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Text File | 1995-12-03 | 294.1 KB | 8,217 lines

┌───────╖┌──────╖┌───────╖┌─╖ ┌─╖┌───────╖┌──────╖┌─────╖ │ ╔═══╕ ║│ ╔══╕ ║╘══╕ ╔══╝│ ║┌─╖│ ║│ ╔═══╕ ║│ ╔══╕ ║│ ╔═══╝ │ ║ │ ║│ ╙──┘ ║ │ ║ │ ║│ ║│ ║│ ║ │ ║│ ╙──┘ ║│ ╙──╖ │ ╙──╖│ ║│ ╔═╕ ╔╝ │ ║ │ ║│ ║│ ║│ ╙──╖│ ║│ ╔═╕ ╔╝│ ╔══╝ │ ╔══╝│ ║│ ║ └┐╙╖ │ ║ │ ╙┘ ╙┘ ║│ ╔══╝│ ║│ ║ └┐╙╖│ ╙────╖ ╘═╝ ╘═╝╘═╝ ╘═╝ ╘═╝ ╘═══════╝╘═╝ ╘═╝╘═╝ ╘═╝╘══════╝ presents to you: ┌─────╖ ┌─╖ │ ╔═══╝ │ ║ ┌─╖ ┌─╖┌─╖ ┌─╖│ ║ │ ║ ┌──┘ ╙──╖│ ║│ ╙╖┌┘ ║│ ╙──╖ ┌─────┘ ║ └──┐ ╔══╝│ ║│ ╙┘ ║│ ╔══╝ │ ╔═══╕ ║ │ ║ │ ║│ ╔╕╔╕ ║│ ║ │ ║ │ ║ │ ╙──╖│ ║│ ║╘╝│ ║│ ╙────╖│ ╙───┘ ║ ╘════╝╘═╝╘═╝ ╘═╝╘══════╝╘═══════╝ v1.10 (c) 1992,93,94,95 Gerard van Essen (2:281/527) A fast message editor for Squish, JAM, *.MSG & Hudson. timEd version : 1.10 Document last updated : December 2 1995 Note: Features marked with {+} are only available in registered versions of timEd. Programming code credits: ! timEd uses the Squish MSGAPI by Scott Dudley. ! Squish is a trademark of Scott J. Dudley ! timEd uses Thomas Wagner's EXEC library to swap timEd out of memory. ! timEd's screen writing routines are partly based on code from jim nutt and Erik Vanriper (DOS version). ! JAM(mbp) - Copyright 1993 Joaquim Homrighausen, Andrew Milner, Mats Birch, Mats Wallin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Documentation credits: Documentation written by Gerard van Essen. Mac Chou (later he used the name 'fengyun zhou') designed the artwork for the title page (and stole nearly US$ 600 from me a bit later - quite an expensive piece of art). Jelle Boot originally wrote the 'Quick installation' part. timEd v1.10 manual - page 2 Contents. 1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.1 What is timEd? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.2 A highlight of timEd's features. . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.3 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.4 System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2 Legal stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.1 Copyright, license and disclaimer. . . . . . . . . . 10 3. Quick installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 4. Versions, command line parameters & errorlevels. . . . 13 4.1 What version of timEd? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4.2 Command line parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4.3 TimEd exit errorlevels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 5. A guided tour of some of timEd's features . . . . . . 15 5.1 The Area Selection Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 5.2 The message reading screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 5.3 Entering a message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 5.4 Netmail messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 5.5 The List mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 5.6 The Find Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 6. TimEd command reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 6.1 The Area Selection Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 6.2 The Message Reading Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 6.3 The List Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 6.4 TimEd's Find feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 7. TimEd keyboard reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 8. Effective use of timEd: some features explained . . . 48 8.1 Creating netmail messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 8.2 AKA matching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 8.3 TimEd's Carbon Copy (CC:) feature. . . . . . . . . . 52 8.4 TimEd's crossposting feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 8.5 Message attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 8.6 Using the internal editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 8.7 Using an external editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 8.8 Reading messages 'gated' from Usenet/Internet . . . 64 8.9 Running external programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 8.10 Interfacing timEd with PGP and spellcheckers. . . . 67 8.11 Packing the search database . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 8.12 Text style nodelist flags with the V7 nodelist . . . 71 9. Character translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 9.1 The problem addressed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 9.2 The solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 9.3 The implementation in timEd . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 timEd v1.10 manual - page 3 10. Keyboard redefinition and macro's . . . . . . . . . . 81 10.1 The format of timkeys.cfg . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 10.3 Some examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 10.4 Defining the user menus in TIMKEYS.CFG . . . . . . . 84 10.5 Common problems with macros . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 11. Message base formats explained . . . . . . . . . . . 87 11.1 *.MSG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 11.2 Hudson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 11.3 Squish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 11.4 JAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 12. timEd configuration reference . . . . . . . . . . . 92 13. Miscellaneous notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 13.1 Multitasking considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 13.2 Some things to remember. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 13.3 Technical notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 13.4 TimEd source code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 14. A list of all available commands . . . . . . . . . . 131 15. Frequently asked questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 16. Thanks to.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 17. Contacting the author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 timEd v1.10 manual - page 4 1. Introduction. 1.1 What is timEd? TimEd is an electronic mail editor for FidoNet. FidoNet is a network of computer hobbyists, which makes it possible to exchange both private and public messages between systems connected to this network, using the public telephone network as its transmission medium. In-depth discussion of FidoNet is not appropriate here, there are other sources for that information. In order to send and receive messages, there are three main tasks to be fulfilled: 1) Reading and generating messages. 2) Packing and unpacking messages into/from standard mailpackets that can be easily exchanged. 