ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 Shareware Freeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)

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Text File | 1991-12-25 | 53.0 KB | 1,329 lines

***** **** **** ** ** ******* ****** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ***** ** ** ** ** **** ***** ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** * ** ** ***** **** ******* *** ******* *** ** ** ** ****** ****** ******* ***** ***** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** *** ***** ***** **** ***** ***** *** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * ** ** ** ** ** ** **** *** ** ******* ***** ***** <tm> (c) copyright 1988-1990 by Santronics Software All Rights Reserved Santronics Software 1451 Plymouth Ave Irwin, PA 15462 USA A BBS Mail System for Off-Line Reading and Replying on OPUS 1.03/1.10, QuickBBS, Fido, SearchLight, TPboard, RBBS, PCBoard and Remote Access Xpress Mail Systems Xpress Reader Documentation N O T I C E The information and price policy contained in this document are subject to change without notice. ------------------------ D I S C L A I M E R ------------------------ Although Santronics Software has taken every precaution to prevent abnormal behavior of the Silver Xpress Mail System, Santronics Software will not guarantee total satisfaction. Santronics Software will not be responsible for any damages or mishaps to your system. Should the program be defective in any way, YOU (not Santronics Software) assume full responsibility for any damage which may result. SANTRONICS SOFTWARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS THE WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY. --------------------------------------------------------- C O P Y R I G H T S & T R A D E M A R K S --------------------------------------------------------- The Xpress Off-Line Mail System software and its documentation are copyrighted materials. Santronics Software reserves all rights to these materials under United States law and international copyright conventions which are not expressly granted to the user. No part of this material may be reproduced or modified in any way without the prior express written permission of Santronics Software except as stated within this documentation. Opus Xpress, Silver Xpress, Gold Xpress, Platinum Xpress, Xpress Lite, Xpress Windows, Xpress mail, Xpmail, Xpread, Xpuser, Xpcfg, XpEdt, Xpfiles, and the file extensions OPX and REP in relationship to off-line electronic mail systems are trademarks of Santronics Software. QBBS is copyrighted by Unlimited Software Technologies, Inc. RBBS is copyrighted by Tom Mack. PCBoard is copyrighted by Clark Development Company, Inc. OPUS CBCS BBS is copyrighted by Wynn Wagner III. PKZIP and PKUNZIP are copyrighted by and trademarks of PKware Inc. PAK is copyrighted by and is a trademark of NoGate Consulting. LHARC is copyrighted by Yoshi. LZ is copyrighted by Jonathan Forbes. Amiga and AmigaDOS are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga Inc. IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc. Fido and FidoNet are registered US trademarks of Tom Jennings. -------------------------------------------- L I C E N S E A G R E E M E N T -------------------------------------------- Any use of the product at all constitutes acceptance of these terms and conditions. Santronics Software reserves all rights which are not expressly granted or necessarily implied by those rights which are expressly granted. The law of the United States and of the State of Pennsylvania shall be controlling and the courts of the United States and the State of Pennsylvania shall have exclusive jurisdiction to the maximum extent permitted by international law and the law of the United States. The Xpress Mail System is fully copyrighted and is not in the public domain, nor is it "Free Ware". It is distributed under the concept of software distribution known as "shareware" which allows users to try a program package to see if it meets their needs before paying for it. Continued use beyond the authorized evaluation period requires payment of the registration fee. Santronics Software grants an unlimited license to make and distribute unregistered copies of Xpress versions which have been released by Santronics Software, but no modification at all may be made to the program or documentation files. The only permitted modification is a change in the method of archiving. No fee may be charged by anyone other than Santronics Software for copies of Xpress beyond the actual cost of providing such copies without the express written permission of Santronics Software. Santronics Software grants a limited license to use this product for an evaluation period of thirty (30) days. Use of this product for more than 30 days requires payment of the registration fee. Santronics Software grants to registered users an "unlimited" license to use this product, subject to the following: 1) Registration is not refundable or transferable. 2) Copies of registered Silver Xpress program files may not be distributed. 3) Original copyrights must be maintained and not altered. 4) Unofficial software patches must not be not applied. 5) The software executable files must not be tampered with in any way. 6) Registration shall be automatically voided without notice by any act which is inconsistent with the rights of Santronics Software with respect to the product. What do people say about Silver Xpress? David Hakala, Author of article in June 1990 Boardwatch Magazine "Silver Xpress was designed for nontechnical users. I figured it out in my first encounter after just seven minutes, so the average 12-year-old should be able to use it instantly." "Offline mail, automated file transfers, fax distribution, color, lights and sound -- all in one elegant and well-documented package! Silver Xpress gets top ratings." John C. Dvorak, contributing editor to PC Magazine, PC/Computing Article in July/August 1990 Shareware Magazine "Trends in Telecommunications" "Silver Xpress, the civilized way to achieve, download, answer and upload e-mail on Opus, Fido, QuickBBS and other bulletin boards." User Comments "The best off-line reader among its closest competitor" "Thanks for making Xpress available. It's making BBSing a whole