you
     can edit the existing subject line (instead of retyping it in)
     and you can edit the reply to address.  The latter may be useful
     for those who subscribe to mailing lists.

29   Added support for the VERSION command, so typing:

       version iceolr full

     in a shell will do something useful.  Added support for the new
     email SIG.

28   Converted from Manx 5.2 to SAS 6.5.  Added protection against the
     trim function creating huge files that fill the disk (in the case
     of certain types of message base corruption).  If you get a requester
     telling you that a SIG has bad offsets then you can either delete
     that sig's .lnk and .dat file or you can add the INPLACE tooltype
     and try trimming again as that might fix it.  If you find a way of
     making new corrupt sigs please let me know so that I can fix it.

     Added more smarts to the autoquoting (highlighting of quoted text)
     mechanism.

     The highlighted current subject in the subject window now moves
     with you, no matter how you move from message to message.

27b  The shell window that OLR opens to run PGP in will now appear on
     the OLR custom screen (if one is being used).  Under AmigaDOS 1.3
     it will appear on the workbench.

27a  Minor change to how OLR summons the shell the PGP is run in,
     also added the STACK= tool type, this can be used to specify
     the stack that is to be set in the shell that PGP is running in.
     Defaults to STACK=20000.

27   Added some support for PGP.  Three things, a way to add keys to
     your keyring, a way to test clear signed messages to see if they
     come from the owner of the key and to see if they have been
     tampered with, and a way to clear sign the messages and replies
     that you post.

     To use these features you will need PGP 2.2 or higher installed
     on your system and add a PGP= tool type to your OLR icon.  The
     tool type is required for OLR to be able to fund and run PGP.
     You should include the full directory path as well as the name of
     the PGP program, for example:

       PGP=dh0:bin/pgp

     There are two new buttons: Test and +Key.  The Test button is used
     to test the current message (if it is a clear signed PGP message)
     to see if it comes from the author and is not a fake.  Note that
     you need to have the author's key on your keyring for the test
     to take place, PGP will tell you if it could not find the key.
     The +Key button is used to tell PGP to search the current message
     for public keys and if it finds any to add them to your keyring.

     IMPORTANT: do not go Testing or +Keying on non-pgp messages because
     sometimes PGP will crash on messages it does not understand...

     The post and reply functions have a third button added to the
     "Do you want to Post this message?" requesters.  This is the
     "PGP sign it" button, if you hit this then PGP will be used to sign
     the message (it does a "pgp -sta +clearsig=on" command) so that
     other readers of the message can test it to ensure that it really
     does come from you and that it has not been tampered with.

     Fixed the infamous -- extra character at end of message bug!

     Added the auto-highlighting of quoted text.  To enable this
     feature you need to include a tooltype like:

        AUTOQ=2

     the number tells the system how many characters must match to
     detect a quote, 2, 3 or 4 are good numbers.

26   For sysops only, this updates the way the MSGID is built.

25   Fixed the bug that was causing extra garbage at the end of some
     messages.  Added the BBS list patch for EVP, if you specify a default
     BBS with the BBS= tool type, then OLR will alway place that BBS at
     the top of the list, that way when you finish reading that BBS
     you will automatically get to see all the rest.

24   Added support for 64 bit time stamps for generation of fully
     unique message IDs for use in USENET postings.  Squeezed the
     buttons in the horizontal mode control windows a bit tighter
     together.  Fixed a couple of odd enforcer hits (one was causing
     the infamous "I gotta hit the key a few times to get to the
     next SIG" bug).  The "subject" display list window has been
     enhanced a bit, now when you click in it to start reading messages
     in the order they appear in the list the current message line
     will highlight and when you hit the >> and << buttons (or keys)
     the highlight will move.  The list will also scroll to keep the
     highlight in view.  OLR no longer crashes when you wail on the
     close window button.  Released the first version of the amigaguide
     document for OLR.

23   More cleanup relating to the strncpy() problem.  Added an alpha sort
     mode to the "subject" display window (its a button labeled ABC).
     Implemented tooltype replacement when snapshotting, this way the
     tooltypes list in the icon does not keep growing.  Added support
     for vertical mode in the brief configuration of the control pannel.
     Packed the buttons in tighter in the both vertical control pannel
     modes to give a bit more horizontal space on the display.
     Added an auto start mode to the subject window, there is an additional
     state to the gadget that brings this window up, this is: "None".
     If you snapshot when none is selected then the subject window will
     not appear whenever you start OLR.  If you snapshot when one of
     the other states is selected it will cause the subject window to
     appear in the desired mode when you restart OLR.