3) Transmitting and receiving mailpackets. Most of the time, these three separate tasks are fulfilled by three different programs. Programs that allow the user to read and write messages are called message editors. TimEd is a message editor, that will allow you to comfortably read and write messages. Programs that will pack and unpack messages are usually called echomail processors (or 'tossers'). Some examples of echomail processors that are used in FidoNet: Squishmail, Fastecho, GEcho, Fmail. Programs that transmit and receive mailpackets are called mailers. Some examples of FidoNet compatible mailers: FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, The Box, Portal of Power. Although the separate tasks are usually fulfilled by different programs, these programs have to work closely together: the echomail processor must unpack the messages into a format that can be read by the message editor, just as newly generated messages must be generated in a format that can be understood by the echomail processor. There are several different ways to reach the same goal, and hence, as you might have guessed, there are several different formats available to store messages on a system. Each of these formats has strong and weak points. The collection of messages stored on the system is usually referred to as 'the message base' and the format in which they are stored is called 'the message base format'. timEd v1.10 manual - page 5 In order to be of use to as many people as possible, timEd fully supports no less than 4 different message base formats. This covers all popular formats used in FidoNet, as supported by the most often used echomail processors. 1.2 A highlight of timEd's features. * TimEd was designed to offer speed and ease of use: the program is fast and takes little of your precious diskspace. It is also quite easy to install. * Support for all major message base formats that are used in FidoNet: Squish, JAM, Hudson and *.MSG * Direct support for nodelist indexes used by FrontDoor and Version 7 nodelists: no need for large, extra nodelist indexes, taking up lots of diskspace. TimEd will just use the nodelist that is already present on your system! * Support for most popular echomail processors: timEd can read the echomail areas from area configuration files generated by Squish, Fastecho, GEcho, Fmail, Watergate and xMail. In addition, it will read standard AREAS.BBS format files, that can be generated by most other echomail processors. * An internal, 'quotesmart' editor, with automatic wordwrapping (including intelligent reformatting of quotes) and useful block commands. * Optional use of an external editor. If you don't like the internal editor, you can still use the ASCII editor of your choice. * Useful list mode, with the option to tag several messages and move, copy, delete or file all tagged messages with one command. * Comprehensive 'find' function. This will let you search for messages containing keywords you specify in the header, kludges or the body of the message. Search options include 'AND' searches, 'OR' searches, 'NOT' searches, case sensitive searches and searching for 'whole words only'. The function can be used to scan the current area only, all areas or tagged areas, and to scan all messages or only new messages. Searching can be forward or backward, and the search direction can even be switched during a search. Found messages can be read (the registered version will even highlight the lines containing any of the strings you are looking for!), tagged, written to a file, copied, moved or deleted. timEd v1.10 manual - page 6 * Built-in, fast personal mail scanner. This will search all message areas for messages addressed to you. (This feature is only available to registered users). * Automatic file request feature. TimEd can extract valid filenames that are found in the message text and let you launch a file request, after you selected some files from a picklist with the filenames that were found. * Support for messages that were gated from Usenet, allowing you to send private 'mail' without having to worry about the complicated usenet addresses: timEd will put them in the right place for you (FSC-0035). * Powerful keyboard redefinition and macro capabilities. * Full support for message encryption (using a program like Pretty Good Privacy) and spellchecking of messages. * The ability to run external programs, like message base maintenance programs, encryption programs, spell checkers and so on. * Full support for extended character sets (character translation) for use with languages that need more than just standard ASCII characters. * DOS, DOS 32 bit and OS/2 versions available. * Lots more :-) 1.3 History TimEd is one of those programs that 'were never meant to be'. When Scott Dudley released Maximus 2.00 and Squish 1.00, I immediately switched (from Qmail, *.MSG) to the much more advanced Squish message base format. However, initially there were no message editors available, so I had to use Maximus itself to read the mail. Although this went reasonably well, it wasn't really fast and I missed some features ('netmail reply' being the most important one). When Scott released the MSGAPI (and I had just bought my Turbo C compiler :-) I played with it a bit, and decided to make a message viewer (yes, viewer only!). I got carried away. Later several message editors for Squish were released, but I always found reasons not to switch (too large, too slow, too buggy, ugly, whatever :-). timEd v1.10 manual - page 7 I continued working on timEd, other people showed interest, got their copies and some of them even liked timEd! So.... I decided I would try to make a stable version, that could be released 'to the public' to check out the reactions (if any). Of course, a program is never ready (or without bugs), so I delayed it several times. Nevertheless, I released a first 'wide beta' version to the public in november '92 as timEd/B5. Still unsure about the need for yet another message editor, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of reactions I got. Most of them were quite positive as well, which made me motivated to continue to work on the program. Several other beta versions were released, until we reached beta 9. And then there was this deja-vu thing: a new message base format was introduced, called JAM. And an accompanying API was released as well! So there it was, sitting on my harddisk: the specifications of a new and exciting message base format, with accompanying sample code for me to experiment. Like a beautiful woman, I couldn't get my mind off it. How could I resist? So, being one of the first, timEd also supported JAM shortly after that. This introduced timEd to a new group of users, many of whom were still using the Hudson base. With requests for Hudson support overflowing my mailbox, I took the plunge and implemented support for the Hudson message base as well.. At the same time, the internal editor was finally ready as well, adding the last feature that was (in my opinion) still missing, but should be present in a decent message editor. All of this paved the way to the first official non-beta release of timEd: v1.00. That version had all the features I wanted my editor to have, in order to work comfortably. After that, several other versions were released, with more and more features. The