lot easier -- and saving me money too!" "It's about time something like this is available for my Amiga" 1. Introduction to Silver Xpress. Welcome to the Silver Xpress Off-line Mail System. Silver Xpress is a mail system designed for Opus, QuickBBS, Fido, SearchLight, TPboard, RBBS, and Remote Access Xpress Mail Systems. Support for other popular bulletin boards systems such as PC-Board is coming soon. Reading and replying to bulletin board mail is time consuming, often taking up your entire allocated time on a BBS. If you read lots of mail, spend a lot of time on-line replying to and entering new mail, and/or have large phone bills from calling computer bulletin board systems (BBS's), then Silver Xpress is for you. With Silver Xpress, you can capture mail in an organized manner for off-line reading and replying. You can do this with any Xpressable BBS on which you are a user. Ask the BBS sysop if their system is set up to support Xpress. Xpress captures mail from your pre-selected message areas or conferences. It then bundles the mail into a compressed format ready for downloading to your Amiga. This compressed file is called an Xpress mail packet. Once you download the Xpress mail packet to your Amiga, you use the interactive Xpress Reader program to read and reply to your mail. To get started, find a bulletin board system that offers the Silver Xpress system as a service to you, a communication program with download and upload capabilities, and a file compression system such as LZ, ARC, ZOO, or LHARC. File compression systems are also called archival systems or archivers. In summary, the Xpress system lets you do the following: a) scan for your new mail b) bundle the mail into Xpress packet format c) compress the bundle using your favorite archiver d) transfer the Xpress packet to your Amiga using a standard file transfer protocol such as Xmodem, Ymodem, or Zmodem e) use the special Xpress Reader program after logging off to read and reply to the new mail f) log back on the same BBS to upload the reply packet, if you have created one g) repeat from the beginning Silver Xpress is fun to use but also has value by saving you time and money. Try it out. Your electronic mailing will never be the same! If you have access to a BBS with FaXpress service from Santronics Software, you can also send your mail as a FAX to any facsimile machine in the world! 2. Electronic Mail Systems and the Xpress Code of Ethics. Bulletin Board Services provide a great service to users and callers of these systems. They provide a wealth of information and offer communications and interface capabilities across the globe, in addition to programs, games, and utilities. One of the ever growing aspects of bulletin board services is the electronic network mail system which connects towns, cities, states, countries and continents. FidoNet is one of the more popular e-mail networks. FidoNet provides a system called Echo Mail, which allows for a mail conference on a particular subject. There are literally hundreds of echo mail conferences. The system operator usually picks up the cost of connecting these echo mail conferences between boards. The burden of handling the mail is high. Sysops and moderators have asked that common sense and courtesy be used during these echo conferences and that "junk" mail not flood the conferences. Please follow their wishes. The Xpress mail system contributes tremendously to the usage of bulletin boards and e-mail. Xpress increases the echo mail throughput and quality of the system. However, it can be abused. The following are the Xpress Code of Ethics: I - Do not QUOTE entire messages with Xpress. Be selective and stay topical. Cut and Paste the original message. II - Produce only Quality Messages, not Quantity. III - Be friendly. Xpress helps you by giving more leisure time to think out your messages and replies. IV - Use Xpress Windows only in Xpress message areas. The only command you may use in other echoes is .WIN. V - Try to keep messages within the 60 line limit. 3. System Requirements. Minimum Hardware Requirements: - Commodore Amiga computer, any model - 512K ram - single floppy - monitor - modem Software Requirements: - Telecommunications (terminal) program that allows uploading and downloading files. - Command-line based archival software, such as LHARC or LZ or any other file compression system which is supported by the BBS offering Silver Xpress. - Command-line-based text editor that will accept the filename to be edited on the command line (e.g. Editorname FileToEdit.txt) The following files are included in your Xpress package: XpRead - Xpress Reader program XpRead.info - Xpress Reader program icon ASX Documentation - Xpress documentation Signatures.List - Xpress List file for signatures FromWhom.List - Xpress List file for aliases/handles NetMail.List - Xpress List file of net/node addresses ToWhom.List - Xpress List file for addressees Subject.List - Xpress List file for subjects Order Form - Registration and order form for Xpress Reader The Xpress package may be freely distributed and the archiving format may be changed, but all of the above files must be included within the archive and no files may be added to it. Other Requirements/Recommendations: - the Sysop must grant you access to Xpress on the BBS side - large mail packets will require more ram and disk space 4. Installation It's best to install the Xpress Reader on a hard disk. Floppies work fine but may limit the amount of mail you can handle. An unpacked .OPX file (the Xpress mail packet) will generally require 2.5 times the drive space of the packed .OPX file. For example, a 300K .OPX file will probably consume about 750K after it is unpacked (300K + 450K). The Amiga Silver Xpress files must be installed on a diskette labelled ASXpress: or in a hard drive subdirectory with the volume label ASXpress: assigned to it. Extract the ASX release archive into ASXpress:. Since ASX uses the Amiga standard stack size of 4096 bytes, no special stack settings are required, unless you have your CLI stack set lower than normal. 