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1997-08-10
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OLRead vs 0.60, by Alex Hayward
-------------------------------
OLReadS has been released! See below for details.
OLRead is an off-line message reader for ArcBBS. Drag a message file on to its
icon on the icon bar to load it. If you run in to any difficulties then there
are more detailed instructions below. If you still can't work out what is wrong
contact me on Arcade, user #1260, or as Alex@hayward.u-net.com.
Note that an External Data Edit Protocol combatible editor such as StrongEd or
Zap must be loaded to edit replies. OLRead can now automatically load an
editor, providing that it has been 'seen'. In order for it to do so add the
following line the beginning of the edtior's !Boot file (not OLRead's,
although you can automatically run the editor from OLRead's !Run file if you
wish):
Set Alias$@EditType_FFF <Zap$Dir>.!Run
Replacing Zap$Dir with program-name$dir for other editors. A similar name
should be used earlier in the !Boot file at some point, so use that. If it
isn't, try Obey$Dir.
This is actually part of the external data edit specification, but it doesn't
seem to be used. Obviously, if its already present, you needn't bother.
Users of OLRead may be interested to hear of Dave Higton's program 'Switcher',
available from Arcade. If loaded before your text editor (eg in your boot
sequence) then it will intercept and ArcBBS message files you click on and
send them to OLRead rather than your text editor. Users may also be interested
in my own '!Magic' which appeared on the Acorn User August 1997 disc, which
performs a similar function for a large and configurable set of types of file
including ArcBBS scratchpads.
Other points
------------
Some control over the formatting of quotes is available. I STRONGLY ADVISE
you to use whatever is conventional for the board you are posting to. On
Arcade (and many others) this means the default setting. You should also limit
the size of your signatures to one or two lines for most BBSs and four lines
for Usenet.
Disclaimer
----------
OLRead is © 1995, 1996, 1997, Alex Hayward.
This software may be distributed providing that all files within it remain
intact, (except for the '!OLRead.mess' and '!OLRead.sig' files which may be
removed, if present) and that no charge whatsoever is made. This does not
apply to beta test versions (identified by the word beta after the version
number), which must not be distributed except by me. This is not a beta test
version.
The registered version, OLReadS
-------------------------------
The registered version of OLRead contains all the features of OLRead plus:
• graphical and 'quick' thread following for easy messagebase navigation;
• internal archiving (compressed) of message batches;
• multi-user and multi-bbs ability;
• searching;
• the production of statistics about a message packet, such as the number of
posts by particular people;
• an address book;
as well as many other small improvements.
To obtain a copy send your name, address and a cheque for 10 UK pounds to:
Alex Hayward,
JCR,
Norham Gardens,
Lady Margaret Hall,
Oxford OX2 6QA
If you wish to be contacted about future upgrades then please indicate your
e-mail or Fidonet address. Such updates will also be advertised, where
possible, on http://www.personal.u-net.com/~hayward/OLRead.html. Delivery by
post is only possible within the UK, if you live outside the UK then please
specify an e-mail address to which you want it to be sent.
As you may be aware there have been some stability problems with OLReadS, but
these should be much improved after recent bug fixes. I would consider
current revisions to be stable in normal use on my Risc PC 610. However, if
you do find OLReadS to be unstable or unacceptably buggy with your setup so
as to limit its usefulness then I will refund your money providing that you:
return all discs and documentation which I have sent in connection with
OLReadS, destroy all copies of OLReadS including back-up copies, provide me
with a description of your system and the circumstances under which crashes
or bugs occur and answer any reasonable requests for further information or
crash trace files (I do not expect the last of these to be necessary for
known bugs or crashes).
Revision history
----------------
Changes since version 0.31
New views are now possible, and more than one file can be viewed at a time.
I have hopefully fixed a problem which causes OLRead to report that the
replies are corrupt when saving from the reply list. Select save and unsaved
options have been added to the menu as well.
When a message is saved back to OLRead after being edited the editing window
now remains open, and the message is saved to disc. If you have finished
editing either close the window or click on 'Cancel' in the OLRead's write
message window. If you make any changes you can either keep them by saving a
second time, or use the original reply by closing the window or clicking on
'Cancel'. Unfortionately, a bug in Zap means that I can not request it to
mark the reply as saved (it hangs the desktop) so Zap will warn you about it
being unsaved, even if you have just saved the reply.