increased power of the average computer made this possible, without having to pay for it in terms of speed. I am not very fond of programs that are full of 'bells and whistles', and you won't find many gee-whiz-bang features in timEd (although it does have some special things, like a built-in personal mail scanner and a nice 'Find' feature). If you are looking for soundblaster support, random origins, taglines and configurable beep-lengths, you better go and find yourself another program. timEd v1.10 manual - page 8 1.4 System requirements * An IBM compatible computer. * MS-DOS 3.3 or later, or OS/2 2.0 or later. * Dos version: about 350 Kb of available memory. * Dos 32 bit version: a 32 bit processor (386 or better) and about 2 MB of memory. timEd v1.10 manual - page 9 2 Legal stuff 2.1 Copyright, license and disclaimer. * "timEd" refers to the executables and documentation in the original distribution archive. TimEd is copyrighted material by Gerard van Essen. It may only be used in agreement with the conditions set out in this license agreement. * You are entitled and encouraged to copy and distribute timEd, provided you do not change the contents of the timEd archive or the program itself, and no money or any other compensation is asked or accepted for timEd (without written permission from the author). Distribution of modified or incomplete archives is prohibited. * Although care has been taken to write and test a program that does what this document states, the program is provided as is, without warranty or guarantee of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the quality or performance of this program, except that it will occupy disk space. * The author, Gerard van Essen, will not be held liable to you or anyone for (but not limited to) any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages, including any lost profits, lost savings which may result from the use or inability to use this program. Gerard van Essen is in no way obligated to provide future versions of, or support for this software. Your use of the program constitutes your agreement to this license and disclaimer and your release of the author from any form of liability or litigation. * COMMERCIAL use of the program: you are a commercial user if you make a profit from running timEd, or if you use timEd in a commercial environment (i.e. business, governmental organization, association, school, foundation, or any other form of juridical person). In case of doubt, contact the author. * For NON-COMMERCIAL use, it is REQUIRED that you register the program after an evaluation period of 30 days. This period should be sufficient to decide whether you want to continue using the program or not. I would very much appreciate registration, and it will stimulate me to keep on developing the program. If you really cannot afford to register (mainly a concern to 'eastern block' countries, the former USSR etc.), permission is hereby granted to use an unregistered version. timEd v1.10 manual - page 10 Remember, if you register, you are paying for something that you already have! Registration does not mean you can force me to implement new features that you like. * For COMMERCIAL use of the program, you should always register the program. You are, however, granted an evaluation period of 21 days. After these 21 days, you must either register the program, or stop using it. Using an unregistered version of timEd in a commercial environment for more than 21 days is prohibited! * You only have to register once. Your registration will also be valid for all future releases of timEd. * Registration is valid for all versions of timEd. At this moment, there are DOS, DOS 32 bit and OS/2 versions of the program available. Registering timEd entitles you to run the DOS version, the OS/2 version, or both :-) * A registration is PERSONAL. It cannot be transferred to other parties. It could, however, be used in different places (but: by the same PERSON). Think of it as a book in this regard: you can take the book from your home to the office (and read it there). * Versions of timEd prior to version beta 10 (timEd/B10) were freeware and could not be registered. You may continue to use THESE OLDER VERSIONS without registration, even in a commercial environment. * The author reserves the right to change this license without prior notice, for newer versions of the program. timEd v1.10 manual - page 11 3. Quick installation Assuming you've just downloaded the timEd archive from your favourite BBS the first thing to do is decide where to put the required files to run the program. You could give timEd a directory of its own. However, due to the small size of the program most users prefer to place timEd in the same directory where their mail processor lives. TimEd needs the following files in order to run: - The executable file (timed.exe, tim386.exe or timedp.exe) - The configuration file (timed.cfg) - The character translation maps (writmaps.dat and readmaps.dat) - The keyboard definition file (timkeys.cfg) - The helpfile (timed.hlp) Next action is to edit timed.cfg to suit your needs and your system. The file that is included in the archive is heavily commented and generally just changing the various paths to reflect your own directories and of course inserting your own address already brings you halfway to a working system. The only part that requires some effort is the Area Definition section. TimEd will normally read all your EchoArea definitions from your mail processor's config file. As soon as you're in doubt about a certain keyword, refer to the section called 'timEd configuration reference' in this manual. This is an alphabetic listing of all keywords that can be used in timEd.cfg, with an explanation of their use. Just follow the examples provided and when you are finished you're off to the races. Fire up timEd and enjoy. timEd v1.10 manual - page 12 4. Versions, command line parameters & errorlevels. 4.1 What version of timEd? TimEd comes in a few flavours. There are currently three different versions of the program: 1 - A standard DOS 16 bit version. 2 - An extended DOS 32 bit version. 3 - A 32 bit OS/2 version. If you run OS/2, the choice is easy: the OS/2 version is superior to the other two versions in all aspects. If you run DOS, the choice is somewhat more complicated. Contrary to what you might think, the 32 bit version is not always better. The 32 bit DOS version uses a so called 'DOS extender'. The extender used is the well-known DOS4GW extender made by Rational Systems. You need at least a 386 processor to run it. Quite a few programs already use this extender (GIGO, Squishmail, Fastlist), so you may already have it on your system. You need the runtime, DOS4GW.EXE, in order to run timEd's 32 bit DOS version. If you don't have it on your system: look around on BBS's nearby because they most likely have it. If you can't find it, you can at least find it on my system (2:281/527) and Evin Mulron's system (1:138/211) as DOS4GW.ZIP. A DOS extender uses the protected mode of the Intel processors to offer a large memory pool that can be easily accessed by an application. For some things (like disk access) it switches back to the real mode to use plain DOS for these services. This doesn't really sound too simple, and indeed it isn't. If the 32 bit version doesn't run on your system, try the 16 bit DOS version. DOS extended applications are known to not run at all, or not too well in certain environments. In fact, I would advise everyone to only use the 32 bit version when you regularly run out of memory with the 16 bit version. 