5. Silver Xpress Reader Configuration (OFF-LINE SETUP) Proper configuration is essential to the operation of the software. Run XpRead by either double-clicking on its icon or typing XpRead at the CLI. If this is the first time you have run it, or you are not a registered user, the registration window will be brought up automatically in order for you to type in your name and registration code. The registration code is issued to you by Santronics Software when you register your copy of this system. If you are not registered, the reader limits its capabilities for you; however, all major mail features are still available. The limitations include: - No user file requesting. - No signatures for messages. - No off-line automatic Xpress configuration. - No FaXpress capability - Limits on replies after 100 unregistered uses The Xpress Mail System is a copyrighted program and a shareware product. See the shareware registration agreement form to register your copy. Non-registered users are prompted for their BBS sign-on name and registration code every time they use Xpress. After registering, this is unnecessary. ASX needs to know the name you use to log onto a BBS so that it can find mail addressed to you and gather it automatically. The BBS Sign-on gadget must contain the EXACT sign-on you use when logging onto the bbs from which you are receiving .OPX packets. Enter your registration code, supplied when you register ASX, into the Reg. Code gadget. If you are running XpRead for the first time, it will bring up the configuration window for you. The configuration window will allow you to select XpRead options, set directories and choose utilities. Call up the configuration window (if it is not automatically brought up) by pressing RAmiga-C or choosing Configure from the Project menu. A windowful of gadgets appears, and there are more configuration selections in the menus. Wherever a program name is required, enter a full path and name, including drive or volume name. DO NOT use relative paths. When entering programs to run, enter them as you would at the CLI. 5.1 Defining an editor To reply to or enter new messages, provide the name of a CLI-based Text Editor. This means that the editor must be able to edit a file name passed to it on the command line (e.g. Editorname FileToEdit.txt). 5.2 Defining a Work Directory The Work Dir specifies where Amiga Silver Xpress can store expanded mail packets and other temporary files. ASX always creates the directory XpRead_WorkPath there. If this Work Dir is not defined, Silver creates XpRead_WorkPath on SYS:. If you want to use RAM:, keep in mind that ASX needs a lot of ram for quick message access in addition to the space the uncompressed mail packets will take. Also, ASX can only check free space on a RAM disk properly if it is labelled as RAM: or RAD:. For example, if you want ASX to use your T: directory for the work directory, and T: is assigned to RAM:T, enter RAM:T in the Work Dir gadget, and not simply T:. ASX will then know to check the amount of free memory instead of the number of free disk blocks on T:. Examples: Ram Disk (Make sure you have enough memory.) RAM: Floppy Disk Drive DF0: DF1:TEMP (The DF1:TEMP directory must EXIST!) 5.3 Defining the Mail and Upload Directories The Mail Dir is the directory in which ASX can find downloaded mail packets (#?.OPX). If you don't define a mail box, you will have to specify the path in the file requestor. ASX will search for all #?.OP#? files in the directory specified and display them in a requestor. Typically, users set this directory to the same one that they have configured as the "Download Directory" in their communications/terminal package. The Upload Dir is the directory in which ASX will put new mail packets (#?.REP) that contain replies and new messages to be uploaded to the host BBS. By defining the Reply Dir location, you can have ASX create the reply file in this location, making it easier to upload the file. If left blank, it will be set to the same directory defined as the Mail Dir. Typically, users set this directory to the same one that they have configured as the "Upload Directory" in their communications/terminal package. 5.4 Expanding and Compressing mail The expansion and compression commands are essential to the successful operation of Silver Xpress. Provide the exact CLI command, including full pathnames, to expand and compress a mail packet. For example, if you download .OPXs which are to be uncompressed by Lharc, you would enter: C:Lharc x These archivers must match the OPX file formats which are created by the XPRESS program on the BBS side. If you choose one format on the BBS side, you must use the same format here. Note: You must already have one of these programs as they are not provided with Xpress. Expansion: C:pkxarc /r C:lz x HD:Utils/arce /r ASXpress:lharc e /m Compression: (note that the update/modify commands are used) C:pkarc /m C:lz u HD:Utils/lharc m /m ASXpress:arca /m 5.5 Reading BBS Bulletins - the ANSI Reader Most Silver Xpress BBS's include a "hello" screen and/or user bulletins inside the mail packets. Many of them employ ANSI color graphics, perhaps using the IBM PC character set. The program defined in the ANSI Reader gadget will be called by ASX to view these files. Programs such as MuchMore are good if the files are straight text or Amiga ANSI, and others such as AnsiReader2 can display IBM ANSI graphics. 5.6 Leaving Sayings, Signatures On Your Messages Signatures are those fancy sayings or quotes you find at the bottom of messages. This option allows you to enter your favorite saying of the day for your messages. This works only for registered users of the Silver Xpress Reader. By using "list files", you can have ASX pop-up a menu of signatures when you save a reply or new message. To do this, you must provide the full pathname of the list file you wish to use. See the section on list files below for more information. NOTE: Your BBS sysop can disable this option. If you have a signature which appears to have been ignored, the BBS sysop probably decided not to allow messages with signatures originating from his bulletin board. 5.7 Message Width The Msg Width gadget defines the width of the messages during the read session. Some systems create messages with lines which are infinitely long. This option prevents this. It is dependent on font size, and will be useful when ASX gets multi-font support (next release?). The current maximum allowable width in ASX is 77 characters. Higher numbers will simply cause window garbage. 