Changes since version 0.40
The message list format has been modified so that messages occupy only one
line. This should make it easier to scan through.
Various configuration options have been added. Firstly, Close edit on save
will mean that saving a reply will cause the external edit - and the write
message window - to close automatically.
Secondly, more control is available over which signatures are added. For each
type of area it is possible to have either no sig added, sig 1 added, or a
random signature chosen out of the three available. Taglines are now
available and are added automatically if the appropriate option is set here.
A default save path can be set. Whenever a save box is brought up to save
messages for upload, this path will be automatically inserted. Either type in
the path or drag the icon to the appropriate place.
Some more special fields are available in quote headers:
%subject
%area (inserts the area the quoted post is in)
%hour or %hour12 (inserts the time of the original message in hours using the
12 hour clock)
%hour-24
%am or %pm (inserts am or pm as appropriate)
%minute
%seconds
%century
%short-year or %year (inserts the last two digits of the year)
%long-year or %full-year
%short-month or %month (inserts the abbreviated month, eg Jan)
%long-month
%long-day (inserts the full name of the day, eg Monday)
%short-day or %day
%day-no (inserts the day of the month)
%date (equivalent to %day-no %month %year)
%to (the name of the original recipient)
%to1 (the first name of the original recipient)
%from or %name
%from1
This is in addition to %% to insert a %, %nl to insert a new line and %id to
insert the message id (usenet messages only).
The Write Message window has been rearranged. Cancel is now delete, which is
greyed out unless you save a message without the 'Close edit on save' option
set, in which case it deletes the message completely. To cancel an edit,
either close the write message window or the editor's window.
Taglines are now available. Shift-double click in !OLRead and load the file
'taglines' in to a text editor to view/change them. Each tagline is separated
by a blank line.
Various new options and hot-keys have been added to the main menu which each
set up the write message window in a slightly different way.
Changes since version 0.45
Apart from (very) numerous bug fixes:
More quote header fields:
%to2 The surname of the recipient of the quoted message
%from2 The surname of the sender of the quoted message
OLRead grabs the input focus after the end of an edit so that the arrow keys
can be used to move between messages.
^Q or the Quote button now quote the entire message if there is no selection.
Double clicking with adjust on a message in the message list now goes to the
message and closes the message list. Double clicking with shift held down
will automatically open a new view on to the message.
Closing the write message window now gives a warning before removing the
message.
The reply and private flags in the write message window are no longer
present. Select area zero (or set the netmail flag - the one before 'of') for
private messages. Whether it is a reply or ot depends on how the edit was
started, with edit reply, quote, or write message. Only the latter case is
not a reply.
Changes since version 0.46
A few more bug fixes. Automatic loading of editors added, support for OLE
removed completely (it didn't actually work anyway...). Multiple
simultaeneous edits should now be possible.
You may notice that its memory requirements are a little odd, eg load a large
scratchpad and compare the change in the memory it uses to the size of the
file. Don't worry about this, its supposed to happen.
Changes since version 0.48
Support for outline fonts has been added, see the Choices window. Quoting has
been tidied up a little.
Changes since version 0.50
Plenty of bug fixes.
A second quote header for 'diverted' quotes posted to an area other than the
one which contained the original message.
The line spacing used can be adjusted. The value you enter (which can be
negative) is added to the default spacing for that font size.
It is now possible to view your list of replies, and to reedit them without
loading any messages, see the icon bar menu.
Messages can also be written without having loaded anything, but you will have
to enter numeric area numbers rather than choosing from a list of area names.
Changes since 0.51
A few bug fixes. Some support for changing the templates:
If a template called 'banner' exists it will be displayed at start up until
clicked on.
The hieght and width of the top pane can be changed, but make sure that you
change the height by both reducing the Y size AND lowering the y coordinate
of the origin by an equal amount. This will ensure that the header information
is displayed in the correct place.
The right hand column in the top pane should not get overwritten, and the
window should get wider if the entire text can't fit in the pane.
