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Text File | 1993-02-17 | 24KB | 519 lines

Page(1) CCC AAA PPP TTTTT AAA III N N J SSS C C A A P P T A A I NN N J S C AAAAA PPP T AAAAA I N N N SSS C C A A P T A A I N NN S CCC A A P T A A III N N SSS QQQ W W K K Q Q W W K K Q Q W W KK version 2.0e Q QQ W W W K K QQQQ W W K K *USER MANUAL* Copyright (c) 1993 by Dirk Hoeschen STRUCTURE ========= 1 : SOME REMARKS 1.1: what's QWK 1.2: what is that programm for 1.3: shareware informations 2 : HOW TO USE 2.1: configuration (preferences) 2.2: the reader 2.3: the editor 3 : THE LAST WORD 3.1: trubleshooting 3.2: some special hints 3.3: back to the future 4 : THE END Page(2) SOME REMARKS ============ 1.1: What's QWK QWK is an easy and cheap way, to read,enter and reply messages in your BBS without being online. In lotsa BBS it's nowadays possible to tag the messageareas you are intereted and invoke the BBS to pack a QWK-mailbundle. These mailbundles are mostly compressed with a standard archiver. The bundle contains standard index and controlfiles, BBBlogos and bulletins and a messagefile. The messagefile isn't pure ASCII, so you can't read it with an ordinary editor. Now you'll understand, why a special program is needed. Also if you want to enter a message, you need a special QWK-reader, to generate the replybundle. 1.2: What is that program for? Nearly for every computer, you can chose between several QWKreader. for the ATARI there was only one program available. It's called Maximiser and one of the worst programs I've ever seen. So basically I made Captain's for my own. Then I decided, to make a professional sharewareversion. The result is a easy to handle, fast and (nearly) errorfree program. It is easy to use, because I am myself a SysOp of a BBS and I know that most of my users don't use QWK, because the other readers are to complicate. So don't wonder, if the documentation is so short. I've included all neccecary funktions of a QWK_reader and some more. For example: - it works on any ST / STE / and TT - it works in every resolution (exept 320 x 200) - it works with speedups and graphiccards - built in ANSI-emulator for BBS-Logos - variable fontszizes and styles if using GDOS - read, enter and reply messages - print a single message - ASCII export of single messages - automatical metmailsupport if using MAX2.0 - editable funktionkeys for the editor - start as an application and so on. 1.3: Shareware informations If you want to reply or enter a message, you'll see, that you have to enter your full name every time. If you register, you'll get your personal key. That key is a short file with your name. Now your name will be inserted automatically. I'm no materialist. I am a poor student. So send a Letter with your name and 15$ or 10& or 80ff or 25DM to: Dirk Hoeschen Eiserne Hand 23 4300 Essen 1 GERMANY You can also send a check or tranfer the money directly to my bank: Volksbank Essen AG ( BLZ 360 303 00 ) nr: 362 082 Page (3) Some people only need to send 3$ or 2& or 15ff or 5DM for postage an package. These people are: -all female users (I'm no sexist, but I want, that more girls are interested in computers) -all people called Michal Jackson -all little green people from outer space -and everybody else, who (really) can explain me, why he is to poor to pay. HOW TO USE ========== 2.1: Configure Captain's QWK Inside of the archive CCWKx_xx.LZH are the follwing files: - CQWK.DOC the documentation - CQWK.PRG the program - CQWK.RSC the resourcefile - CQWK.PRF the configurationfile - CQWK.TAG the tagfile - REGISTER.DOC use it for registration - SAMPLE.QWK a example of a QWK-Mailbundle (LHARC 1.13) Harddisc owners have to copy all these files into a single directory. It'll be better if the directory is on the same partition as the archivers and your downloadpath. Disclamers should copy them to a single (formated) disc. Remember that the you also need a packer like LHARC ARC ZOO or ZIP on that disc. If you execute the program be shure that the disc isn't write- protect. To work with a disc is a slow thing, because Captain's has to access to the drive for every message. If you only have a 1/2 meg, remove all acessories and resident programs, to have space for 2000 msg's (that is a compressed bundle of about 400k). Disc owners with a meg probabbly want to work with a ramdisc. Remember that all files of captains excluding the archivers and the mailbundles must be on the same disc. Pleas look also to the Infofield iof the mainwindow. Wenever you should do something, an explaination is shown there. After executing Captain's you'll see a fileselector. Exit the selector without chosing a file. Now you see a window and a menubar with the following items. CQWK FILES MESSAGES REPLIES EXTERNALS SETUP HELP The title SETUP have the following comands: ____________________ / | SETUP | \ ---------------------- | Macrokeys... | |---------------| | QWK/REP-dir...