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Scheduler
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1995-03-19
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Using the Scheduler
===================
From v0.10 onwards MailList incorporates a (very simple) Scheduler.
This allows you to let MailList post messages on a periodic (eg. every
month) basis. Both news and mail can be scheduled for posting. There are
two ways of scheduling a message:
1. Direct
2. Linked
Directly scheduling a message
-----------------------------
o Create a mail or news-message using !TTFN/!Edit (preferred) or
an alternative application.
o The header must be a full RFC-822 (mail) or USEnet (news)
compliant header (see "Headers" below).
o Instead of posting the message save it in the directory
'!MailList.Scheduler'. (The filename "Links" is reserved!)
o Finally edit the message with your favourite text-editor and add
the Scheduler-CommandLine. The Scheduler-CLI MUST be the first
line in the file and must be followed directly by the first
header-line of the message. No empty lines are allowed
inbetween.
Scheduling a linked message
---------------------------
o Create a textfile with your favourite editor.
o The first (and only) line in the file contains the
Scheduler-CLI including the path where the actual message is
stored.
o Save the file to the directory '!MailList.Scheduler'. (The
filename "Links" is reserved!)
Alternatively, if you have a lot of files scheduled, you may find that
Acorn's Filing System can't cope with more than 77 files. This is where
the file '!MailList.Scheduler.Links' comes in handy. This file is
assumed to contain a list of Scheduler-CLI's. So, instead of creating
one file per link you can also put all the links in this file.
NOTE: The latter method (using the "Links" file) is prefered!
The Scheduler-CLI
-----------------
The Scheduler-CLI must be the first line in the file (with exception of the
"Links" file). In case of a linked message this is also the only line in the
file. Otherwise, the message-header should immediately follow the
Scheduler-CLI. NO EMPTY LINES INBETWEEN!!!
Scheduler-CLI format:
<ScheduledDate> <Repeater> [<path>]
Scheduler-CLI syntax:
<ScheduledDate> The date in ISO-format (YYYYMMDD) on which the
message is to be sent.
<Repeater> Number of days, weeks, months or years after
which the file should be sent again.
Format: <T><n>
Where <T> is either D, W, M or Y for days,
weeks, months and years respectively and <n> is
the number of <T>.
<path> In case of a linked message: the path where the
actual message is stored.
Example 1:
19950212 M1
From: listsurv@cray-3.xs4all.nl
To: BitFTP@DEARN.BITNET
Subject: FTP Request (Hensa Index)
FTP micros.hensa.ac.uk UUENCODE
CD micros/arch/riscos
GET index
QUIT
This file is scheduled to be sent on 12-Feb-1995 (19950212). It will be
repeated every month (M1). So, when MailList sends out this message it
will change the Scheduler-CLI to: '19950312 M1' meaning that it will be
sent on 12-Mar-1995 again.
Example 2:
19950301 W3 ADFS::IDEDisc4.$.Some.Arbitrary.Path.filename
This file is scheduled to be sent out on 1-Mar-1995 (19950301). It will
be repeated every 3 weeks (W3) - that's 3*7 days -. And the file that is
sent is stored somewhere else on the disc as:
'ADFS::IDEDisc4.$.Some.Arbitrary.Path.filename'
The advantage here is that you can, for instance, maintain an FAQ which
you store on the MailServer path and have it posted periodically by the
Scheduler. Then people can request the file from the MailServer and the
Scheduler can find it aswell while you only need one copy of the file on
disc.
*** Hint: To get a path into a textfile you don't have to type it in.
Just Shift-Drag the file into the text-window and the file's
path/filename will be entered at the position of the cursor.
Example 3:
The file '!MailList.Scheduler.Links' could look something like this:
19950301 W3 ADFS::IDEDisc4.$.Some.Arbitrary.Path1.filename1
19950301 D2 ADFS::IDEDisc4.$.Some.Arbitrary.Path1.filename2
19950312 Y1 ADFS::IDEDisc4.$.BirthDay.Greetings.Maurice
19950301 M1 ADFS::IDEDisc4.$.Some.Different.Path.MyFAQ
Headers
-------
RFC-822 compliant header can look something like this:
From: ...
To: ...
Subject: ...
This is a minimum requirement. More header lines may be included. The
From: header should be first.
USENET compliant header can look something like this:
Path: ...
Newsgroups: ...
From: ...
Subject: ...
This is the minimum requirement. Other headers may be added. Path:
should be the first header-line. Newsgroups: identifies the posting as
news.
Notes
-----
As I said before, the Scheduler is very simple. For instance: it assumes
months are always 31 days long. If this is a problem I may be persuaded
to add a proper date-calculating algorithm.