ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/OFFLINE/QWKMAN10.ZIP/QWKMAN.HLP

Borland Turbo Vision Help | 1992-05-24 | 34KB | 562 lines

FBHF]
THelpTopic
 QwkMan Help Index
  About
Dialog
  Add
Setup
  BBS
Setup
Dialog
  BBS
Setup
Selection
Dialog
  Conference
Dialog
  Conference
Dialog
  Delete
Setup
  Destination
filename
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  Help
  How
  Merge
Dialog
  Merge
Options
Dialog
  Paths
Dialog
  Pruning
messages
  QWK
packets
  QwkMan
  Source
Filespec
  Source
  Temp
files
  Utilities
Dialog
THelpTopic
  Welcome to QwkMan!
   QwkMan is a QWK packet manager which allows you to
   easily keep track of email from many different BBS's.
   Since you are a new user, QwkMan will make a quick
   run through the configuration options you need to
   complete in order to get up and running with QwkMan.
   This is called "autosetup".
   Press F1 at any time while using QwkMan to bring up
   a help box like this one, which will provide you with
   context-sensitive help.
   Ready to go?      Press <Esc> to clear this help box.
THelpTopic
   Ok. The first thing you will do is tell QwkMan the paths
   where your QWK packets live, and where you want to put the
   merged packets. These should both be different directories.
   QwkMan will make the directories for you if you don't
   already have them.
   Oh yea. You also have to tell QwkMan where he can pack and
   unpack QWK packets. This is called the "Temp files path",
   and you want to MAKE SURE that you don't ever put anything
   in that directory, since QwkMan regularly deletes anything
   left in there when he's done.
   ( by the way, you can scroll these help windows to see text
    that doesn't fit in the window--just use the arrow keys. )
   You might want to make this a RAM disk, although I wouldn't
   recommend anything smaller than 2 to 4 megabytes. Remember
   that your dest QWK packets can get pretty big if you're
   saving alot of messages.
   Press <Esc> to clear this box and continue.
THelpTopic
   Now you will tell QwkMan the command line
   to use to invoke your file compression
   programs.
   NOTE: If these programs are not in your PATH,
         you need to include the path in the
         entries coming up. For instance:
         Pack command:   C:\UTILITY\PKZIP -A
         Unpack command: C:\UTILITY\PKUNZIP -O
   Press <Esc> to clear this box and continue.
THelpTopic
   Now you can add some "BBS Setups". You do this by
   pressing the "Add" button in the upcoming dialog
   box, and then picking a QWK packet from your source
   QWK path. QwkMan analyzes the packet and figures
   out what conferences it contains, and then adds
   it to your list of BBS's which can be merged.
   You only have to do this once. QwkMan remembers
   each BBS you add, and will automatically find
   QWK packets to be merged for each BBS. Neat, huh?
   The BBS Setups Dialog ( coming up next ) may seem
   kind of complex, so if you need help while in it,
   just press F1.
   Press <Esc> to clear this box and continue.
THelpTopic
   If everything has gone smoothly, and you've
   added some BBS Setups to QwkMan, you should
   now be ready to merge some packets.
   Autosetup is now complete. After clearing this
   help window, you can press Alt-M to begin
   merging QWK packets.
   Happy BBSing!
   Press <Esc> to clear this box and continue.
THelpTopic
 QwkMan
 Welcome to QwkMan, the intelligent QWK packet manager.
 Remember that you can ALWAYS get context-sensitive
 help anywhere in QwkMan by pressing F1.
 Double click on one of the topics below to get more help.
   Getting
Started
QwkMan
   Help
Index
   Help
   QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Welcome to Online Help
 You can learn about QwkMan through the online Help system.
 What you're reading right now is a "Help screen."
 Most Help screens have some highlighted items
 ("Help keywords") on them that lead to another Help screen.
 You can use the Tab and Shift-Tab keys
Arrow
 to move the cursor from one Help keyword
 to another, then press Enter to go to
         a Help screen describing that item.
 With the mouse, you can double-click a
Mouse
 Help keyword to go to the Help screen
 about that item.
 Try it now; choose one of these Help keywords
 to get started:
 Getting
Started
QwkMan
 QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Getting Started
 1. Setup your packer command line from the Utilities
Dialog
    by choosing Setup|Utilities...
    NOTE: Make sure your packer (like PKZIP and PKUNZIP) resides
          in your DOS PATH. See the Utilities Dialog help screen
          for more.
 2. Setup your paths by choosing Setup|Paths... from
    the menu bar. See Paths
Dialog for more.
 3. Add a BBS Setup from the BBS
Setup
Dialog
    by choosing Setup|BBS Setup from the menu bar.