4.2 Command line parameters. TimEd knows 2 command line parameters: -c Specify the directory (yes, the DIRECTORY, not a config file!) where the config file (and helpfile, character translation maps and keyboard definition file) can be found, like: timEd v1.10 manual - page 13 timed.exe -cC:\Bbs\timed\ Usually, you do not need this. TimEd will look for timEd.cfg in the current directory by default, where it can usually find it.. And the other command line parameter is -p, to let timEd pause at the intro screen (so you can check what config files were parsed by timEd). Like: timed.exe -p Of course, you can combine both switches: timed.exe -p -cC:\Bbs\timed 4.3 TimEd exit errorlevels TimEd can exit with several useful errorlevels: No mail entered : 0 Netmail entered : 1 Echomail entered : 2 Local mail entered : 4 Mail in 'mailarea' : 8 News entered : 16 If more than one type is entered the numbers are added: Net + Echo : 3 Net + Local : 5 Echo + Local : 6 Net + Echo + Local : 7 Netmail + news : 17 and so on.. Error: 254 You can trap these errorlevels in a batchfile, and scan echomail or pack netmail (or both) based on the errorlevel. timEd v1.10 manual - page 14 5. A guided tour of some of timEd's features This section will show new users some of timEd's features, as an introduction. If you are new to electronic mail in general, you may find this useful. If you are an experienced 'electronic mail reader', you will find timEd easy to use, because it works like most other electronic mail editors. Some keys may be a bit different, but usually not. And, if you don't like the keys that are used for certain functions, you can redefine them! This section is a 'tour', NOT an in-depth discussion of all the 'ins and outs'! There's much more to know than what is presented here! Pressing F1 will usually give a helpscreen, listing the commands available in the section of the program that you are currently in. If F1 doesn't work, you should check for the presence of TIMED.HLP in the timEd directory. Let's assume you have already edited timEd.cfg to suit your needs, and that there are some areas (at least a netmail area and one echomail area) installed in there. If there are not, please add some 'fake' areas to the config, just to be able to read and enter some messages.. 5.1 The Area Selection Screen After starting up timEd, and going through the intro screen, you will be presented with a list of all installed message areas. The list will look like this: Area description: New Last ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Netmail Area NETMAIL 0 47 │ │ Netmail squish net2 0 589 │ │ Netmail squish2 net3 0 2 │ │ Netmail (rcvd) rcvd 0 0 │ │ Netmail (sent) sent 0 0 │ │ Netmail JAM netjam 0 193 │ │ Netmail JAM2 netjam2 0 149 │ │ Netmail HMB nethmb 0 2 │ │ contrast contrast 0 7 │ │ os2.028 os2.028 * 11 110 │ │ artware artware 0 155 │ │ artware.closed artware.closed 0 0 │ │ contrast.news contrast.news 0 780 │ │ tub tub * 4 216 │ │ points.133 points.133 0 146 │ │ fdecho.028 fdecho.028 0 48 │ │ net_dev.028 net_dev.028 * 5 144 │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ timEd v1.10 manual - page 15 One of the areas (the first one, when you first start timEd up) will be 'highlighted'. You can move around through the areas with the cursor keys, page-up and down etc. On every line, the first part is the description of the area, the second part is the official 'areatag' of that area. Then there are two numbers: the first one is the number of new, unread messages that are present in the area, the second one is the highest message number in that area. Every area that contains new messages will be marked with a star ('*') in front of the numbers. At startup, you might see '- -' instead of the numbers. This means the area was not yet scanned for new mail. You can scan for a new mail by pressing ALT-S (Scan). You can now move around to find the area you want to read. When you found it, press <enter>. Tip: to quickly find an area, you can also start typing the 'areatag'. TimEd will quickly jump to the first area with an areatag that matches the letters you typed (even if the string you are typing is hidden somewhere in the middle of the name, like the string 'os2' in comp.os.os2.programming!). To exit timEd, press ALT-X (don't do that now, we want to finish our tour!). Remember, F1 gives you a help screen if you forgot the commands! 5.2 The message reading screen After you selected an area to read, you will be presented with the lastread message of the area you entered. If there are no messages present in that area, a message indicating that unfortunate situation is shown (in that case, proceed with 'entering a message' and then come back here..). timEd v1.10 manual - page 16 The screen will look like this: = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Date : Apr 08 '94, 18:50 Loc From : Gerard van Essen 2:281/527.1 To : All Subj : Testing.. ────────────────────────────────────────────────── Hello All! This is just a test! Groetjes, ........ === Art === --- timEd 1.00+ * Origin: CONTRAST | TSARTNOC (2:281/527.1) Area: contrast 100% Current: 9, high: 9 │ 318K = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - First we'll take a closer look at the header: = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Date : Apr 08 '94, 18:50 Loc From : Gerard van Essen 2:281/527.1 To : All Subj : Testing.. ────────────────────────────────────────────────── = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - As you can see, it lists the date (when the message was written), who wrote the message (From:), who the message is to (TO:) and the subject of the message. On the right hand side, at the top you see 'loc'. That is the place where timEd will show the 'attributes' (status) of the message. In this case it is 'loc' (Local: the message was generated on this system). Below the attribute you see '2:281/527.1', which is the address of the person who wrote the message. This is an echomail area, and the address of the person who sent the message was deduced from the origin line at the bottom of the message. This has to be done because echomail messages are public, and not sent to one certain address (but are spread by many systems), and contain no origin address either. timEd v1.10 manual - page 17 In netmail areas, this is different, addresses are always present there, and don't have to be deduced from the text. In addition, netmail also has a destination address, that is shown below the origin address: = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Date : Apr 08 '94, 18:50 Pvt Loc From : Gerard van Essen 2:281/527.1 To : Evin Mulron 1:138/211.0 Subj : Testing.. ────────────────────────────────────────────────── = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - This netmail message is addressed to Evin Mulron, and his address is 1:138/211. As you can see, this message also has the 'pvt' attribute (private). Now let's return to our sample echomail message, and look at the body again: = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - ────────────────────────────────────────────────── Hello All! This is just a test! Groetjes, ........ === Art === --- timEd 1.00+ * Origin: CONTRAST | TSARTNOC (2:281/527.1) = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - You can see the text of the message. Then there is a line with '--- timEd 1.00+', called the tearline. This line should show nothing at all (so just '---'), or else the name of the message editor or echomail processor the sender was using. Then there is a line with ' * Origin: ...... (<address>)', that shows some text and ends with the address of the person who sent the message (which is the place where timEd got the address that was listed in the header of this echomail message). timEd v1.10 manual - page 18 Finally, the bottom line shows: = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Area: contrast 100% Current: 9, high: 9 │ 318K = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - First the current area is shown. Then a percentage, showing how much of the current message was already shown to you, the number of the current message, the number of the highest message, and finally the amount of memory that is free (only in the DOS version). This is the screen you will be looking at most of the time. You can use the cursor keys (up and down), home, end, page up & down to move the message body so you can read all of it. You can use cursor right and left to move to the next or previous message. If you entered a message area with lots of messages, you can now move around in the message area to read all of them. To quickly move to the first message in an area, press ctrl-<home>, to go to the last one, press ctrl-<end>. To go back to the Area Selection Screen, press <ESC>. Press <enter> on any area to enter an area again. Provided you have already linked up some areas with your uplink, and mail is already flowing, this basic knowledge is already enough to keep you busy for several hours a day. But there's more... There's a lot you can do with a message. The F1 help screen will reveal many more functions: writing a message to a file ('W'), Printing it ('P'), deleting it with <del>, move or copy it to another area with 'M' etc. Just try it! Some other nice things: Press 'I'. You will be presented with more info about the message, and about the message area you are currently in. Press 'K' to see hidden control info in the message (if there is any). Press 'J' to temporarily jump to DOS or OS/2 to do something else for a while. 5.3 Entering a message Reading is good, writing is better. Now we know how to read a message, we also want to write one! In order to do this, go into an echomail area, and press <INS>. You will now provided with a fresh message header, with your name already filled in, for you to fill out: timEd v1.10 manual - page 19 ╒══════════╤═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │Sender │ Gerard van Essen │ │└─ Address│ 2:281/527 │ │Recipient │░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │ │└─ Address│ 0:0/0 │ │Subject │ │ │Attributes│ pvt loc │ ├──────────┴────────────────────┬───────────────────┬──────────────┤ │ Attached files: │ Requested files: │ Special: │ ├───────────────────────────────┤ Name Password ├──────────────┤ │ - none - ├───────────────────┤ [ ] Encrypt │ │ │ - none - │ [ ] Sign │ │ │ │ [ ] Spellchk │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ╞═══════════════════════════════╧═══════════════════╧══════════════╡ │ ALT-A: Attach files ALT-R: Request ALT-S: Special │ ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ You see the cursor at the TO: field. Type a name if you want to send the message to a particular person, or just 'All'. Press <enter> and edit the subject. Press <enter> again, and once again (you will be presented with an 'attributes' screen, but we press <enter> and leave everything at the default values). What happens next depends on your setup. It is time to enter the message body, so either the external editor that you installed is started up, or timEd's internal editor kicks in. Lets' assume you use the internal editor: = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - Area: contrast To: All (Test) Hello All! Groetjes, .......... === Art === --- * Origin: CONTRAST | TSARTNOC (2:281/527.1) timEd v1.10 manual - page 20 We see timEd did a lot of work for us (depending on what you specified in timEd.cfg). The top line shows the area, and the person(s) the message is addressed to ('all') and the subject between brackets ('test'). TimEd already entered 'Hello All' at the top for us, and ended with (Dutch) greetings. It generated an Origin line as well, that is already filled in. We can now easily finish the message text to our liking. Several commands are available (see section on the internal editor, or press F1 for help). Once we're ready, we press ALT-S to save the message. TimEd will do some work for you, generating the actual message, and we will return at the Message Reading screen. Press <ctrl-end> to move to the last message in the area, which is (of course) the message we just created! There, your first message generated with timEd! You know how to enter a new message now, but usually you want to enter a reply to another messages. To do this, press ALT-R (or just 'R'). Once again, you will have to edit the header, but timEd will already have filled in some default values, that may save you the typing if they are what you want. You can then simply press <enter>. When you're ready to edit the message body, you will see that the text of the message you are replying to is already present in the message body, in 'quoted' format: it is preceded by strings like: 'GvE> ' (the initials of the writer of the message and a '>' token to indicate you are quoting someone else). Delete all the lines that are unimportant (or not needed to remind others what you are actually replying to) and insert your reaction to the message. In general: quote only what is really needed. Less quoting is better, you're only repeating what was said before! A very fast way to reply is to press 'T'. This will not let you edit the header at all, but automatically inserts the default values and immediately puts you in the message editor to edit the body. Once again, pressing ALT-S will save the text you typed, and generate a message with it. 5.4 Netmail messages As was mentioned before, netmail is somewhat different from echomail, because in netmail real electronic addresses are present (and necessary). This