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OS/2 Shareware BBS: 35 Internet
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1995-01-30
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PMBiff 1.2 for OS/2 2.1 and above by Thomas Vandahl
What it is
==========
This nice little program is similar to the "xbiff" program known from X-Windows.
PMBiff monitors the mailbox of your choice in intervals of your choice
(Defaults: C:\TCPIP\ETC\MAIL\INBOX.NDX and 60 sec)
PMBiff will raise its flag and beep if it detects incoming mail or play a sound
file if MMPM/2 sound support is installed. It will lower the flag after the
mail was read. No more, no less.
If you presently use LaMail to check for incoming mail you will see a benefit
of alot less RAM usage (and nicer outfit btw :-))
What it does
============
PMBiff compares the "last access" time to the "last modified" time and observes
the file size of a given file. From these informations it decides wether to
raise the flag or not. This requires the st_atime and st_mtime values to be
different (at least to have the ability to be different)
That's why PMBiff will not work correctly with FAT volumes! HPFS or NFS are
required ('cause they were tested ... ;-)) Other file systems may or may not
work.
PMBiff can be used on every mail system that uses one single file as a mailbox.
The two I know of are IBM's TCP/IP sendmail daemon (using a index file) and the
generic unix sendmail daemon.
How you manage it
=================
You may use the standard way of changing settings of OS/2. If you use the
default mouse and keyboard settings to control the OS/2 Desktop you may
- Click the RIGHT mouse button or press Shift-F10 to display the popup menu,
- Press and hold the RIGHT mouse button to drag the program window wherever
you want it. (You have to stay on the screen, however... :-)
- Doubleclick the LEFT mouse button into the client window to invoke your
favourite mail reader (if configured). Selecting "Run MailReader" from the
popup menu will do the same.
Note: PMBiff is aware of a previous version of your mail reader still running
as long as it was started by itself. This is, however, not possible
with Windoze programs. The support of Windoze programs for use as a
mail reader is unsupported and will go away in the future.
PMBiff will accept a pathname on the command line and will use (and store) this
file to check for mail.
To change the color of the inactive window (flag down) simply drag&drop one
from the Color Palette. To change the color of the active window (flag raised)
drag&drop one from the Color Palette while holding the Ctrl-Key.
From the popup menu you may select Settings, Run MailReader, Help and Close.
Select "Settings" to open the Settings-Notebook which has three pages.
Page 1
Here you can enter the pathname of your mailbox file, the intervals between two
checks for mail and, if required, the pathname of your mail reader program. If
you activate the checkbox "Autostart..." the mail reader will be automatically
started as soon as new mail is detected. See the above note for limitations.
Page 2
The second page shows you your mail window in the two possible states. Here
you can customize the icons and the background colors that are used for the
display. Simply drag&drop the icon file on the appropriate icon. The change
takes effect immediately. To change the colors, drag&drop them from the color
palette. Press the "Defaults" pushbutton to return to the default icons and
colors. This will also delete the icon information from the programs' INI-file.
Page 3
This page is for customizing the sound that is played if mail arrives and the
sound support of MMPM/2 is installed. Use the "Find..." pushbutton to browse
through the file system and select a Digital Audio file. Press the button
with the gramophone on it to play the sound. You can also use drag&drop to
associate the sound file. Drop it onto the entry field.
What it costs
=============
This is my first step in the field of OS/2 and PM programming.
I tried to learn as much as possible from this project.
So I'm asking NOTHING for this program, it is FREE.
If you use it and enjoy it please send me a nice postcard of your home town!
You should understand that I am in no way responsible for any damage that may
occur due to the use of this program.
I added several icons that I like to the package. These are from the Icon Pack
of Guidelines by JBA International. If you have additional icons for this
purpose please upload them to ftp.tu-ilmenau.de:/pub/os2/incoming and drop me
a mail.
Send bug reports and ideas for improvements to
Thomas.Vandahl@E-Technik.TU-Ilmenau.DE
or
Thomas Vandahl
Burgstrasse 70
D-98701 Altenfeld
Germany
Have fun !