22a  (13-Jul-93) Maintainance release: a line containing an end of comment
     marker got deleted causing about 50 lines of gadget initialization
     to disappear in a puff of smoke, could cause all sorts of wierd
     behaviour!

22   (12-Jul-93) Fix the bug where a horizontally scrolled message window
     would not get reset properly when the next message was displayed.
     Posting should now work with editors like Annotate which do not
     let you edit a non-existant file.  Greatly enhanced the message
     selection by subject window. To do this 5 additional buttons were
     added (I can hear the groans already).  The only two you will need
     most of the time are at the bottom of the first column, these are
     the "Subj" and "Date" buttons.  The Subj button opens the subject
     selection list and then allows you to select WHAT the list displays
     (either subjects, authors or who the messages are addressed to).
     The Date button selects how the list is SORTED.  You can sort by
     posting date (the BBS date), by thread (all the messages regarding
     one subject are kept togeather and sorted by date within that subject,
     by author (all the messages by one author are togeather), or by
     the name of the person the message is addressed TO.  So now you can
     quickly see how many things Paul McLeod has put up for sale, or
     look for the Danish whit of Erik, or...  The message dates can be
     toggled on and off by clicking on the "Date/-no-" button that is
     located in the new 5th row and the "Both/New" button is used to
     select between the display of both read and unread or just unread
     (new to you) messages.  The "Mark all" button is used to mark all
     the messages in the current sig as read.  When you have selected
     a message from the "subject" list the "<<" and ">>" keys will take
     you up and down the messages IN THE ORDER THEY APPEAR IN THE
     SUBJECT LIST.  Thus, if you want to re-read all the messages by
     Jeff Rose (looking for spelink mistokes perhaps :-) you can do this
     just by selecting a display of authors and then sorting it by author
     (ie. both buttons set to Auth) and then click on the first one with
     the mouse and then use the ">>" button to see all the rest.  The
     "<<" and ">>" buttons will revert to their normal functions when
     you either close the subject window or switch to another SIG.
     You will notice that replies are indented by 2 spaces.  There are
     also 4 indicator characters to the left, these are *DPL, for read,
     deleted, permanent, and local.  Also, the subj/auth/to,
     date/thrd/auth/to, date/-no-, and both/new buttons snapshot so
     you can select the most useful settings and forget...

     There is one other little goodie, which people who run a 700+ by 400+
     screen will enjoy.  To get it include the "VERT" tooltype and see...

21   (9-Jul-93) Fixed the bug which prevented the Keepfile from being
     written to if the BBS= tooltype was present (it was a wierdity
     to do with strncpy()).  Added scrolling in all list displays
     via the arrow keys, for true "hand's on the keyboard" reading.
     The quotation header's date now reflects the true creation
     date of the message that is being replied to.  Added support for
     public screens (just like in TERM 99).  OLR's public screen is
     called: VBBS-OLR.  If you are running under 1.3 OLR will work
     as before.  If you are running under 2.0 OLR will use the public
     screen method of opening your editor.  If your editor does not
     support public screens then add the tooltype: WBHACK to your
     OLR icon, and things will behave as before.  When OLR is used
     under 2.0 it will now use the System() call instead of Execute()
     this may result in some editors working which did not before.
     Added an About menu item so that you can easily see the version
     number.  And added a read by subject mode.  You will notice that
     the subscribe button has been replaced by "Subjects", the subscribe
     button is still there it's just on the far right now.  When you
     hit Subjects OLR will scan the current sig and display a list
     of the subjects of all the messages in that sig.  Any that you
     have already read will have an asterisk beside them.  You can
     read any message by just clicking on its name.  If you leave the
     subject window open it will be updated as you move from SIG to SIG.

     The "Ed" editor (that lurks in your C: directory) is one of the
     few editors I have found that supports public screens.  To get
     it to work you need the following monster tooltype:

      EDITOR=ed window "RAW:0/0/640/200/Edit/SCREENVBBS-TERM"

     XDME (from Fish disk 776) can also be used, use a tool type of:

      EDITOR=xdme -ps VBBS-TERM

     for it.