means, that when you edit a message header in the timEd v1.10 manual - page 21 netmail area, you must also know the address of the person you are sending a message to. TimEd can help you there, with nodelist lookups (you only enter the name, and timEd searches the nodelist for the actual address). Look at the section 'entering netmail messages' later in this manual for more info. 5.5 The List mode Apart from looking at messages one at a time, you can also get an overview of the messages in the area using the List mode. While looking at the message reading screen, press 'L'. You will then be presented with a list of message headers, looking like this: ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 1 Sjaak Paridaens Gerard van Essen Printen │ │ 2 Gerard van Essen Sjaak Paridaens Printen │ │ 3 Andre Boogaards Gerard van Essen Netwerk, rebooten en │ │ 4 Andre Boogaards Gerard van Essen The Sequel... │ │ 5 Gerard van Essen Andre Boogaards Netwerk, rebooten en │ │ 6 Dick Pluim Gerard van Essen nog een bug? │ │ 7 Gerard van Essen Dick Pluim nog een bug? │ │ 8 Andre Boogaards Gerard van Essen Netmgr masking idee │ │ 9 Gerard van Essen All Testing.. │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This looks a lot like the Area Selection Screen, but it shows message headers, not message areas. You can move around with cursor keys etc. here as well, just like the Area Selection Screen. It gives you a nice view of the area. As soon as you see a header that interests you, press <enter> on that header, and you will drop to the Message Reading Screen again, to read the entire message. Now press S while you are in the List mode. You will see that the TO: fields are not shown anymore, but the 'Subject' lines get a lot more space. This is mainly for people who read messages gated from Usenet. Those messages usually all have 'all' as the to: field, so that space can be used for the subject line! You can also get into this mode by pressing 'B' (Broad List) while you are at the Message Reading Screen. You can also tag messages from the List screen, by pressing <space>. (Also by pressing '+' to specify a range, and more, see help screen). Use this to tag a lot of messages, and then Move, Copy, Delete, Write to file or Print a whole bunch of messages with the touch of a key! Once again: the F1 help screen will give you all the commands! 5.6 The Find Screen The last stop in this tour is one of the nicest functions in timEd: the Find feature. It will let you search for messages that have a certain keyword in them, in either the header (the From field, the TO: timEd v1.10 manual - page 22 field or the subject) or the message body. TimEd can search all areas, or just the current area. It can search all messages in the area, or just the new, unread messages. You can activate the Find feature by pressing 'F'. From what you've seen upto now, you know that the first thing to do is pressing F1 to see some help on the keys to use. It will be pretty easy after that. Fill in the 'find form' (press <ins> to add a new item) and then press ctrl-<enter> to start the search. More info about the F)ind feature can be found in a special section about it later in this manual. Also check out the file request feature, which is described later in the manual as well! This ends our introductory tour. The key to success in timEd is called 'F1'. Remember that, and you'll be on your way! Many more useful hints and tips can be found in the rest of this manual. If you don't read it in its entirety, you may miss out on some pretty useful things. That will be _your_ loss. Good luck! timEd v1.10 manual - page 23 6. TimEd command reference This section explains just about every command available in timEd. It usually just tells you how it works, but often not why it works like that, or how you can use it best. If you want to know more about the commands, you might find hints and tips in the chapter called 'Effective use of timEd: some features explained'. Please note, that all commands are presented together with the default keybinding, that is used in the default timkeys.cfg that comes with the timEd package. TimEd allows you to redefine the keyboard in many places, so if you made changes the key that needs to be pressed on your system may be another one. However, if you made changes yourself, you should also know what the new key is. A list of all the functions (that is: the official function names) can be found in another part of this document. First, we start off with a short description of the string editing function, that is available from several places in timEd. ■ String editing in timEd In timEd, there are several functions that let you edit strings. Some examples include generating a message header (TO: field, address, subject) and the 'write message to file' function, where you have to enter a filename. All string editing functions use the same routine, where the following keys are active: Right arrow, left arrow : move left and right in string. <end>, <home> : go to the beginning or the end of the string. <ctrl-left>, <ctrl-right> : jump to previous or next word. <ctrl-end> : delete string from cursor position to end. Delete and backspace work as expected. Press <INS> to toggle 'insert mode'. And, very useful: CTRL-Y : Delete entire string. You can also influence timEd's behaviour with the Jumpy_Edit keyword. See the section listing all keywords for more info. ALT-J will let you shell to the OS when editing any string. timEd v1.10 manual - page 24 Whenever you edited a string, you should press <enter> to make the actual change. If you changed your mind, you could press <ESC>. However, sometimes you are editing a set of fields (like editing a message header), where pressing <ESC> would abort the entire function. In that case you can also press <TAB> (which means: jump to next field, don't change current contents of string). 6.1 The Area Selection Screen. After starting timEd up, you will be presented with the Area Selection Screen: a list of all message areas found in your configuration. Use the cursor keys (up and down), <page up>, <page down>, <home> and <end> to move around. A quick way to find an area is 'speedsearch'. If you know the official areatag of the area you want to read, start typing that tag. TimEd will try to find the first areatag matching the characters you typed. The characters will also appear at the top of the screen. If there is no areatag that starts with the letters you type, timEd will try to find the string you typed as a SUBstring somewhere within the areaname. For example, if you have the following areas: comp.os.os2.programmer comp.os.os2.networking comp.os.os2.advocacy and type 'advoc', timEd will find no areatag that starts with 'advoc', but it WILL find one that has 'advoc' as a substring! So it will jump to the third area. The 'speedsearch string' will disappear (and be cleared) when you press a 'movement key' (like 'cursor up'). If you press CTRL-L, timEd will try to find a next match for the speedsearch string (this may come in