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Text File | 1996-01-18 | 25.6 KB | 620 lines

**************************************************************************** * * * HappyMail * * * * Version 1.19 QCS Aug 18 1995 Release Notes * * Version 1.19e PEC Aug 18 1995 Release Notes * * * **************************************************************************** --------------------------Beginning of R.Laird notes------------------------- Notes from Robert Laird, written 1/18/96: I have not attempted to make any changes in the original HappyMail v1.19 documentation as written and distributed by David Ritchie. All of the changes I have made to the program, which are noted immediately below, are documented here at the top of this README.TXT file, and no where else. I would encourage you to make the relevant changes to the remainder of this README.TXT file, as well as to the USER119.DOC file prior to distributing them. Also, unless you are already familiar with HappyMail, how it works, and the contents of the original README.TXT and USER119.DOC files, I don't particularly expect you to understand my abbreviated notes written below. They were written quickly and for the benefit of someone who has already been running the older version of HappyMail v1.19. Version Information The original "David-Ritchie-version" of HappyMail was branded as either "Version 1.19" or "Version 1.19 Beta", and was dated on or before March 14, 1995. (This is NOT the file date, but the date on the Logo screen.) My version of HappyMail is branded as either "Version 1.19 PEC", "Version 1.19e PEC" or "Version 1.19 QCS" (or any combination). The date on the Logo screen is "Aug 18 1995". This date on the Logo screen is generated internally and is not an easily changeable Windows resource, so it's a pretty good indicator of the true version. Improvements Message sizes are forced to be 61440 bytes. The earlier versions were set for 6144 bytes, max. I won't go into the why or wherefore, but let's just say that it was one of the main complaints about the earlier version. Do not think for a moment that the fault was with David Ritchie's code; he wrote HappyMail for his environment only, and we all have benefited from that. I simply modified his excellent code to work in a wider range of environments. New STDA dialog box. After looking at the original code, I realized I could "plug-in" the new STDA dialog box that Banyan made available via the VNSDLG.DLL and VNSDLGR.DLL. Since it was easy, I did it. The new STDA dialog box lets you specify a list, and then allows you to expand the list, then delete individuals from the list. This is a big improvement if you used lists in addressing your e-mail. Changes Viewer The viewer in the original HappyMail would (attempt to) interpret and view WordPerfect and Word files. This, in my opinion, was quite limiting. (Again, it was appropriate for David's environment, so that's why it was there.) For a wider audience, I felt like a generic viewer would be best. So, when you choose to view an attachment, HappyMail will fire up FILEVIEW.EXE and feed it the file. FILEVIEW allows you to view the "raw" file, or you can switch it into Hex mode, too. MAKE SURE YOU CREATE A SUBDIRECTORY NAMED C:\UTIL AND PUT THE FILEVIEW.EXE IN THAT SUBDIRECTORY. C:\UTIL MUST ALSO BE IN THE PATH. You do NOT have to close down FileView to continue working with HappyMail. In fact, you could end up with several instances of FILEVIEW running at the same time (limited by Windows memory, of course). FILEVIEW can also be used as a stand-alone file viewer. Problems What I broke For reasons I have not ever bothered to figure out, I somehow broke a few of the progress bars in some of the windows. For example, when you are viewing an e-mail that has an attachment, and you click the Attach button, the window that appears has a place for a progress bar, but it doesn't work. When viewing or filing a large file, some of the buttons will be grayed out during the transfer. You'll figure it out. <g> What doesn't work This you can blame on Banyan: When David originally wrote HappyMail, the toolkit he got from Banyan would take care of the certification of messages. Actually, it was the way the toolkit was written AND the VNSMAIL.DLL that existed on the Z: drive. Since that time, the toolkit was updated in such a way that to make certification work, you needed to change your code to work with the NEWER VNSMAIL.DLL. Unfortunately, the code in HappyMail has NOT been altered to do certifications with the NEW VNSMAIL.DLL. Consequently, if you are using the new VNSMAIL.DLL (which you probably are), then certifications will not work. Now, if you don't NEED the newer VNSMAIL.DLL, you can actually take the older VNSMAIL.DLL, put it in your C:\WINDOWS subdirectory, and -- voila' -- certification will suddenly start working! If this is a major bugaboo for someone, then you are welcome to throws lots of money at me, and I'll fix it. <g> Comments about the source code As you may know, the source code for the "David-Ritchie-version" of HappyMail is free and available from several sources. However, that code cannot be used to compile and create an identical version of the 1.19 HappyMail program. Why? Because David used 3 third-party libraries to do the spell-checking, file viewing, and a few controls. Licensing requirements restricted him from distributing these libraries with the source code. Consequently, he went to the trouble of removing those areas from the source code that he eventually distributed. Since I had a great interest in the complete HappyMail code, I went to the trouble of purchasing the same libraries, faxed David proof of purchase, so that he could, in clear conscious, send me the full code. Now, for these same reasons, I cannot provide you with the full code. For a fee, I can make whatever changes you