 4. Tell QwkMan how you would like your messages pruned by
    editing each conference.
 5. Go for it! Choose Merge|Execute... and QwkMan will
    bring up a list of all the QWK packets in your
    source QWK directory (QwkMan will only display
    packets from the BBS setups you created in step 3.)
    Press "Merge All" and sit back. QwkMan does the rest.
6.  From now on, this is all you will have to do.
    You can press Alt-M to get right to the merge dialog,
    then press "Merge All" to let QwkMan merge all your
    QWK packets automatically. Easy, huh?
 Related Topics:
   Paths
Dialog
   Utilities
Dialog
   BBS
Setup
Dialog
   Pruning
messages
   Source
   QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 How to Use Help
 To read all of this screen, scroll down.
 You can use the online Help system from the Help menu
 or via hot keys.
 Wherever you are in QwkMan, you can press F1 to see
 a Help screen about the currently active menu command
 or dialog-box item. This is called context-sensitive Help.
  Navigating through a Help window:
 You can Tab or Shift-Tab between the Help keywords,
   then press Enter.
 If you're using a mouse, double-click the Help
   keyword you're interested in.
 Related Topics:
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  Help
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Paths Dialog
 This is where you tell QwkMan where you keep your
 QWK packets, where you would like to put the merged
 packets, and where QwkMan can work. You need to
 specify valid paths for the following:
  Source
path - packets to be merged
  Dest
path   - the result of the merge
  Temp
files
path - QwkMan's working directory
 Related Topics:
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Source QWK Path
 Set this to the directory where your newly
 downloaded QWK files live. QwkMan will search
 this directory, using all the file masks you
 have specified in your source QWK filespec.
 Related Topics:
  Source
filespec
  Paths
Dialog
  Dest
  Temp
files
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Dest QWK Path
 Set this to the directory where you would like QwkMan
 to place the merged QWK packets. It's best not to make
 this the same as the Source
path, so you don't
 end up trying to merge QWK packets into themselves
 (kinda wierd, I know.)
 Related Topics:
  Paths
Dialog
  Source
  Temp
files
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Temp files path
 Set this to a directory where it's ok for QwkMan
 to store temporary files. This is where your
 QWK packets get unzipped in the merge process.
 IMPORTANT: QwkMan deletes all the files
            in this directory, so do NOT
            try to store your own files
            in this directory.
 Related Topics:
  Paths
Dialog
  Source
  Dest
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 BBS Setup Selection Dialog
 You should only get this dialog if QwkMan finds more than one
 BBS setup with a source QWK filespec which matches this QWK
 packet.
 What that mouthful means is that you need to choose which BBS
 setup you want QwkMan to use to merge this packet. You can
 also change the option checkboxes for this packet.
 Related Topics:
  Source
  Options
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Merge Dialog
  Here QwkMan lists all the QWK packets found in your source QWK
  directory. You can either merge them one at a time, or click
  "Merge All" to merge them all.
 Related Topics:
  Source
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Utilities Dialog
  Here's where you tell QwkMan how to compress
  and decompress QWK packets.
  Important Note: You need to have your packer
                  in your DOS PATH. Otherwise,
                  you'll need to specify the
                  path here, for example:
                  Unpack command c:\packer\pkunzip -o
                  Pack command   c:\packer\pkzip -a
 Related Topics:
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 BBS Setup Dialog
 This dialog lists all the BBS setups you have.
 If you don't have any listed, you need to first
setup.
 Here you can select a BBS setup to edit.
 Simply select a BBS setup and then choose
 one of the following functions:
   Conferences - tell QwkMan how to
                                     prune your messages
   Options     - set merge options
   Add         - add a new BBS setup
   Delete      - delete the selected BBS setup
 Press the "Finished" button, or press <Esc> when
 you are done editing your BBS setups.
 Related Topics:
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Conference List Dialog
 Here QwkMan shows you a list of all the conferences
 for the BBS you selected. From here you can choose
 a conference and tell QwkMan how to prune your messages.
 Related Topics
  Pruning
messages
  Conference
dialog
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Conference Dialog
 Here you can edit how QwkMan prunes the messages
 for each conference. Specify the number of days
 of back messages you want to keep, as well as the
 number of messages to keep.
 Related Topics
  Pruning
messages
  Conference
Dialog
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Pruning Messages
 QwkMan keeps house for you by automatically deleting
 outdated messages.
 You have three choices:
   ( ) Keep all messages
   ( ) Discard all messages
   ( ) Prune outdated messages
 If you choose the prune option (the default),
 QwkMan pops up a couple of input lines where you can
 specify the maximum number of messages and the maximum
 number of days worth of messages to keep.