Finally, some alternative templates and sprites are available in the
Temprites directory. To use them copy the Sprites, Sprites22 and Templates
files inside the !OLRead directory (shift-double click on OLRead to open it).
See their individual ReadMe files for more details and attributions.
Changes since 0.55
Miscellaeneous bug fixes, of which I do not have a complete record. Dragging
off the top or bottom of the message display ow scrolls the window.
...and finally
As many (sensible) comments, bug reports, suggestions, details of other
message formats (which I may consider implementing) as possible to Arcade
user #1260, Alex Hayward.
Thanks go to Anton De Braal for a much better set of hi-res icons and to Mark
Murray for supplying almost all of the taglines.
--------------------------------
Detailed Instructions
Right, where shall I start... Apologies if any of this is out of date.
Loading
OLRead only reads messages produced by version 1.64 of ArcBBS (or compatible
software), although there shouldn't be any drastic side-effects with version
1.63. Only files of the type 'Text' will load - the type which almost all
BBSs will send. If this is not the case then you should set the type as text
first (I have seen some typed as 'Data').
Moving around the message file
The video icons on the pane above the main window (where the messages are
displayed) perform their usual actions. Two icons are provided to move to the
previous/next area (top right) and a pop-up menu for jumping straight to a
particular area. 'Read' and 'Skip read msgs', which are greyed out, are only
available in the (unreleased) registered version. The leftmost writeable icon
jumps to the nth in the batch, the 'Message id' icon searches for a message
with a particular id IN THE CURRENT AREA.
Below this are various details about the message. Note that at present
(10/8/97) ArcBBS will always say that there are no replies.
The left and right cursor keys move backwards and forward through the
messages respectively, whilst the up and down arrows scroll the message.
Ctrl-left/right goes to the first/last message, shift-left/right goes to the
next/previous area and Ctrl-up/down goes to the top/bottom of the current
message. Home and End (copy) move to the first and last message repectively.
Ctrl-L, 'Message list' from the menu or the list icon in the toolbox bring up
a list of messages - double click on one to jump to it. Clicking menu brings
up a list of areas, selecting one jumps to that area in the message list.
DJF tunes embedded in messages can be played by clicking on the first line.
djf1 is supported.
Extract
The 'Extract' submenu from the main menu leads to options to save either all
of the message (with header and area name) or just the selected parts (no
header or area). Ignore the UUcode - this is not yet implemented (and may
never be).
Writing messages
An External Data Edit Protocol compatible text editor, such as StrongEd or
Zap, must be loaded otherwise an error will be returned.
Ctrl-W, 'Write messages' from the menu or the top icon on the toolbox bring
up the 'Write message' window. 'Edit reply', or Ctrl-E (the Write message
window need not be open for this), allows you to start editing a message.
Quote (Ctrl-Q) quotes the selected text with the formatting as set up in the
configuration window (see later). Editing will start automatically if you
haven't started it already. Delete removes the message completely if it has
been saved back to OLRead but editing is continuing, simply canceling the
edit will discard any new changes but will not remove the message. To finish
editing, use Save from the editor you are using.
Sign signs the message with one of the signatures defined with 'Sigs...' from
the icon bar menu (see later). Opening the window up fully reveals various
signing options. By default the signature used is no. 1 as defined for the
type of area currently viewed. If configured on the 'Auto sign' option will
be set (you can turn this off for individual messages if you wish) and a
signature added automatically when editing has been completed. Auto sign is
turned off when 'Sign' is used manually. Taglines are not yet implemented and
for this reason the option is greyed out. Note that messages in a Usenet area
which were originated locally and contain no Message-ID: line will not be
recognised as usenet messages - the BBS local is used by default instead.
The top half of the window should be fairy obvious. The To: field can be set
with the pop-up menu to 'All', 'ArcadeLink Email Gateway' (the Netmail option
is automatically set) or the name of the sender of the message which was
being viewed when this window was first called up. Sending netmails is
achieved by turning on the option in fron of 'of' and entering the fidonet
address in the adjacent icon.
Changing replies
'Edit replies' from the main menu, ctrl-R or the second icon in the toolbox
bring up a list of all of the messages you have written so far. Single click
with select selects a message, adjust can be used for multiple selections.