would like, but what I am providing here is the limit of what I am willing to do for free. It's simply too time consuming, and I have to make a living. Comments about David Ritchie I have never personally met David, but we have sent a number of e-mail and fax messages back and forth, and have talked on the phone a few times. What I do know of him is that he is an excellent coder, provided many of us with a world-class Windows-based VINES e-mail product for free, and a nice guy to boot. He has moved on from his federal job to working with NetPro. This is why he cannot and will not make any changes/improvements/whatever to HappyMail, so do him a favor and don't ask. <g> Contacting me If you need to contact me, there are several avenues: Internet : rlaird@cris.com (or 70070.460@compuserve.com) CompuServe: 70070,460 Voice-mail: 713-825-6900 (this fires off my pager) Pager : (dream on!) List of files needed to run HappyMail BWCC.DLL COMMDLG.DLL VNSMAIL.DLL HMSPELL.DLL WINCTL.DLL HAPEMAIL.EXE HMHELP.HLP HMCONFIG.INI DICT.D DICT.S DICT.I DICT.APP FILEVIEW.EXE WINSYS.DLL VNSDLG.DLL VNSDLGR.DLL DEWTC.DLL Ommissions I apologize in advance if I have left out anything. --------------------------Ending of R.Laird notes---------------------------- **************************************************************************** * * * HappyMail * * * * Version 1.19 Release Notes * * * * HappyMail is a Windows based e-mail client for the Banyan Vines * * Mail System. The client was originally designed for the 4.11 * * release of Vines, but has recently been modified to take * * advantage of some of version 5.5's improvements. In addition to * * all the features found in Banyan's DOS mail client, HappyMail * * includes several enhancements such as a spell-checker, a text * * search capability, a sorting capability, and a WordPerfect text * * viewer. * * * * * **************************************************************************** Contents ======== 1. Disclaimer Notice 2. Revision Changes 3. File Listing 4. Installing HappyMail 5. Setting up the User 6. Undocumented Features Documented 7. Who to complain to ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Disclaimer Notice ===================== The HappyMail program and the information provided hereunder (collectively referred to as "software") is provided as-is without support or warranty of any kind, either express or inplied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall the developer or the Financial Management Service, Department of the Treasury, be liable for any damages whatsoever, including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if the developer or the Finanacial Management Service, Department of the Treasury, have been advised of the possibility of such damages. This software may be copied and distributed royalty-free subject to the following conditions: 1. If the software is distributed alone, without inclusion in a software product of your own, you must copy all software without modification and must include all source code and documentation information. If you incorporate the software in conjuction with and as a part of your software product which adds substantial value to the software, you may modify and include portions of the software. 2. You must place all protective disclaimers and notices contained on the software on all copies of the software, whether distributed alone or as part of your own software product. 3. Unless the software is incorporated in your software product which adds substantial value, you may not distribute this software for profit. 4. You may not use the name, logo, or trademarks of the developer or the Financial Management Service, Department of the Treasury, to market your software product. 5. You agree to indemnify, hold harmless, and defend the developer and the Financial Management Service, Department of the Treasury, from and against any claims or lawsuits, including attorneys' fees, that arise or result from the use or distribution of your software product and any modifications of the software. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Revision Changes ==================== Upgrades -------- Following is a list of the major upgrades to HappyMail version 1.19. - Messages with attachments will now appear with a paperclip icon next to their description. - All attachment functions (view, file, print, &launch) have been combined into one dialog box, the "Manage Attachments" box. - Attachments may now be "launched". Launching an attachment will cause your machine to execute the program which created the attachment and then load the attachment into that program. This allows you to view most attachment files (e.g. Lotus spreadsheets, dBase databases) without leaving HappyMail. - Several new printing options have been added including the ability to add page numbers, dates, and fonts to printouts, and the ability to remove the logo from printouts. - The 'File' button is now used only to file message(s). To file attach- ments, you must use the 'Attach' button or select 'Manage Attachments' from the Utility Menu. - The action of the 'Answer' button is now user-definable, and can be set to automatically quote the original message. - The quote option now allows you to prefix each line of the quoted text with a character string (e.g. '>'). - The size of messages you can create has been increased from 6K to 60K. - This size of files you import into a message has also been increased from 6K to 60K. - The size of messages you may read has been increased from 50K to 60K. - Three new fields are available when composing or forwarding a message: Defer date and time, Expire date and time, and Priority level. - The length of a line of text on outgoing messages is now user-definable, with a default of 78 characters. - HappyMail now supports the newer keyboard short-cuts for cutting