handy if you have an area called OS2, but also one called OS2.028, and they are not close to each other in the arealist). To start reading messages in an area, press <ENTER> or the right arrow key. TimEd will then enter that area and display the last read message. On the area selection screen, the following keys are also active: ALT-S : scan areas for new mail. This will determine the number of messages present in every area, and the number of new (unread) messages. This function will scan all areas that have not been scanned before. timEd v1.10 manual - page 25 ALT-T : scan areas for new mail. This will determine the number of messages present in every area, and the number of new (unread) messages. This function will scan _all_ areas, even if they were scanned before. Great if new mail was tossed in the background (on a multitasking system or network). ALT-P : {+} personal mail scan. This will scan all areas for mail addressed TO: you or your alias (as defined in timed.cfg). While viewing a found message, nearly all 'normal' functions are available to you (like R)eply, T)urbo reply, P)rint, W)rite to file etc). Some keys (like cursor right and left) continue the search. You can interrupt the search at any time by pressing <ESC>. ALT-X : Exit timEd. If specified in timed.cfg, an 'echotoss.log' file will be written at this point. ALT-L : Enter the area, and go directly into the 'List mode', showing a list of message headers. ALT-J : Jump to DOS. <space> : Tag message area (see section about this below). ALT-R : Read 'tagset' (for tagged areas, read section below). ALT-W : Save 'tagset' (for tagged areas, read section below). ALT-M : Select a 'view' on the arealist (all, new, tagged etc). See section below. F1 : Show a helpscreen with available functions. With <space>, you can tag (mark) areas. A collection of marked areas is called a 'tagset', and can be saved to disk using ALT-W. A tagset that was saved to disk, can later be read from disk again by using ALT-R. Each set is identified with a number (the first one is 0, last one is 9), so you can save up to 10 sets. Additionally, all sets have a name. You will be prompted for it when you save the tagset, and when trying to read one (ALT-R) you will see a list of the tagsets and their names. Tagset number 0 is the default, and will be automatically loaded from disk when timEd starts up. Together with the ALT-M function (select 'view' on the arealist), this gives you the opportunity to only see and work on a selection of areas timEd v1.10 manual - page 26 instead of the entire message base. The following views are available: ■ All areas. This will show all areas found in the configuration file(s). ■ Tagged areas. This will restrict your view to the areas you tagged, others will not be shown (or scanned etc.). This is mainly useful for SysOps who have many areas they never intend to read anyway (but want to be able to access them once in a while in order to check things). You will only see the areas you are interested in at that moment, and other areas will not be scanned either, which will save you a lot of time. ■ Areas with new mail. This will show only areas that contain new, unread messages. This is an easy way to read all new messages: the number of areas that is shown will decrease (an area you read will have no new messages anymore and therefore disappear from the arealist) until you have no more unread mail! These two modes (tagged & new messages) can also be combined: ■ Tagged areas with new mail. This will show only areas that are tagged *and* have new mail. The mode at startup can be set with a keyword: Startup_Mode (values: All, New, Tagged or NewTagged). Together these function give you the ability to usually work on a subset of your areas and easily find areas with new mail, but switch to a full view with a keypress. 6.2 The Message Reading Screen. When you enter an area, the lastread message will be shown. You can scroll the message body (if it doesn't fit on one screen entirely) using cursor keys (up and down) and <page up>, <page down>, <home> and <end>. <ESC> or ALT-A will take you back to the area selection screen. timEd v1.10 manual - page 27 Moving around in a message area. -------------------------------- Press the right arrow key to go to the next message, the left arrow key to go to the previous message. <ENTER> will also move to the next message (unless you have 'EnterMarks Yes' in your timEd.cfg - in that case it will mark (tag) the current message and space can then be used to move a page down in the message (if there is more text to show) or to move to the next message (if you are already at the bottom of the text)). <page up> and <page down> will move one page up or down in the message. Ctrl-<END> will take you to the last message in the area. Ctrl-<HOME> will take you to the first message in the area. Type a number to go to a specific message. A small box will pop up, where you can edit the number of the message to jump to. Ctrl-<up> will move to the next marked ('tagged') message in that area. Ctrl-<down> will move to the previous marked ('tagged') message in that area. Ctrl <left> will go to the 'original' message, i.e. the message that the current message is a reply to. If you are reading a reply and don't know anymore what the original message was about, use this. Ctrl <right> will go to the reply to this message (if there are any replies already). If there is more than one reply, a list will be shown (with the name of the sender of the reply) so you can choose one. The availability of replies and 'the original' is shown at the top of the message screen. An example: -=- Date : 20-10-'92, 21:38 1744 From : Jan Terpstra 2:280/216.0 To : Hans Boelens Subj : Negeer dit! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── -=- Here you can see, that this message is a reply to message 17, and that there is a reply to this message, number 44. If there would have been more replies (and you used a reply linker that is capable of specifying 'multiple uplinks', a feature that is only available for Squish style message bases) there would have been more numbers after timEd v1.10 manual - page 28 the '44'. For JAM style areas: In addition to the 'normal' links, you may see a number between brackets, like this: (25). That means that there is _another_ reply to the original message (it can only show up if you are reading a reply to a certain message). Pressing ALT-right or ALT-+ will let you jump to that message. An example: You are reading message #5, it shows (at the top): 25 30 That would mean there are two replies to this message, number 25 and number 30. You press ctrl-right (to get a pop-up window, displaying who wrote both replies), and choose the first reply (number 25). This message (number 25) may show: 550 (30) This means that this is a reply to message 5, that there is a reply to this message (the reply is number 50), and that there is _another_ reply to the original message (the original message was number 5), and that the number of that other reply is