20   (20-Feb-93) Patch for sysop mode: the extra checks to see if a
     BBS and SIG had been selected before posting or replying were
     preventing a Sysop from posting or replying when in sysop mode.

1.9  (20-Feb-93) Change for sysop mode: now it sets the LI_LOCAL flag
     on postings and replies.  Added the QUIT "key" for KEY tooltype
     definitions, this allows you to hit the close button and exit the
     OLR just by hitting a key on the keyboard.  Added the FLASH
     tooltype, include this one if you want to be "beeped" at the end
     of a sig or BBS. When you have one of the small list type windows
     open by not visable (ie. burried under something) you can now
     bring it to the front by clicking on its button in the control
     pannel again.  Removed the "do you want to quit" confirmation
     requester, since it is safe to quit at any time without having to
     re-read more than one message per sig.  Added saftey interlock
     on the TRIM button.  When reading backwards (<<) and you hit the
     begining of the sig it will take you to the end of the previous sig
     (and act similarly between bbses).  If you hit post or reply when
     not in a BBS or SIG it will now tell you to select something.
     Added support for the LI_READ flag, this is set on a message by
     message basis as you read each message.  There is now a trim
     tooltype: TRIMREAD, when this is present in the icon then the
     trim function will delete all the messages marked as read (regardless
     of trim's date settings).

1.8  (14-Feb-93) A "brief" control pannel has been added, which contains
     fewer buttons, yet retains a significant portion of the functionality
     of the main pannel.  The Full and Brief buttons are used to flip
     between the two modes.  As well I have joined the header and text
     windows into one (by popular request), of course now you might have
     to edit out the header portion when you compose a reply...  And
     keyboard equivalents have been added.  The exact key assignments
     are up to you, a few defaults are set in the icon as an example.
     There is one KEY= tool type per key you want to map to a gadget
     (you can map several keys to one gadget if you wish):

        KEY=K|GADID|qual|qual|...

        where K is the key letter, GADID is the name of the gadget
        that is to be mapped to the key and there are a variable
        number of qualifiers which include:

          SHIFT   -- either of the shift keys
          ALT     -- either of the ALT keys
          AMIGA   -- either of the Amiga keys (the fancy A's)
          CTRL    -- the control key
          NUM     -- this is a key on the NUMeric key pad area

        qualifier keys MUST be held down at the same time as the key
        they are attached to.

     The available GADIDs are:  (these are mostly the same as the
     name of the gadget they represent)

       <<
       >>
       GOTOMSG
       GOTOSIG
       SUBSCRIBE
       PREV
       NEXT
       PARENT
       CHILD
       PREVSIG
       NEXTSIG
       THREAD    - this is the "new/manual" button
       ALLSUB    - this is the "all/sub" button
       POST
       KEEP
       KILLAUTH
       KILLSUBJ
       EDITAUTH
       EDITSUBJ
       AUTHON
       SUBJON
       REPLY
       PRIVATE
       MOVE
       DELETE
       QUOTE     - the quotation mode selector
       QINSEDIT  - the " >" key
       QHEADEDIT - the "--" key
       BBS
       PERMANENT
       TRIM
       NET
       BRIEF     - changes the large pannel into the small pannel
                   or the small into the large.

     and since no one is going to read this anyway I won't bother
     giving an example.

1.7  (07-Feb-93) Minor change for sysops only, improves the speed of
     reading in the s:vbbs.newsigs file.

1.6  (06-Feb-93) Added the BBS= tooltype, this allows one to specify
     the default BBS for OLR to start with (so you don't have to hit
     the BBS button if you only usually read one bbs).  Fixed the enforcer
     hits encountered when changing BBSes.  Added display of current
     BBS name in the control window.  Now handles project icons for those
     who need to use two different configurations for the same program
     (note that OLR reads the tool icon first and then superimposes
     any tooltypes found in the project icon, this allows one to put common
     settings in the tool icon and specific settings in the project
     icon, the file the project icon is attached to can be anything).
     Fixed the bug in TRIM which was causing the message base files to
     be completely emptied (instead of just leaving the last message
     in them), this was causing people to re-download everything if
     they used TRIM with a low time value (ie. less than a day).

1.5  (01-Feb-93) Fixed a bug in the TRIM function that was causing
     trimming to take an excessive amount of time, the bug was not
     dangerous, just boring to watch...

1.4  (31-Jan-93) First public release