 Note that when you first run QwkMan, if the destination
 QWK packet does not exist, QwkMan simply copies the first
 source QWK packet to that filename, and does not prune
 messages. QwkMan will begin pruning messages when you
 merge a second QWK packet. No big deal, but I thought
 I should mention it.
 Related Topics
  Conference
dialog
  Conference
  BBS
setup
dialog
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Merge Options Dialog
 This dialog allows you to give specific information
 about how QwkMan should merge your QWK packets.
 For beginners, you can usually just leave these
 settings at the default values set when you initially
 added the BBS setup.
 You should at least replace the description, which
 defaults to "Untitled". Make this any string which
 adequately describes the BBS setup. Usually you can
 just put in the BBS name, like "ETAP User's BBS" or
 so on.
 The most important two entries in this dialog are the
 Source QWK and Dest QWK filespecs. The Source QWK tells
 QwkMan where to look for newly downloaded QWK packets,
 while the Dest QWK specifies the exact filename of the
 packet which is the result of the merge.
 The checkboxes at the bottom allow you to fine-tune the
 merge process. I suggest you leave the defaults (make
 backups, and delete source packets.) Make backups just
 means that QwkMan will create a file with a .BAK
 extension and save your old QWK packet
 (the destination QWK) there. Delete source packets
 tells QwkMan to delete the source packets from your disk
 automatically after merging them. This makes sure you
 don't try to merge the same packet two times.
 Related Topics
  Paths
Dialog
  BBS
setup
dialog
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Adding a BBS Setup
 Here's where you need to begin, by giving QwkMan an
 example QWK packet from a BBS you want QwkMan to
 know about. Make sure you've specified your source QWK
 path from the Paths
Dialog, or QwkMan
 won't know where to look for new QWK packets to add.
 After you've brought up the BBS Setup Dialog and pressed
 the "Add" button, you are presented with a list of
 QWK packets which QwkMan found in your source QWK path.
 If there are no QWK packets listed, then you will need
 to download one from a BBS.
 Select the QWK packet from the BBS you want to setup.
 QwkMan instantly goes to work unpacking the QWK packet,
 and after a bit of processing, presents you with the
 Merge Options Dialog where you give QwkMan explicit
 instructions on how to merge messages when using this
 BBS setup. Here you should go ahead and give a descriptive
 name for the BBS setup you just added. This name defaults
 to "Untitled", and you can change it to the name of the BBS
 or some other name that makes sense to you.
 Advanced users might be interested to know that QwkMan
 allows you to have as many BBS setups as you like for
 one BBS. Just add the same BBS again and again, using
 a different description for each BBS setup. You can
 use different prune options with each BBS setup if you
 like.
 Related Topics:
  QWK
packets
  BBS
Setup
Dialog
  Merge
Options
Dialog
  Source
  Destination
filename
  Pruning
messages
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Deleting a BBS Setup
  This function tells QwkMan to forget about the BBS
  setup you've selected to delete. This is permanent,
  so be careful with this option.
 Related Topics:
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 QWK Packets
  QWK packets are simply compressed files with a .QWK
  extension which contain the messages you read with
  your offline reader. QwkMan is designed to merge
  these packets together to allow you to keep a
  complete message base for each BBS you get email
  from.
 Related Topics:
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 About Dialog
 This dialog displays the version and build
 information for QwkMan. This is important
 information to have if you need technical
 support, so remember that this is where to
 find it.
 Related Topics:
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Source QWK Filespec
 When you tell QwkMan the name of a QWK packet
 for a given BBS, you should use DOS wildcards.
 For instance, if the name of the QWK packet that
 your BBS normally sends is called MYBBS.QWK,
 then you should enter MYBBS*.Q*. The reason for
 this is that many communications programs
 automatically "increment" the filename if you've
 already got a MYBBS.QWK in your download directory.
 While some of them will increment the extension,
 many increment the filename, so MYBBS*.Q* will
 cover both cases.
 QwkMan automatically does this for you by default
 when you add a new BBS, but if you use a file like
 MYBBS0.QWK (an incremented filename), QwkMan will
 end up using MYBBS0*.Q*, which is incorrect. What
 you really want is MYBBS*.Q* so QwkMan will be able
 to find any QWK packet for this BBS.
 Related Topics:
  Source
  Paths
Dialog
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpTopic
 Dest QWK Filename
 This is the actual filename where you want QwkMan
 to put your messages after they have been merged.
 Combined with the Dest QWK path you choose, it
 should make up a complete, valid DOS path.
 You DO need to specify an extension here.
 I recommend you stick with the .QWK extension
 since your mail reader probably depends on this,
 but you can use any extension you want.
 Related Topics:
  Dest
  Paths
Dialog
  Getting
Started
QwkMan
  QwkMan
Index
THelpIndex