| | Bulletins... | | Newfiles... | |---------------| | Archiver... | | Ext. editor...| | Ext. termin...| | Settings... | ----------------- Page(4) The first command is MACROS. Here you can define the functionkeys to use later in the editor, when you're entering a message. You don't need them yet. After invoking the command QWK AND REP-DIR you will see a fileselector. Now define the path of the QWK-mailbundles and the path for the replybundles. These are normally the up and downloadpath of your terminalprogramm. Click on a *.QWK file and press Return. The next two points are the names of the bulletinfile and the newfileslist of your BBS. You can define them, if you've opend a bundle. The bulletines and the newfiles are only availiable, if your BBS included them into the bundle. Next, you have to define the location of the archiver(s) (normally you will only need one of the standard archivers. They ar availiable in your BBS.) and define the xtract and the compresscomands to be send to the packer (better leave them alone, bcause they are predefined!). With External. Editor and Terminal, you choose the external programs and the comandline you will start with. They should be also GEM-programs and capable to get parameters. Look at (Exter- nals) for more details. Now chose the default archiver with SETTINGS. That's the kind of archiver your BBS generates. The you can also choose the size of your window, the date and time, teh size and style of your font and if you want to kill bundle after decrunching or not. ____________________ / | FILES | \ ---------------------- | Open-QWK ◆O| | Write-setup ◆W| |---------------| | Quit ^Q| ----------------- Move your mousepointer to FILES and click on WRITE-SETUP to save your preferences or simply press Alternate-W. After that, invoke OPEN-QWK or press Alternate-O. Next, there is a fileselector. Chose a mailbundle and press Return. Normaly Captain's now executes the default archiver and after the BBSlogo and a bulletin, you will see the list of the available areas and the number of messages they are containing. If not, reconfigure Captain's again, or read part 3.1 of this documentation (trubbleshooting). At least you should edit the tagfile with a normal ASCII editor. Captain's will insert a line at the buttom of a entered message as a FIDO-compatible tagline. The tagline can be different for each area and should contain the name of the BBS and the nodenumber. 2.2: The Reader First of all, I want to explain the normal keystrokes while reading messages. You can't use the mouse to scroll the windows or chose the next window. I decided to do so, because the keyboardcontrol is much faster. Page(5) You can switch between three stacked windows. The top window is a list of the availiable Areas. If you want to see the headlines of a area you have to move the black bar with the cursorkeys up or down to the line with the area you want to read and press Return. REMARK: In every window you can scroll line by line with the cursorkeys. If you want to scroll a whole page, you can press Shift and cursor. You are now in the second window and you'll see the headlines of the messages in this area. As in window one you can now chose a message with a black bar. Press Return to read the whole message. While reading messages, you can use cursor-left and right, to switch to previous or next message. REMARK: To get back to the previous window you must hit ESC. With ESC you can also abort most of the commands. If the message is bigger than the screen, use the cursorkeys to scroll. If you now press Return Captain's will show you the next message until the end of messages in a area is reached. Get back with ESC. ____________________ / | MESSAGES | \ ---------------------- | Search_MSG's ◆S| | Read_private ◆P| | Enter_MSG... ◆E| | Print_MSG ◆Y| | Xport_MSG... ◆X| |----------------| | ADD Area... | | DROP Area... | | Request file...