5.8 Quoting Messages When reading messages, you can reply to the message and include parts of it in your reply. A very popular feature in electronic mail conversations is to quote part of the original message with the author's initials or just arrows. Be considerate: never quote large original messages. Edit out those parts of the original message that are not necessary to your reply. Above all, don't quote an entire message just to say "Right on!" at the end. The Quote Width gadget determines the number of characters wide to make quoted messages. Again, 77 is the maximum, but messages look much nicer when the quote is 10 or so less characters wide than the message text. The Configuration window's menu allows three choices for quoting: "Never" use quoting "Always" use quoting "Prompt" for quoting When quoting is enabled with either Always or Prompt, the reader copies the current message you are reading and inserts a "Quote character" at the beginning of each line. The Quote String determines the quoting character(s). If left blank, ASX will automatically insert the author's initials followed by a > before each quoted line. For example, "John Smith" will become " JS> ". The most common quote character is " >". 5.9 Seen-by Numbers The Seen-By menu option allows you to eliminate all the network traffic numbers found at the bottom of messages. The Seen-By information is useless for typical users; sysops use it to trace messages. 5.10 Sorting Mail With ASX, you can have your mail sorted by area first, subject next, and date last. The output is a list of messages which keeps threads or topics in order. The sort option, toggled in the menu, may require more memory during an ASX session. If you think you are running short of memory try turning this option off. 5.11 Formfeeds When Printing Messages The Formfeed menu option affects message printing. Depending on your printer type, such as a one sheet at a time laser printer, it may be better to send a formfeed or page eject AFTER the message is printed. There are three options: NEVER - never send a form feed. AFTER - send form feed after the text is printed. BEFORE - send form feed before the text is printed. 5.12 Reply Tagging (Pseudo-BookMark) The reader can mark messages as having been read or replied to. In order for Xpress to do this, it must save this tagging information somewhere. It does so right in the mail file. At the end of a message-reading session, the mail tags are optionally saved back into the mail packet so that they will be loaded back in the next time that mail packet is read. With large packets or on floppy-based systems, this may be a slow task. This Save Msg Read Flag menu option will allow you to disable saving the information on disk. 5.13 Show Kludge Lines Kludge lines were first used to specify mail routing information. Some offline mail readers (Xpress not included) also use them for other information specific to that package. Flagging this option will show all kludge lines included in received mail. 5.14 Use Interlace If this menu option is checked, the screen will go into interlace mode. This requires significantly more chip ram, so do not use interlace if you are low on memory. 5.15 Workbench Screen to Front on Edit This option lets you specify whether or not you want the Workbench screen brought to the front when you click on the Edit gadget when entering replies or new messages. If your text editor resides on the Workbench screen and does not make itself the top, current window, flag this option and Xpress will bring the editor window into view for you. 5.16 Set Colors This menu option brings up a simple color requestor for those of you who don't like yellow on blue ;-). Those of you who regularly use Turbo Pascal on PCs will, of course, feel quite at home! 6. Using Silver Xpress Program on the BBS Side. Before you can use the Amiga Silver Xpress off-line reader program (XpRead), you must have access to the Xpress reader counterpart, the Silver Xpress Mail program, on the BBS. This program will scan and pack your mail into an Xpress mail packet. It will allow you to download the packet to your Amiga where the reader will open it up for reading and replying. This section will describe how to use the Silver Xpress Mail program on the BBS. When entering the Xpress Mail program on the BBS, it will display the following main menu: *--------------------------* Xpress V2.xx Main Menu *--------------------------* Type [C].........Configuration. [D].........DownLoad Messages. [U].........Upload Replies. [H].........Help session [Q].........Exit back to Main Board. [59 mins] Oscar, Enter Selection: ^^^^^^^^^ Time remaining for your session. NOTE: If you are a new Xpress user, you will be taken directly to configuration the first time you enter this program. Configuration is described in section 6.1. Download Messages are described in section 6.2, and Upload Replies are described in section 6.3 Please be aware the system operator of the bulletin board service may have a "No Response" action enabled. It is set by the sysop. If you do not respond within the current defined No Response time setting, Xpress will terminate you and exit back to the BBS. 6.1 BBS Xpress Door Configuration Session (ON-LINE SETUP) Before you can get or send mail, you must have an Xpress setup on the each BBS you call. When you select configuration the first time you sign on to use Xpress (or any time thereafter you want to change your settings), Xpress displays the following type of menu: *----------------------* Configuration Menu *----------------------* Type [S].........Select Message Areas. [K].........Define Keywords. [T].........File Transfer Method. - [A].........Archiving Method. - [G].........Graphics Mode. - OFF [M].........Menu Hot Keys. - OFF [X].........Expertise Level. - NOVICE [L].........Change Last Usage Date. - May 7,1989 3:34:20am [Y].........Receive Your Own Mail. - YES [H].........Help session [Q].........Exit Back to Main Menu. [58 mins] Oscar, Enter Selection: The menu commands, in detail, are: [S] Select Message Areas To Mail Scanning: This section will display available message areas which differ from BBS to BBS. A sample display: *----------------------------------* Available Message Areas *----------------------------------* * ( 