Crawly Crypt Collection 1/crawlyvol1.bin/telecomm/mt_qwk13/mtqwk__e.txt

Text File | 1994-04-30 | 16KB | 387 lines

                        The microTalk QWK-Reader
                        ========================

                      V1.12 released on 30.Apr.1994

                      Written by Wolfgang Zweygart

                     Documentation by Ben Van Bokkem



This program is copyrighted by Wolfgang Zweygart and may not be modified
or altered in any way or charged for without the author's express
permission.

No warranties, either express or implied, are made by the author with
respect to the software or its fitness for a particular purpose. The
author accepts no responsibility for any loss that may result from the
use or inability to use this software.



I. Introduction
---------------

The microTalk QWK reader is a  program  that  will allow you to read and
reply to messages that you  have  downloaded  from a BBS through a QWK
compatible door such as Qmail for the PC & Turbo Board ST or Maxidoor
for Forem.
Messages bases of your choice are scanned on the BBS, compressed and,
after downloading the prepared QWK packet can be read and replied to
offline, resulting in not only considerable savings both in time and
costs, but also the added convenience of replying at leisure without the
time constraints in force on most Bulletin Boards.

The microTalk reader is feature packed, making full use of GEM and has
such features as multiple windows, allowing instant movement from one
message base to another, user defined Macro menu, standard block
commands, Clipboard, full mouse or keyboard operation and much more.


II. Installation
---------------

Copy the program and resource file into a suitable folder and click on
the program to run it. Ensure that no QWK packet is present at this
time. Two work folders will be created and and alert box will be
presented asking for the location of the QWK. Click on the alert box to
remove it and select the configuration menu.


III. Configuration
-----------------

From the configuration menu, select the default paths option and enter
the correct path to each archiver. Alternatively, you can click on each
line to bring up a fileselector which, after clicking on the correct
archiver in the fileselector, will insert the correct path for you.
Three archiving programs are in common use at present and consist of
ARC, LHARC and ZIP. The latter is recommended for faster operation.
Highlight the leftmost button of the archiver you wish to use as a
default. The two other archivers need not be installed but you must
ensure the QWK packet is archived with the same method as the default
you have selected. The latest version of these can be downloaded from
most Bulletin Boards.

Path to ARC:   Full path/filename to ARC   (ARC602)
Path to LHARC:  "        "           LHARC (LZH2.xx series)
Path to ZIP:    "        "           ZIP   (STZIP 1.x)


REP Directory: Full path to where the program will prepare a reply
               packet (*.REP) ready for uploading to a BBS.

QWK Directory: Full path to where the program will search for an
               incoming message packet (*.QWK) downloaded from a BBS

*NOTE: DO NOT use the path to the previously created program work
       folders and ensure that no other files are placed in there.
       The program will use these for its own work files.

Further down the configuration menu are additional defaults which can be
saved in the configuration.

Macro Editor:  Text strings can be stored here ready for recall at any
               time with a single keypress and are assigned to the ten
               F-Keys.
               A carriage return is entered with the Control-M combination.

Charset 7 Bit: Selecting this will allow you to enter extended characters
               and are useful for including unusual characters as used in
               various other countries and include such characters as
               Umlaut, Ä, ö, ß etc.

Fonts:         This will allow you to change the size of the characters
               in the window. If GDOS is loaded you may select other
               other Fonts. Propotional Fonts will not work properly.

Save Config:   When defaults are set to your satisfaction, click on this
               option to save them to the configuration file.
               The program will automatically load these defaults each
               time it starts up.



IV. Help
--------

Selecting 'READER' in the first drop down menu will present you with the
program information and credits from where you may also click on the
HELP button to take you to a useful help screen.


IV.1 Keyboard commands
----------------------

In addition to the mouse control, most features can be controlled directly
from the keyboard, new users may find it helpful to print the following
list of commands, for reference, until their usage becomes familar.