| |----------------| | Bulletins ◆B| | Newfiles ◆F| ------------------ As you see, all the commands are also availiable on the keybard, if you hold Alternate key and the letter for the command down (for example: Alt-Y / Print the actual message ). The MESSAGES-field contains the basic commands for the reader. With SEARCH_MSG's (Alt-S) you are able to search fo a decent string in the header of any message in every area. I you are in a special area, search will work only on this area. If you start searching while you see a list of all areas CQWK will search in all messages. The Search-command stops searching Page(6) after 100 messages are found (I mean that's enough in every case). You can now read the found messages as if you are in special area. READ_PRIVATE (Alt-P) works in the same manner as Search, but it searches automatically after messages adressed to the user. By invoking ENTER_MSG (Alt-E) you write a message in the recent area. As in your BBS, you must enter the subject,addr ...first. PRINT_MSG is the usefull function, to print the actual message on a lineprinter. XPORT_MSG (Alt-X) will save a message (including the header) as an ASCII-file on disc. You can also append multiple messages to a existing file (Captain's will ask). The next three items are maybe deactivated. If your BBS is able to get a systemmessage from the offline-reader, You can disable or enable a messagearea for the next download. With REQUEST FILE, you can request a file from your host. Simply enter the name of the file in the given formular. CQWK will write a requestmessage automatically for you. The next two commands are only usefull, if your BBS is including NEWFILES (A List of the new files in the BBS) and a BULLETIN (news from SysOp) to the mailbundle. But you have to set the name of these two files in the preferences first. ____________________ / | REPLIES | \ ---------------------- | Reply_MSG ◆R| | List_MSG's ◆L| | Change_MSG ◆C| | Kill_MSG ◆K| ------------------- The functions in the REPLIES-field are not only for replies. They are also usefull for normal entered messages. If you want to answer a message press (Alt-R) or click on ENTER_REPLY (you can only reply to a message, if you've choosen a MSG / offcause you can't relpy your own MSG's). After that, you'll see a requester. There you can change things like the destination adress or name and the subject of your message. If you're replying, Captain's normally insert these things automatically, so you can press return. With LIST_MSG'S or Alt_L you can read the messages you've entered or replied. The next two commands are only availiable while you're listing you messages. With CHANGE-MSG you can change a previously entered message. KILL_MSG will delete a message. ____________________ / | Externals | \ ---------------------- | Start editor ^E| | Start termin.^T| | Shell progr..^P| |----------------| | Delete... | | Rename... | | Copy... | | MKdir... | |----------------| | Fake list... | ------------------ Page(7) I called this menufield EXTERNALS, because here are no qwk options. I thin only the first three items need to be explained. With Start editor or (Control-E), you can start your fave ASCII-editor. Look at PREFERENCES, how to install. Theese Programs mustn't be an editor or terminalprogramm. You can also start an archiver-shell/ fileviewer or whatever you want. While executing the editor or terminal, CQWK stays resident and you will return to the reader, when exiting the external programs. If you use a terminalprogram with the capability to run automatic scripts (like Rufus), you can get a new QWKbundle from your host, sinply by pressing Control-T. With Control-P you can shell to another program. CQWK doesn't stay resident, an you have to start the reader again, to get back. 2.3: The Editor The editor is very simple. I'll give you a list of the availiable keys: ⇧⇩⇦⇨ - move your cursor up down left right Shift ⇧(⇩) - flip a whole page up or down Shift ⇦(⇨) - jump to the begining or end of a line Backspace - kill the char at the left side of your cursor Delete - kill the char at the right of your cursor Insert - switch insert/overwrt. mode Return - add (insert) a blank line F1-F10 - Insert text of funktionkeys Control-Y - move a line into buffer and delete line Control-V - insert buffered line The editor works in overwrite-mode. You can't enter more than 80 chars in a line. The editor will automatically break a line if the cursor is reaching position 79 ( I built in a simple Wordwrapping). All in all, the editor isn't perfect, I will make some changes, in the next version. ____________________ / | MESSAGES | \ ---------------------- | Save_MSG ◆S| | Quote_reply ◆Q| | Abort_MSG ◆A| | Import_ASCII ◆I| ------------------ The editor has his own menubar with three basic functions. The first SAVE_MSG (Alt-S) is to save a entered message. After executing this command, a list of taglines is displayed. Chose one with the cursorkeys and the Return button. A tagline is a line at the bottom of your message, with a short sentence to identify your message. You can (must) define your own tags, by editing CAPTAINS.TAG with a simple ASCII-editor. If your message is a reply, you can insert parts of the original message to your message with QUOTE_REPLY (Alt_Q). That makes your message more understandable for a third person. Finally