Double clicking allows you to reedit a message.
Various operations can be performed on the selected messages. Edit, Delete,
Select all and Clear selection do exactly what they say they do, with Edit
being synonymous with a double click. Save allows you to save the selected
messages only in a suitable format for uploading to the BBS. This is similar
to the 'Save messages' item on the icon bar menu except that that saves all
messages.
Some details about a message can be chaged during reediting, such as whether
it is a reply or not, who it is to, whether it is a netmail, the subject and
whether it is private or not.
This list of replies can also be brought up using the 'Reply list' option from
the icon bar menu.
Editing signatures
Choosing 'Sigs...' from the icon bar menu brings up the 'Edit signatures'
dialogue box from which you can choose which signature you wish to edit.
'Edit' starts editing - only one can be edited at a time. 'Cancel' cancels
the current edit, use the close icon to close the dialogue box.
Configuration
'Choices...' from the icon bar menu brings up the configuration window. This
is split in to several sections:
Message deletion. Replies can be automatically deleted as soon as you save
them, when the next set of messages is loaded (you will always be prompted if
some of these replies are not saved) or never. The last option, 'Delete when
found in subsequent load' is not implemented and may never be. If prompt is
set then you will be asked before ANY messages are deleted.
Auto sign. This allows you to select which of your replies will have a
signature automatically added. You can override this option by deselcting the
'Auto sign' option in the 'Write message' window. Either sig no. 1 or a
randomly chosen sig will be used, and a tagline will be added if the relevant
option is set here. All of these can be overriden manualy using the bottom
half of the write message window.
Quoting. The top half of this is applied to quotes from non-internet
messages, the bottom to internet messages (e.g. usenet or Email Gateway
messages) unless the 'Always use former method' icon is set. The quote header
is added before a selection is quoted. A different quote header can be
specified for when you are replying to a message, but posting your reply to a
different area. They can contain some special fields:
%name The name of the sender of the messages being quoted
%nl Inserts a new line
%id (internet only) The ID from the Message-ID line
%% Inserts a % sign
%subject
%area Inserts the area the quoted post is in)
%hour or %hour12 Inserts the time of the original message in hours using
the 12 hour clock
%hour-24
%am or %pm Inserts am or pm as appropriate
%minute
%seconds
%century
%short-year or %year Inserts the last two digits of the year
%long-year or %full-year
%short-month or %month Inserts the abbreviated month, eg Jan
%long-month
%long-day Inserts the full name of the day, eg Monday
%short-day or %day
%day-no Inserts the day of the month
%date Equivalent to %day-no %month %year
%to The name of the original recipient
%to1 The first name of the original recipient
%from or %name
%from1
%to2 The surname of the recipient of the quoted message
%from2 The surname of the sender of the quoted message
Others may be added at a later date.
For non-internet messages the number of spaces before the initials, and the
number of initials included on each line of the quote can be set. I STRONGLY
ADVISE you to use whatever method is normal for your BBS. This means 2
initials and 2 spaces on Arcade (the original setting). If three initials are
specified and there are only two for a particular message, an extra space is
added to the beginning of the line.
The internet line prefix is added to the beggining of each line of the quote.
Toolbox. Sets whether the toolbox is, by default, displayed.
DJF playng. Sets whether DJFs (a sort of simple music format for messages) at
the beginning and end of messages are automatically played. They can still be
manually played by clicking on them.
The font used, and the point size, can also be set from this window. The line
space offset given (which can be negative) will be added to the default line
spacing for that font size.
There is an option to turn off compression, which is initially set in this
release. Turning compression back on again will reduce the amount of memory
that OLRead uses, will slow down loading and will have no apparent effect on
the rest of the program (most things become very slightly faster). The
compression is mainly intended for OLReadS in order to save disc space (by
about a 30% reduction in the messagebase size), speed up the loading of
messages from the archive on disc and to speed up searching.
Various other options are greyed out - they are only appropriate to the
(unreleased, 8/3/96) registered version.
'Cancel' removes the window without changing any settings, 'Reload' reloads
the current defualts from disc, 'Save' saves them and sets them whereas 'OK'
just sets them until the end of the session.