1) -- ( Local Messages ) * ( 3) -- (Dr Debug - ECHO) * ( 4) -- (Pascal - ECHO) * ( 5) -- (C language - ECHO) * ( 6) -- (OS/2 - ECHO) ( 9) -- (Natl Comm - ECHO) * (10) -- (User Xpress - ECHO) (11) -- (PittNet - ECHO) (12) -- (Sysop Xpress- ECHO) * (13) -- (LAN - ECHO) * (18) -- ( Local Bulletin ) (19) -- (LAW - ECHO) (20) -- (Free Spirit - ECHO) * (21) -- ( Message Parlor ) (55) -- ( Xpress FAX ) [L]ist, [D]etail Listing, [S]elected Areas, [F]ind <string> [C]hange <area> Pointers, [Q]uit Enter Area Number(s) : The areas with a '*' are the areas currently selected. These are the areas the xpress mail program will scan for new mail with the DOWNLOAD MESSAGES option. It will scan using the LAST USAGE DATE (or high message mark) as a reference. If an area is already selected, typing in the number deselects the area. You may type more than one area at a time. For example: Enter Area(s): 1 -5 +10 means 1 is toggled, 5 is forced off and 10 is forced on. Other area selection menu commands: S - List Selected Areas. D - Relist Available areas with long titles. L - Relist Available areas with Short titles. F - Search area titles for given search string C - Change individual area pointers (RBBS & OPUS 1.10+ only) Q - Quit and return to Xpress Menu ? - Help [K] Keyword Selection for Searching Specific Mail: Without this option, Xpress normally scans for mail and returns all the new mail available. This can be a lot! Xpress gives you the opportunity to include along with your personal mail, mail with specific keywords. For example, with the keyword ALL, Xpress searches the new mail and includes mail "TO: ALL [any other characters following]". This mail is included with your personal mail, and can be read or even downloaded separate from the general echoes. You can request up to 30 keywords.á The commands are ADD, DELETE, or LIST. Keywords are also used by some Xpress users to retrieve mail sent to their alias or handle. To add a keyword, simply type at the prompt: ADD [word or phase] Some examples: ADD all ADD help ADD EVERYONE ADD sysop ADD DR DEBUG ADD SANTOS ADD XPRESS To delete keywords, type in the abbreviation DEL followed by the WORD or PHRASE to delete. The word or phase must match one in the current keyword list. Keywords are not case sensitive. [T] Transfer Protocol Selection: This option allows you to define the method of downloading or uploading mail. This is the "transfer protocol". Each BBS system may have a different listing of available protocols, but the most common protocols are: Xmodem Ymodem Zmodem You might find some newer protocols available such as Wxmodem, Jmodem, and Sealink, but that depends on the sysop of the BBS. The most popular protocol is Zmodem because of it's AUTO DOWNLOAD detection system. What this means is if you are using a communication program, such as Telix, with a ZMODEM auto-download feature, then when Xpress finishes packing your mail and begins to transfer the mail to you, your communication program will sense this and automatically start to download your mail without you ever having to start the download via a menu selection or key press. NOTE: This does not work in the opposite, UPLOAD, direction. [A] Archiver Selection -- Method of Compressing/Expanding Mail: Select the same archiver which you chose when configuring the Reader (see section 6.1). Amiga archivers that have PC counterparts include ARC, ZOO, LHARC and LZ. The archiver must be CLI-based; Intuition-based archivers are not supported since ASX's goal is to automate all processing for you. As an example, the Zip family of products from PKWare is not recommended because the Amiga program PKAZip is Intuition-based. Remember, you must already have this archival system in your posession. All major archivers are widely available on BBS's that support downloading program files. The recommended archiver is LZ. [G] Graphics, ANSI versus Non-ANSI: Xpress gives you the option of using color or not. If you choose ANSI graphics, you need to be using a communications or terminal program that supports the display of ANSI color and graphics. The difference ANSI makes is simply color versus black and white. It has no bearing on the mail system. However, choosing color might slow down the menu displays a bit. [M] Menu HotKeys versus No HotKeys: Some users like the ability to hit a single letter without hitting the carriage return at menus and prompts. This is called a "hotkey". Some users find this convenient others find they get ahead of themselves by typing in the wrong hotkey without a chance to make a correction. [X] Expert Versus Novice Menus: Choosing Expert display menus with only the letters needed to choose the particular option. The Novice menu displays the full detail menus. [L] Last Usage Date Modification: Opus 1.03 Xpress Systems: The Xpress mail system scans for mail based on the date stamp. If the last usage date is May 6, 1989 5:05pm, then Xpress scans for all mail in selected areas which arrived since that date and time. Xpress automatically updates this date stamp after you have successfully downloaded new mail. The date does not change when you upload mail. However, there are times when you need to change this date stamp, such as not wanting an excessive amount of mail after a long absence or for rescanning mail. OPUS 1.10 Xpress Systems: As for Opus 1.03 above, The last Usage date will always be recorded. However, Xpress will take advantage of the OPUS stored last read message markers. The last usage date can be used to adjust the last read message markers. QBBS/RA For QBBS/RA, there is no such concept as Last Message Date. Instead this option will say: [L] Change High Message Mark Xpress will show the total, lowest, and highest in the system. This option will allow you to change from where to begin scanning mail. PCBoard/RBBS For PCBoard and RBBS, the option is similar to QBBS/RA above: [L] Change High Message Mark However, for these BBS systems, each area has its own unique last message counter. Xpress allows you to change the counters in each area. [Y] Receiving Your Own Mail: With this option ON, you can choose to have your newly created reply mail included during the new mail scan. In most cases, you wish to skip such mail (option OFF) so the scan bypasses this mail. 6.2 Download Xpress Packets (using