and pasting, i.e. Ctrl-X = Cut, Ctrl-C = Copy, and Ctrl-V = Paste. - HappyMail now supports cutting and pasting to all message fields instead of just the message body. - HappyMail now supports the high ASCII characters (e.g. letters with accent marks). - HappyMail will now force a specific STDA service according to the !SETSTDA profile statement. If no statement is found in the profile, then a broadcast is sent and a connection is made to the quickest responding STDA service. - HappyMail now manages the size and positioning of Read and Folder windows in a friendlier, more intuitive, manner. - HappyMail now allows you to file attachments as you file multiple messages. - HappyMail now saves window sizes and position whenever Windows is closed before HappyMail has been shut down. Bug Fixes --------- Following is a list of all the bugs which have been fixed in the 1.19 version of HappyMail. - Machines with active sound cards would lock up when trying to view the Logo from the Help menu. - An "Unable to Read User Profile = 153" error message would sometimes appear when starting HappyMail, especially from an application launcher like Lotus' SmartCenter. - Using the server name of a Mail Service to force route a message would cause an unverifiable address error. - A missing left bracket in an address field would cause HappyMail to GPF. - A mail session would remain active after a user logged out. - Text search would someimtes cause a GPF when attempting to read one of the search result messages. - Forwarding a message would GPF if the length of the subject field was a certain amount of characters. - HappyMail would display an erronous bar graph when filing attachments sent from a mail client other than HappyMail. The bar graph now displays the number of bytes read instead of a percentage during this special case. - Printing to a HP 560C in greyscale mode would cause a GPF. - If a folder window was maximized and a message was read and then closed, the folder window would no longer be maximized. This situation occured only with some video cards in certain video modes. - If the HMCONFIG.INI file contained an invalid path for the INI file, the user's INI file would not be created and no individual settings were saved. - The line length of word-wrapped lines on outgoing messages would exceed the standard 80 character length on some machines. The problem was only evident when the message was viewed from a non-HappyMail client. For more in-depth description of HappyMail and all its features, refer to the HappyMail User Manaul (USER119.DOC) which is included with this file. In addition, most of the contents of the written manual are available from the on-line help, which is accessed by pressing the F1 key from within HappyMail or by selecting 'Help' from the menu bar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. File Listing ================ HappyMail requires the following files to run correctly: BWCC.DLL COMMDLG.DLL VNSMAIL.DLL HMSPELL.DLL WINCTL.DLL HAPEMAIL.EXE HMHELP.HLP HMCONFIG.INI DICT.D DICT.S DICT.I DICT.APP WORDDOS.XTD WORDWIN.XTD WPERFECT.XTD Two other files are included with the HappyMail system, this file, README.TXT, and a user guide, USER119.DOC. The user guide is in Microsoft Word 2.0 format. When a user opens HappyMail for the first time, one additional file is generated, HAPEMAIL.INI. This file is used to store all the user-defined options, window sizes and placements, and all the HappyMail AddressBook entries. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Installing HappyMail ======================== Standard Warning ---------------- Before installing HappyMail on your Network, please read the rest of this file (especially the first five sections). It will surely answer some questions, and it will definitely save you some headaches. Network Install --------------- HappyMail is designed to run from a shared network drive. All the files listed above should be placed in a single directory on a shared file service with Read Only access for end-users. A SETDRIVE command for the file service should then be added to the end-user's profile (or preferably the sample profile). Each end-user should then have an item added to one of their Program Manager groups which points to the network drive and directory of HappyMail. HMCONFIG.INI ------------ The HMCONFIG.INI file is used to set some global parameters, and should be manually modified before allowing users access to HappyMail. The file may be modified with any text editor or with the Windows Notepad program. The initial configuration of the file is as follows: [Options] INI File Directory=P:\SETUP Default Save Directory=P:\ The 'INI File Directory' setting is used to define the default location of the HAPEMAIL.INI file. Optimally, this parameter should be set to a directory on a network file service which is dedicated for individual use. Doing so will offer two major benefits. First, the user-defined options and the HappyMail address book will be available from any workstation a user happens to login on. Additionaly, this means the INI file settings can be reviewed by an administrator without being physically present. This can be helpful in debugging user problems. If the 'INI File Directory' setting is invalid, HappyMail will try to write its INI file to the same directory where the HappyMail executable resides. If this directory is inaccessible due to access rights, HappyMail will place its INI file in the directory where Windows resides. If this directory is also inaccessible due to access rights, HappyMail will NOT save its INI file and all settings will be lost between sessions. The 'Default Save Directory' setting defines a default drive and directory for saving attachments. This setting is designed for novice users who expect to always see attachments saved to the same place. For more experienced