NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/os/vms/21907

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-25 | 1.9 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnewsc!cbfsb!att-out!rutgers!spcvxb!terry
From: [e-mail] (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Receiving outside messages in a file .. possible ?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 25 Jan 93 10:30:13 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: St. Peter's College, US
Lines: 26

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Bruce C. Wright) writes:
> If I understand you correctly, you want to put the output from FINGER
> into a file rather than onto your screen.  Defining SYS$INPUT won't
> have any effect -- that will only redirect input TO the FINGER program,
> not output FROM it.

  As the author of the Finger package Hany is using (JCSVAX1 is our "next
door neighbor" on BITNET), perhaps I can clarify:

  Finger does use SYS$OUTPUT and thus can be redefined with DEFINE/USER. How-
ever, it has a timeout (which is site-configurable) for the delay to wait for
a response from a BITNET node. If the response arrives before Finger times
out, Finger gets to do the displaying and sends it to SYS$OUTPUT. However, if
Finger gives up on the link, when the output comes back it will appear as an
interactive BITNET message, and since nothing is hanging around to trap it,
it gets turned into a terminal broadcast and isn't redirectable via a DEFINE
of SYS$OUTPUT.

  I know of two packages that "catch" broadcasts: Joe Meadows' GRAB package
(probably available from [e-mail]) and James Harvey's PHOTO
package (with the /BROADCAST qualifier, available from INDYVAX.IUPUI.EDU via
anonymous FTP).

    Terry Kennedy        Operations Manager, Academic Computing
    [e-mail]    St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ USA
    [e-mail]    [phone]