Flex Select). When you select the DOWNLOAD MESSAGES option off the Xpress main menu, it will begin to scan your selected message area for new mail. During scanning, you may press ESCAPE to abort the scan. A sample mail scan table looks like this: *----------------------------* Download Session *----------------------------* Last Download Attempt Date : Jan 1,1990 11:00:00am --------------------------------------------------------------------- Selected Message Areas Total Highest Last Msg New Personal # Description Msg Msg Read Msgs Messages --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - ( Local Messages ) 116 124 123 0 0 3 - (Dr Debug - ECHO) 132 132 21 109 19/2 4 - (Pascal - ECHO) 270 270 21 248 24 5 - (C language - ECHO) 121 121 21 100 20 6 - (OS/2 - ECHO) 79 79 6 71 11/2 10 - (User Xpress - ECHO) 75 75 51 19 9/8 13 - (LAN - ECHO) 43 43 10 33 6 55 - ( Fax Mail ) 5 5 5 0 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Total : 580 89 Keywords/Direct : 77/12 Enter Flex Select <tm> Command, ? for help, <cr> to Abort : This table shows the areas scanned, the number of new messages per area, and the number of personal messages. Personal messages combine both the messages found using the keywords you defined (if any) and direct messages to you. For example, in area 3, there are 19 personal messages, 2 of them are direct to you. At this point, you have a variety of options to select for the mail you want to read. Silver Xpress has a feature called Flex Select which was added to allow for a combination of mail selections. In older versions of Xpress, your only mail options were: A - Pack all MAIL (580 messages with the example) P - Pack personal MAIL (89 messages with the example) <CR> - Skip the mail. Flex Select, contains the old options plus the new ability to "temporarily" deselect some areas or select a combination of ALL for some areas and PERSONAL for others. The idea here is you may not want to READ all 248 Pascal (area 4) messages but ALL of the 19 User Xpress (area 10) messages. The sample Flex Command to achieve this is: 4P The following are the new Flex Commands for packing mail: A - All Mail. P - Personal Only. D - Direct Only. K - Keywords Only. <area #> - ALL mail in area #. Same as <area #>A. <-area #> - Skip this area (temporary deselection). <area #>A - ALL mail in area # <area #>P - PERSONAL only mail in area #. Direct+Keywords. <area #>D - DIRECT only mail in area # <area #>K - KEYWORDS only mail in area # * - ALL mail in remaining areas. *P - PERSONAL only mail in remaining areas. ? - display this help L - Relist Scan Table -* - Clear Selection. CLEAR - Clear Selection. GO - Accept Flex Select Command and Start Packing. By default, Flex Select will automatically select ALL mail for packing. If you only want to select a few areas, a command like: clear 3 4 6D 10P GO will clear all areas first, then select 3 and 4 for all mail, 6 for direct and 10 for personal only. The GO means start the packaging. Some more examples: *P <cr> - Select all Personal mail. *P 10 <cr> - Select all Personal mail and ALL in areas 10. The single letter one-liners will do the following packaging: A (same as *A GO) - Grab all mail and GO! P (same as *P GO) - Grab Personal mail and GO! D (same as *D GO) - Grab Direct only mail and GO! K (same as *K GO) - Grab Keyword only mail and GO! Combining these letters A,P,D,K with other flex select <tm> commands are invalid. ie, K 10 17A <--- INVALID for K but 10 and 17A will be taken. instead, the proper command is: *K 10 17A Note: the GO option must be the LAST part on a command, or the only part in a command, to actually begin the flex select packaging. 6.3 Uploading Xpress Reply Packets. When you use the Silver Xpress Reader program and you create replies or new mail, the reader will create a file called #?.REP. The #? is the name the BBS has chosen for the xpress mail packet. When you choose the UPLOAD REPLIES option off the Xpress main menu on the BBS, it will prompt you to begin uploading this #?.REP file using the transfer protocol indicated: *----------------------------* Upload Session *----------------------------* Start uploading PITTX.REP with ZMODEM: At this point, you would start the upload by using your communication program's menus or key commands. When you finish uploading the #?.REP file, the Xpress mail program will unpack it and distribute the mail into the proper mail conference(s) or area(s). It will show you the area #, the TO WHOM, and the SUBJECT line. It will also show you the new message number assigned to the message. If, for some odd reason, you upload a message prematurely, you can go directly to the mail conference in the BBS and delete the message (if allowed by the sysop). Please be aware that ALL mail which is uploaded to the BBS is scanned for security breaks. All mail is logged and any attempt to the break the system will be reported. 6.4 File Requesting (Registered Users Only) Registered users of Silver Xpress are given file requesting, an extra feature to request files to download. The Silver Xpress Reader program allows you to enter the name of file to download. What this means is when you are finished uploading a new reply packet, the system will automatically send BACK to you the files you requested. Note: Registered or not, the sysop has the right to disable this option. 7. Using the Amiga Silver Xpress Reader The very first time you start ASX, it will automatically begin the configuration session. Please see the section on reader configuration earlier in this manual. 