                     KEYBOARD COMMANDS -  '^' = Control
                     ----------------------------------

         'FILE'                 'MESSAGE'                 'BLOCK'
          ----                   -------                   -----

    Alt F - Find QWK         ^ L - List msgs           ^ A - Begin block

      ^ R - Create REP       ^ F - Search msgs         ^ B - End block

    Alt L - Load REP         ^ E - Enter msg           ^ X - Cut block

      ^ O - Open             ^ R - Reply to msg        ^ C - Copy block

      ^ Z - TOS shell        ^ T - Quote msg           ^ V - Paste block

      ^ Q - Quit           Alt Q - Quote msg         Alt W - To clipboard

                             ^ U - Close window      Alt D - From clipbrd

      ( ^ = Control )        ^ W - Cycle window      Alt I - Text Import

                           Alt R - Review own        Alt E - Text Export

                                                     Alt P - Print Text



                             MESSAGE EDITOR
                             --------------

      ^ Y - Delete line      ^ K - Edit Header         ^ G - Concatenate
      ^ P - Clear line                                       two lines
                             ^ S - Save msg.

      ^ ~ - Swap line up   Alt ~ - Swap line down

 Clr Home - Top of text                   <Shift> Clr Home - End of text

 ^ Cursor - End or start of line

 ^ Insert - Double line.                    <Shift> Insert - Insert line.

     Undo - Restore line.


V. MT-QWK in operation.
-----------------------

V.1 The 'FILE' menu.
====================


Find QWK:   Each time the program is run it will search the default
            folder for a valid QWK packet and automatically de-compress
            the packet. However, should a de-compressed packet exist in
            the work folder, it will ignore the QWK and go straight into
            the main program screen. Should you have more than one
            packet you wish to read, you must first select 'TIDY UP',
            which will clear the work folder after which you may select
            this option to process further QWK packets.

            If you regularly use multiple QWK packets and do not wish the
            program to process on start-up, it is recommended you keep
            those in a folder other than the default.
            This method will force the program to prompt you for the QWK
            of your choice.

Create REP: After replies have been entered and the current session is
            finished, select this option to automatically create a REP
            packet for you in the specified default folder ready for
            uploading to the BBS.
            Note that any subsequent REP packets will be over-written by
            creating further packets although you will prompted for a
            'delete' or 'abort' before proceeding.

OPEN:       Selecting his option will allow you to read any messages
            extracted from the QWK packet.
            You may scroll through the list of message bases and simply
            clicking on any entry marked with an '*' will open a window
            from where you may read all new messages in that base.
            Alternatively, you may click on the 'Read All' option which,
            at the end of each base, will close the current window and
            open a new window for the next base.

New Files:  If the option has been selected at the BBS end to include
            a listing of new files, this option will open a window from
            where the listing may be viewed.

Confmail:   Confmail/Fmail files may be copied into other folders.

Bulletins:  Bulletins are normally included in the QWK packets to keep
            you up to date with the latest on the BBS. This option will
            allow you to view those Bulletins. From here you can also
            select 'other', which is a text file viewer for referencing
            other text files.

Tidy Up:    Use this option to clear out the work folders in preparation
            for another session.

TOS Shell:  If the program is run from a previously installed Shell
            such as Gemini, this option will allow you to fall back to
            the Shell from where an external editor may be used.
            Messages may then be composed in the external editor and
            ported into the reader via the Clipboard facility.

QUIT:       Leaves the program but keeps any replies intact. This
            allows you to terminate a session and continue at a later
            stage without the loss of any replies created so far.



V.2 The 'MESSAGE' Menu
======================

Once you have a window open and are reading messages, various other
options are available. The right/left arrow keys may be used to page
forward or backward through the messages whilst the up/down arrows keys
may be used to scroll through a long message.
Alternatively, the mouse can be used on the bottom scroll bar arrows to
page through messages and on the right scroll bar to scroll through a
single message.

List Msg's:   This will bring up a menu listing of all the messages in
              the selected base. Clicking on the desired message will
              display it in an active window.
              From this point you may continue to page forward or backward
              through the message base.

Search Text:  Allows a search for a string of characters in the current
              message base. The search will encompass both message and
              header content.

