Some email programs (in particular Eudora) send emails in text/enriched format, which is a MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) type that has been defined in RFC 1896. This format allows the use of simple text formatting in emails, like the use of italic or bold fonts.
Note that text/enriched is neither related to rich text format (RTF) nor to any other "rich" or "enriched" text format.
There are several problems with text/enriched emails and PMMail:
(1) If PMMail receives such a text/enriched email, it puts the body of this email in an attachment and displays an empty Read Message Window.
(2) You need to open that attachment to read the actual message text.
(3) Once you've opened the attached file, you will probably see the unmodified text/enriched source text, with oddly placed line breaks and with formatting commands like <italic> or <bold>.
Usually you will notice that the contents of most text/enriched emails does not really justify the usage of the text/enriched format, but that's a different problem... ;-)
RichConv is a converter for text/enriched emails. It converts a text/enriched email file into a multipart/alternative email file with a text/plain version of the original text/enriched email as its first part.
RichConv has been written to be used with the filter feature of PMMail for OS/2. However, it may also be used with any other email client that can run an external program to modify incoming emails.
RichConv may also be used as a command line tool if the input file contains only one single email that complies with RFC 822.
So, strictly speaking, you should not expect this program to do anything else than to decrease the amount of free memory in your computer. Since you don't pay anything for this program, this is actually already a bit of feature overkill... ;-)
Anyway, I appreciate any suggestions how to improve RichConv. If you find that RichConv doesn't work as you think it should, send me a note. If possible, please attach an example for an email file that causes the problem.
I will upload the most recent version of RichConv to Hobbes (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/ or ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/) only.
I have no particular preferences for Hobbes, except that it's one of the better known OS/2 software servers in that part of the world where I presently happen to live.
mime.bmp - Example for MIME Associations settings for text/html
readme - This file
richconv.c - The source code of RichConv
richconv.exe - The RichConv executable for OS/2
todo - List of missing features, workarounds, restrictions, etc
In the richgconv\pgp directory:
filter.sig - My PGP signature for filter.bmp
liesmich.sig - My PGP signature for liesmich
mime.sig - My PGP signature for mime.bmp
readme.sig - My PGP signature for readme
richconv.sig - My PGP signature for richconv.c
todo.sig - My PGP signature for todo
In the richconv\nt directory:
richconv.exe - RichConv executable for Windows NT (see below!)
If you want to use RichConv under Windows NT and want to be shure to run the most recent version of RichConv, you need to compile the program yourself. I don't have access to a C compiler for Windows NT. The executable in the richconv\nt directory is not up-to-date.
However, if you have problems compiling the source code for Windows NT, send me a note. I will try to help you by changing the source code of RichConv, if that should be necessary to solve your problems.
With the proper PMMail filter set-up (see below), RichConv will convert any incoming text/enriched email to a multipart/alternative email, that consists of three parts:
(1) A text/plain part:
This is a reduced-formatting version of the original text/enriched email. Most formatting commands are simply removed from the original text. Optionally, a few are interpreted. For example italic, bold, or underlined text can be converted to uppercase. The text/plain part will be automatically displayed in PMMail's Read Message Window.
(2) A text/html part:
This is an HTML version of the original text/enriched email. Just to give an impression of how the original email was probably supposed to look like. However, be warned that RichConv's conversion from text/enriched to text/html is not perfect. And by definition, just like for text/enriched, there is no standard of how to interpret HTML elements anyway. The text/html part will appear as the first attachment of the email.
(3) A text/enriched part:
This is the original email. It is not altered in any way, except that it is now embedded in a multipart/alternative MIME email. Thus, PGP signatures for example should still be valid. The text/enriched part will appear as the second attachment of the email.
Note: RichConv expects RFC-1896 compatible text/enriched emails. I couldn't verify statements, that some companies prefer to use their own, proprietary version of text/enriched. Any hints are welcome.
If you enter "richconv /h" in a command line window, the program will output some helpful informations to the screen.
To use RichConv you first need to put richconv.exe in a directory of your choice. This directory doesn't have to be listed in your PATH environvent variable, and it also doesn't have to be any of the PMMail directories.
To use RichConv as a converter for incoming text/enriched emails in PMMail, you want to set up a filter in PMMail that calls RichConv. Here's how to do that:
(1) Go to "Account->Account Settings...->Filters"
In PMMail version prior to 1.96 you may have to go to "Account->Utilities Settings...->Filters". IN PMMail/2 2.0 and newer versions you can use the shortcut "Account->Filters..."
(2) Click on "New".
(3) Enter the following data in the "Edit Filter" window (see filter.bmp for an example):
You don't need to enter any arguments or %s after richconv.exe.
However, you may enter command line switches, like the "-html" in the following example: "x:\full\path\to\richconv.exe -nohtml". PMMail will pass through all arguments to RichConv.
To get more information about the possible command line options and about RichConv's default behavior, enter "richconv /h".
During the first time it's usually helpful to add the "Inform User" action after "REXX Exit", so you can know when this filter finds a matching email and calls RichConv.
(4) Click on "OK".
(5) Make shure there is no filter that moves incoming text/enriched messages out of the Inbox, before RichConv had a chance to convert them.
If necessary, use the "Up"/"Down" buttons to change the filter sequence.
(6) Make sure that there is no other conflict with another filter. That's the hardest part, and you're on your own... good luck ;-)
(1) Just drag and drop the first attachment on your favorite WWW browser or its icon.
(2) In case you haven't done this yet, go to "PMMail->Settings...->MIME" Associations, klick on Add and enter the following data (see mime.bmp for an example):
Description HTML
MIME Type text / html
File Extension html htm
Program To Execute: x:\path\to\your\favorite\browser.exe
Arguments: [other arguments if necessary] %s
Working Directory [leave this field empty]
Program Type [depends on your browser, e.g. "OS/2 PM" for Netscape]
Now a double click on the first attachment should load it into your WWW browser.
You may still view the unaltered, original text/enriched part by double clicking on the second attachment. For example, with my MIME settings for PMMail, i.e. with no entry for text/enriched, the System Editor will start and load the attachment as a simple text file. Depending on your MIME settings, something different may happen.
RichConv reads a file, modifies it, and re-writes it. Hence you may test RichConv using any file that contains a text/enriched email.
Warning: RichConv overwrites the original email file. So, you want to make a backup of the original file before testing RichConv.
However, make shure that the input email file also contains the header of the email. If you've configured PMMail not to display email headers by default, it will also not save the header to a file. To save the body and the header in this case, you need to open the email, click on "Toggle Display Of The Message Header" and then save it to a file.
I've written a similar program named HtmlConv that converts text/html just like RichConv converts text/enriched. Should be available on the same server as HtmlConv. (You don't need this for PMMail/2 2.0 and newer!)