7.1 The Menus The ASX menu structure is as follows: Project Read Edit ------- ------- ----------- Load .OPX Join Area Enter New Message Configure Personal Mail Modify Reply/Message About View Bulletins Kill Reply/Message Quit Request a File This Load .OPX option will allow you to load an Xpress Mail Packet (.OPX file). ASX pops a requestor showing all available mail packets and the date they were received. In addition to the string and boolean gadgets available, pressing the right mouse button while the requestor is open will display the list of current volumes and assigned directories for selection. Some communications packages will allow you to download multiple Xpress Mail packets into the same directory by changing the last letter of the file name to a number. ASX recognizes .OP0, .OP1, .OP2..... files as Xpress Mail packets, and renames them to reflect the date received. Configure and About are self-explanatory. The Quit option may create a reply packet for uploading if you have entered any replies or new mail. It then exits the XpRead program. Under the Read menu, the Join Area option will call up a list of available message areas to read, print, save to file and reply to. During the ASX session, flags will appear beside a message if you have read it (*) or replied to it (!). The Personal Mail option displays a list of all mail that is addressed to you or contains one of your keywords in its subject line. You can read, print, save-to-file, and reply to this mail just like you can when you join a message area. The View Bulletins option will call up the text reader defined in your configuration and allow you to look again through the text screens and bulletins that are in your Xpress Mail packet. Under the Edit menu, Enter Message allows you to enter a message in any of the available message areas, even if you do not have it selected for message processing on the host BBS. Modify Reply/Message lets you have a final look over your replies and newly entered messages to make any corrections. Simply click on a message to edit it again. Kill Reply/Message is used if you decide you do not want to send a message that you have entered. Clicking on a message will pop up a confirming requestor before deletion. The Request a File option allows you to request files for download from the host BBS during an ASX session! This option allows you to add to and modify a list of file to download during your next Xpress session, and is available to registered users only. 7.2 Using List Files Xpress has a List File system. The List system is designed to provide a method of selecting an item from a list you create. This is useful only at the following TEXT prompts: TO: FROM: SUBJECT: MATRIX ADDRESS: SIGNATURE: (on the Configuration window) If you have a predetermined list of items from which to choose, you can create a LIST and then by clicking on a gadget, Xpress will display a pop-up menu for choosing an item from the list. For example, at the field TO WHOM when you are entering a new message, you can type click on the To: gadget and Xpress will look for the file ToWhom.List which contains a list of people names you have created. Xpress will display a pop-up menu like: +------------ List of People --------------+ | Hector Santos - Xpress Author | | Geoff Block - Xpress Echo Moderator | | Tina Dougherty - Xpress Window Goddess | | Stu Turk - Dr Debug moderator | | Bruce Wilson - Xpress Beta Tester | | Dave Scheele - Amiga Xpress Author | +------------------------------------------+ You can select a person and Xpress will use that name for the TO WHOM field. The same logic follows with all the other text fields listed above. To create list files, all you need is a normal text editor. Each line (maximum width is 72) of text becomes an menu option except for the following special lines: ; Semicolon is a comment line %TITLE <title to use in menu> This command tells the list system to use this title for the menu. The default is the built-in title for the specific list session. %HELP <Header line> The header line is shown at the top on the menu. They are not adjusted or trimmed. It is optional and is basically used to give you an option to define help or header lines with the menu. %EXTRACT [separator] This command tells the list system to RETURN only the first part of the selected list item. The default separator is a dash. Example: Sample List file for the TO WHOM field %TITLE List of People %EXTRACT : Hector Santos : Xpress Author Geoff Block : Xpress Echo Moderator Tina Dougherty : Xpress Window Goddess Stu Turk : Dr Debug moderator Bruce Wilson : Xpress Beta Tester Dave Scheele : Amiga Xpress author Without the %EXTRACT command, the list system will return the whole line when the item is selected. NOTE: A major limitation with list systems is the amount of memory you have available. Although it is entirely possible to have a HUGE list, precaution should be taken in creating a big list file. The size of the LIST file is a good estimate of what is required in memory to list it. 7.3 BBS Configuration using the Xpress Reader. With Silver Xpress, you can create a special message designed to be uploaded to the BBS, so that you can change your configuration on the BBS. To do this, you have to create a message and send it to the Xpress program on the BBS. Here are the steps: 1) Enter a new message in any area. It doesn't matter because during upload, Xpress will recognize it as the special configuration message, process it, and purge it when done. 2) For the TO: field, enter XPRESS CONFIG 3) For the SUBJECT: field, enter XPRESS CONFIG 4) In the message content, the following commands are allowed: AREA <+/-><area #s> ie. AREA 10 -12 +14 <-- toggle 10, turn off 12, turn on 14. ADDK <keyword> DELK <keyword> i.e. ADDK XPRESS <-- add XPRESS to your keyword list DELK PROCOMM <-- Delete XPRESS to your keyword list MACRO <keystrokes starting from main menu> The macro command has alot of power. You can automate or control you entire xpress session after an upload. In fact, the AREA, ADDK, and DELK commands are subsets of the MACRO command. i.e. MACRO CS 10 -12 +14|| <-- Same as AREA example above. MACRO CTZ|DGO||G| <-- after upload, select Zmodem, start download and quit. Note: You will have to master the flow of menus within the Xpress Mail program on the BBS in order to use the MACRO command effectively. 