Enter Msg:    Will allow you to enter a new message in any selected base.
              Before entering the message you will be presented with a
              box where you can enter the details such as 'TO', 'FROM' and
              message subject.

Reply Msg:    When using this option to reply to a message, it will
              open the editor window where you may enter your reply.
              It will be automatically addressed to the person you are
              replying to.

Quote Msg:    Use this option if you wish to include part of the message
              you are replying to.
              The whole of the message you are replying to will be placed
              in the editor from where you may edit parts of the
              original message and append your reply.

Edit Header:  From here you may edit the TO, FROM and SUBJECT fields and
              can be useful for changing the message subject, re-direction
              to someone other than the originator of the message and
              using your handle (where allowed) in place of your real
              name.
              Selecting the button 'Msg to Sysop' will place the Sysop's
              name in the message header if he uses anything other than
              the 'Sysop' name on the BBS.

Close Window: Closing a window by clicking on the window's close box will
              have a different effect, depending on what function is in
              process.
              When reading, it will exit the current message base and
              return to the main screen.
              If replying or quoting to a message, it will abort the edit
              and return to the message being replied to.
              When re-editing 'own' messages, it will delete the message
              from the stored replies.

Cycle Window: When multiple windows are open, this option will allow you
              to cycle between the active message bases without
              removing the windows from the workspace.

Save Msg:     Once a message is prepared, saving the message will store
              it with other prepared messages in the work folder.
              These are then converted to a REP packet with the 'Prepare
              REP packet' option.

Review own:   This option will allow you to examine any messages you may
              have prepared and will give you the choice of deleting the
              message at source or re-editing it before final preparation
              of the REP packet.
              All the full editor functions are available in this mode.

V.3 The 'BLOCK' Menu
====================

When in editor mode, standard block functions are available and can be
manipulated within a single window or from one window to another when
multiple windows are active.

Begin Block:  Marks the start of a block from the current cursor position.

End Block:    Marks the end of a block from the current cursor position.

Cut Block:    Will remove the marked block and retain it in memory.

Copy Block:   Will copy a marked block to the current cursor position.

Paste Block:  Inserts a previously marked block to the current cursor
              position.

Two further functions are available from this menu to allow further text
manipulation. The program will automatically create a 'CLIP' folder for
you if one does not exist and will use this folder to store a file
called scrap.txt to which the clipboard text will be written.

To Clipboard:   Will save any selected block to the clipboard for later
                retrieval. Saved text will be continuously appended to
                the Clipboard file.
                If no block is selected, the entire message will be
                appended to the clipboard file.

From Clipboard: The entire clipboard text will be inserted at the
                current cursor position ready for editing.

Text Import:    Any text can be inserted in the message.

Text Export:    Messages may be saved to a text file for printing,
                external editor, or storage.

V.4 The 'UTILITY' Menu
======================

'Sort Index' Here it is possible to sort the Index of the messages. This
operation may take some time on a floppydisk. I's better to use a RAM-
disk or harddisk. The messages can be sorted 'by Subject', the microTalk-
QWK-Reader will try to chain messages with the same subject togehter.


VI. Footnotes
-------------


This LZH file may be free distributed on any BBS or other Online System.
This LZH file may only be distibuted if complete and intact with all
documentation included. If you like the program, send some money for the
microTalk Club. Send to:

Stefan Hess
microTalk e.V.
Seyfferstraße 12
D 70197 Stuttgart
Germany

or money order to Deutsche Bank (BLZ 600 700 70) Konto-Nr. 1363225.

or direct contact:

Wolfgang Zweygart
Eifelweg 13
D 71032 Böblingen
Germany

New releases are available at:
microTalk I: [phone]   Tnet 100:110/2.0    Fido 2:246/1103.0
microTalk II:[phone]  Tnet 100:11/0.0     Fido 2:246/1104.0

Greetings from The microTalk Team (with Andy Mann and Wolfgang Zweygart)
to all TurboNet-BBS and all testers and people who send bug reports.
Special Greetings to: Andreas Mann, Ben Van Bokkem, Mark Baines, Oswaldo
Granja, Anahita Eshghi, Steve Taylor, John Norton, to name a few....