you can throw your message away with ABORT_MSG. Be carefull!!! If you abort a CHANGED message, your whole message is lost. With IMPORT_ASCII you'll be able to insert a normal textfile in your message or reply. Page(8) Since 2.0 there is a Extras-field in her menubar, with the items INSERT/OVERW. and Start Editor. With INS/OVER ir hte Inseert key, you can switch between insert and overwrite mode. While you are in overwrite mode, you can (only) overwrite exiting text. With (Control-E) or Start editor, you start the external editor given in the configuration. Cqwk will write the actual text in the local editor to disc and start the editor with a comandline. After exiting the external editor CQWK will read back this message. THE LAST WORD ============= 3.1: Trubleshooting - I want to enter a @ in a formular! It's not my fault. Some TOS-versions are buggy. Try to hold the Alternate-key down, and enter 64 on the numeric keypad. - The archiver doesn't decrunch my bundle! the disk is write protectet there is not enough memory left to start the archiver the xtract and movecomands are wrong the path and name of the archiver is wrong you chosed the wrong archiver (you can't decrunch ZIPfiles with Lharc) there wasn't enough space on disc - After decrunching, nothing happens! the malibundle is damaged it is the wrong kind of mailbundle (f.e. Bluewave) - Captains can't find CAPTRINS.PRF or QWKREAD.RSC! all files like CAPTAINS.* must be in the same directory - The BBSlogo looks damaged! the QWK-Standard allows IBM-graphicchars for the LOGO. Use Gdos, to be able to install a IBM-chars. - The screen looks damaged, after scrolling a window you use a really exotic graphiccard - The Font is much to big (small) you can set the fontsize an style in the in the PREFS-field with Settings - Nothing happens! your computer is damaged or switched off /-( your monitor is off 8-) you have a comodore computer (that's normal) - Any other problem Write a MSG to me or call Germany (0201)223912 in the evening. We've tested the program about 2 month, but there are probably some bugs left. Page(9) 3.2: Special hints If you're using a Shell like Gemini or Neodesk you can handle Captains as a application. If yo have a owm icon for Captain you only need to drag a QWK-mailbundle over the icon to start the program. But also if you don't use a shell, you can give Captain the status of an application in the desktop. Now click twice on your QWKbundle to activate. Then, the program will automati- cally decrunch the (*.QW?) mailbundle you've choosen. The scrolling of the windows and the text is quite slow. Tat's because of the VDI-routines. I personally use NVDI 2.0 and it seems, that everything is much faster. I use Captain's with a Overscan and it works without any problems. If you want to write NETMAIL, you can now enter a destination adress (nodenumber) in the requester. Captain's will insert a To: (node) at the first line of the Message. Some BBS like Maximus 2.0 are able accept netmail, if they find a valid nodemumber in the first line. REMARK: to get the speed of Captain's and to let the program work, even on 520 ST's, I made some compromises. You can't search after more than 100 messages. You can't enter more than 100 messages or replies at on time. Messages and replies longer than 1000 lines are cutted off. Maybe I'll find a better solution in one of the next versions. CQWK is also tested with multitos and multigem. If you're owner of multigem, throw it away. CQWK may work, but it seems to be impossible to start the crunchers from a programm. You may depack your *.qwk-bundles by hand. If you're using Multitos, you should start CQWK from a programm called TOSWIN. Then the outputs of the crunchers is made im a window. Otherwise, it you don't do so, it's no problem. Only the sreen looks damaged, while the archiver is active. If you want to have shortcuts in dialouges and flying formulars, you should use Let'm fly (a German sharwareprogram). Disable the (send redraw) buttom, to get more speed. 3.3: Back to the future First, I want to make a 100% errorfree version. A real update will be only availiable, if enough people pay for the KEY. I've still some usefull ideas. For example: a free windowsize, a (simple) built in terminalprogramm, and much more. If you have some special ideas, you can write them to me. How about a french version (if somebody translates the documentation, he will get a free program.) lot's of fun with Captain's........ Dirk Hoeschen __ __ __ __ __ ______ __ __ __ __ ___ __ __ / /_/ /_/ / /_/ / / / \_\ \_ \_\ \ \ \ \_/ \_\\__ \_\ /_ / / / / / / / / \/ __\ \ \__\ \ \/ \__\ \ \ \ _\ \ \ P.s.: Please don't laugh about my english. It's wrong, but understandable!