users, this default setting may be overriden by the modifying the 'Default Save Directory' option found by selecting 'General...' from the Options menu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Setting up the User ======================= Minimum Client Requirements --------------------------- The following is a set of MINIMUM system requirements for HappyMail. However, this is not necessarily a recommended setup. In fact, I personally would never run Windows on a machine with 2M of RAM, or a VGA monitor, but it can be done. So, with that in mind, the minimums are: - an 80386 based microcomputer - two megabytes of RAM - a VGA monitor. - DOS 3.2 - Banyan Vines 4.11 - Windows 3.1 Network Support --------------- Before a user can begin to use HappyMail (or any other network based app), the network support should be enabled in their Windows setup. If a machine does not display the Banyan Logo during Windows startup process, then most likely the Banyan Network Support has not been implemented. The following is a quick overview of the steps necessary to enable this support. To setup the network support follow these steps: 1) If you are in Windows, exit out. 2) Login to the LAN. 3) Move to the Windows sub-directory (usually C:\WINDOWS). 4) Run SETUP.EXE. 5) Follow the on-screen directions to change the Network line to Banyan Vines (Version 4.1). 6) Highlight "Accept the above configuration" and press [ENTER]. (The next steps apply to Vines 5.50 or greater) 7) When you return to the DOS prompt, run Windows. 8) After Windows loads the Banyan driver it will detect it is not the current version and ask your permission to upgrade. Select the [INSTALL] button to begin the automatic update process. SYSTEM.INI Changes ------------------ Once network support is enabled in Windows, one final change is necessary. The SYSTEM.INI file has a setting which should be modified or added. Under the [386Enh] Section is a setting called EmmExclude. This setting prevents Windows from using the specified block of memory. Any upper memory which is in use by add-on hardware (ie your network card), should be specified with this parameter. For example, if your network card uses c800-cbFF then add the line EmmExclude=c800-cbff. Some folks suggest excluding the whole upper memory range (a000-fffe). While this is the easiest method of eliminating memory problems, it can cause some DOS programs not to run under Windows. Therefore, I suggest excluding the whole range only when trying to diagnose a problem machine. Adding the HappyMail Icon to Program Manager -------------------------------------------- This section will briefly describe how to add the HappyMail program to a group in the Program Manager. If you are familiar with this process already, you should skip on to the next section. Before adding the icon to a users desktop, you will need the full pathname of the HappyMail executable. The following directions assume the HappyMail files were placed in the N:\HMAIL directory, and so the pathname is: N:\HMAIL\HAPEMAIL.EXE. You must substitute the proper pathname when executing these directions (step 5). 1) Login to the LAN, then run Windows. 2) Select the Program Manager group, you wish to add HappyMail to, by moving the mouse cursor over the desired group icon or window and clicking the left mouse button once. 3) Execute the File | New command from the menu bar in Program Manager. This will cause a "New Program Object" window to appear. 4) Select the "Program Item" choice, then select the [OK] button. Now a "Program Item Properties" window will appear. 5) Complete the fields in the Program Item Properties window as shown below: Description: HappyMail Command Line: N:\HMAIL\HAPEMAIL.EXE Working Directory: Shortcut Key: None Note that the Working Directory field is intentionally left empty. Once you have completed filling in these fields, select the [OK] button. A HappyMail icon will now be added to the selected Program Manager group. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Undocumented Features Documented ==================================== This section attempts to briefly cover those HappyMail features which are not documented in the HappyMail User guide. Command Line Switches --------------------- HappyMail incorporates one command line switch, /q or /Q (q as in quiet). Using this switch causes HappyMail to bypass the display of the HappyMail logo when first opened. This feature is designed to speed up access for remote users over dial-up lines (eg PC-Anywhere or Chatterbox users). However, since the logo does not implement any time delay, there is no advantage for directly connected LAN users to use this switch. Window Sizing and Placement --------------------------- HappyMail will store its own size, position, and icon placement, whenever it is closed or exited. These values are then restored when the program is restarted. HappyMail also stores the size, names, and positions of all open folders. These folders are then re-opened and re-positioned whenever HappyMail is re-started. Finally, HappyMail now stores the size and position of the top-most Read window, whenever the Read window is moved or re-sized. Any time a Read window is opened it is moved to the last stored position and size. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Who To Complain To ====================== Please remember that HappyMail is not officially supported and no guarantees or warranties are offered. With that in mind, I do encourage bug reports, enhancement suggestions, and general comments, so, send your e-mail to: X.400: N=DAVID RITCHIE/C=US/A=TELEMAIL/P=GOV+FMS Internet: DAVID.RITCHIE@FMS.SPRINT.COM CompuServe: 73150,2745 And, if all else fails... David Ritchie Financial Management Service 3700 East-West Highway Hyattsville, MD 20782 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------