8. FaXpress Mail System (Optional Service) The Silver Xpress Mail System, has facsimile capabilities. Now you can fax text mail without having a fax! This is an optional service and must be supported by the BBS you call in order to operate. In addition, depending on the BBS setup, you may have to subscribe to have the fax service. FaXpress is an optional package on the BBS side. If the BBS is set up for FaXpress, and you subscribe to the service, you would be able to enter mail using the Silver Xpress reader and have it faxed to its destination. The Silver Xpress reader will prompt you for the fax telephone number, and allow you to enter mail to be faxed. FaXpress supports multiple fax mailings, and the placement of your own personal logo. For more information about FaXpress, please check with your BBS system operator about the availability of the service. If the BBS is set up for FaXpress, it will have an additional FaXpress information package. APPENDIX A - Acknowledgements. Hector's acknowledgements in chronological order: "First, to the original creator and author of a great bulletin board system, Wynn Wagner III, and the OPUS development team. Next to Ray Kennelly, Pittsburgh PA, whose initial excitement about Silver Xpress truly inspired me to get it done. He provided the time, the BBS and net mail funding needed to finish the first version. Thanks Ray! Next to the following beta testers: Charlie Smith, Geoff Block, Dean Lechan, Rob Lerman, Tony Mace, Bob Juge, Raymond Bereau, Jim Zimmerman, Bruce Wilson, Gilbert Saint-Martin, Steve Weinert, Jay Narad, Tina Dougherty, Chuck Ammon, Paul Kelly, Vic Parrish, Bob Haberhost, Donald Breda, Rick Alfaro, the users of Anything Goes, Emerald City, Doctor's Inn, and Pitt Xpress, including the European and the Canadian crew. Also to all my registered users who proved the worthiness of the system. Thanks for the support. Finally to one precious person, Andrea, whose patience, endurance, and love keeps me intact with the Xpress Mail system development and on- going support. Please forgive me if I've forgotten any honorable mentioning." And now Dave's acknowledgements: "Thanks to Tom Schwarz, co-sysop of No Gurus Here BBS in Pittsburgh. How he put up with getting his hard drive formatted by MicroEmacs and ASX without wringing my neck is hard to understand. Without his late-night help when my hard drive blew, it would've been many many months before this program could have been released. Thanks also to Whitewater, sysop of No Gurus Here, for his help in the hard drive fiasco. The users of No Gurus helped out a lot in the final beta testing. Sorry about not mentioning the stack size, guys! Thanks also to Hector, whose offline reader is something that I wished the Amiga had for a long time. I mean, those Amiga echoes are disgusting to read, what with 600+ messages per day sometimes. I jumped at the chance to port this package, to provide Amigans everywhere with the capabilities that "those PC people" take for granted, and to show that the Amiga program could be done even better! Many, many thanks to Martin Taillefer, creator of M2Sprint, without whose help this project would have taken at least twice as long, or would never have been done at all. It is far easier to convert Turbo Pascal to Modula-2 than it is to C, and I despise C anyways! Of course, to Maryann, Melissa and Erik who put up with the time I spent creating this system and gave me so much love and support." APPENDIX B - Common Questions and Answers. Q. I tried using the Xpress Reader program and it said that there is not enough memory or the wrong archive format? A. Make sure that you have specified the full path and file name of your archiver (e.g. C:LZ) in the ASX configuration. If the problem persists, you may really not have enough memory. Try not to multitask as many programs at once! Q. I registered your product because I really enjoy it. However, I thought I was going to get the File requesting and signature features when I registered the product? A. Yes, when you register, the program will allow you to use these features. HOWEVER, these features can be disabled by the sysop for several reasons. First, the sysop may not want to allow users to request files from within Xpress at his bulletin board. Second, the signature system is a very political and controversial aspect of email communications - is it too much overhead? Therefore, the sysop may not want signatures originating from his BBS. Speak to your sysop. Q. I would like to enter a message without having all these OPX files around. How can I do that? A. You can't for security reasons. A future version will address this issue. In order for Xpress to understand what areas exist for a BBS off line, the reader must have some sort of information about it. This is built into the .OPX file. Q. When I register the program, will the program stop delaying and showing advertisement screens? A. Yes. Absolutely! Q. I would like to be able to hangup after I have downloaded a new mail packet. Why don't you add it? A. The sysop can implement an automatic hangup feature. Speak to him about it. If he doesn't know about it, tell him to use O- ANSI menus. I have provided him with an example to implement this feature. Q. When I download a packet, and begin the reader, it starts by showing a weird and/or colorful screen of complete garbage! What's going on? A. It may be trying to display a reader bulletin from the BBS you called. If you don't have a program that can display ANSI text and there is some present in the bulletin, ask your sysop for such a program, or ask him to strip the ANSI out. Either way, you could ask him/her to double check the reader bulletins. Q. What is GOLD Xpress? A. Gold Xpress is a new development which should make its debut sometime in 1991 for PCs, and maybe in 1992 for the Amiga if demand warrants. Gold Xpress will have communications built-in so that you can call Xpressable boards and have a new interface with them. Q. I tried using the file requesting feature. All goes well. After I upload aáreply packet, the Xpress mailer shows me the list of files I requested and asks if I wish to continue. I say yes and then nothing happens. What is happening? Am I doing something wrong? A. No. You are doing nothing wrong if you get this far. This is a sysop configuration problem. Tell him to place his protocols on the path. Q. What type of editors does the reader support? A. The Xpress Reader supports any text editor that can load a file via the command line. Q. What is a normal registration processing time? A. About 1 week after receiving registration. If it takes longer than that, call us. Xpress priority service members get instant registrations as soon as we receive them. Q. How can I become a Beta tester or Santronics Software product Distributor? A. Write to us. Q. How can I get a group discount? A. Write to us and tell us about your situation. Every one is using a BBS in his/her own way. INDEX Only available in Registered Documentation