number 30 (which is exactly what message #5 showed us). Confused? You should be! Simple: if there is more than one reply to a message, you can press ctrl-right, go to the first reply, and then keep on pressing ALT-right (or ALT-+) to read all other replies as well. When you reached the end of all replies, you press ctrl-left to go back to the original message again.. Remember, this only applies to JAM style areas! ALT-E, E, <ins> : Enter message This will let you create a new message in the current area. TimEd will first let you edit the header, and will then spawn the editor, where you can type in the message text. Save the text and exit the editor. You will then come back in timEd, that will read your message and save it. See also the section 'Creating netmail and file attaches'. timEd v1.10 manual - page 29 ALT-R, R, ALT-Q, Q : Reply to message This will let you write a reply to the message that is currently shown on the screen. TimEd will let you edit the header (press <ENTER> to accept the defaults) and quote the entire message. Then the editor will be spawned.. ALT-N, N : Reply other area Create a reply, but select another area to put the reply in. This will first take you to the Area Selection Screen, where you can choose the area. ALT-O, O : Reply 'followup' This will let you quote the message text and add your comments, but will not address the message to the writer of that message, but to the person to whom the current message is addressed to. So, when someone writes a message to John, and you use ALT-O on that message, it will be quoted and also addressed to John. You can then add "I want that too!", or something similar :-) ALT-T, T : Reply, accept defaults This is the equivalent of ALT-R, but you will go directly to the editor, accepting the defaults for the TO: and Subj: fields. This is a fast way to reply, for lazy people with little time :-) CTRL-B: Bounce-reply This is only available in netmail. It will generate a reply, but not quote the message. Instead, it returns the original message text (including a copy of the message header). It will dump you in the message editor, so you can add the reason for your bounce-action. ALT-C, C : Change message This will let you change the message (header + body). CTRL-H : Change header This will you change the header of a message only. timEd v1.10 manual - page 30 ALt-S, S : Change message attributes This will let you edit the message's attributes (like private, crash etc.). CTRL-U : Unreceive message. This turns *off* the 'received' bit. Be sure *not* to fool around with the message anymore, but move to the next message (or out of the area, or whatever) immediately, or the 'received' bit will be set again before you know it :) ALT-D, D, <del> : Delete message Delete the current message. TimEd will first ask a confirmation. ALT-W, W : Write to file Write the current message to a file. TimEd will ask for a filename to write to. You can also put (for example) LPT1, PRN as the 'filename' to send output to the printer. If you defined more than one 'writename' in timEd.cfg, you can also press <TAB> here, to get a list of all defined names. With the cursor keys you can scroll through the list and pick one with <enter>. The 'variables' that can be used for external programs (like [areatag], [msgno] etc) can also be used when entering the name of a file to write a message to. This allows you to write messages to files called 'artware.msg', or 'artware.100' and so on. See the section about running external programs for a description of the variables that can be used. ALT-P, P : Print message (hardcopy). This will send the current message to your printer, as defined by the 'Printer' keyword in timEd.cfg. If no 'Printer' statement was found in timEd.cfg, it will default to LPT1. TimEd attempts to check printer status before attempting to write to the printer. This is not full-proof (for DOS int 17, for OS/2 DosDevIOCtl cat. 0x05, func. 0x66), for example I already know it doesn't work in an OS/2 DOS box. Still, it may catch some errors. ALT-M, M : Move, copy, forward This will let you move, copy or forward the current message to another area. It will first show you the Area Selection Screen, where you can pick timEd v1.10 manual - page 31 the destination area of your choice. The 'forward' option will let you edit the header (TO: and Subj: fields) before dumping you in the editor, where you can edit or add to the body of the message, before saving it. Differences between copy/move and forward: Copy/Move. These options will change VERY LITTLE of the message. SEEN-BY's, PATHs and VIA lines will be stripped. In addition 'sent' and 'scanned' bits will be toggled off. Nothing else is changed: the date/time is still the same, the MSGID is still the same etc. So this does indeed what the function says: copy (which is not change!). This will make a message ready to be exported (again?) by your tosser, but note that if you are really sending it out AGAIN, dupe checkers may catch it as a dupe (as they should, of course, as it is a dupe). If you copy/move a batch of messages (i.e.: copy/move tagged messages), even the above is not done and the message remains 100% unchanged. The reasoning behind this being, that a mass move/copy will be to an archive area and never intended to be exported again. Also note, that echomail messages do NOT have a origination and destination address in the header. If you move/copy an echomail message to netmail (that *is* supposed to have useful address fields!), the address fields will show random values! Forward. Forward generates an entirely new message, with an entirely new header, with a correct name and address, origin, a new MSGID etc. In all respects this is a new message, it just shows the body of an old message. In nearly all cases (except copy/move to an archive area and some exceptions) this is the function to use! ALT-V, V, ALT-K, K : Toggle kludges This will let you toggle the display of kludges (for this purpose, that also includes SEEN-BY lines). The default (at startup) can be set in timEd.cfg, using the 'showkludges' keyword. ALT-J, J : Jump to DOS. This will let you 'shell' to DOS. Type 'exit' to return to timEd. timEd v1.10 manual - page 32 ALT-I, I : Message & Area info This will show a pop-up box with some info about the current message and the current area. This will also show the 'setting' for a Squish style area: the maximum number of messages to keep in this area, the number of messages to skip when purging and the number of days to keep messages. From within timEd, you can set these parameters by pressing 'C' and editing the values to whatever you like. '+' : Go to next area with new mail. Pressing '+' will move you to the next area that has new mail. Using this you can quickly go from area to area, without going through the 'Area selection screen'. If timEd cannot find a 'next area with new mail', it will drop you on the 'Area selection screen'. '-' : Go to previous area with new mail. This function is similar to '+', but moves to the previous area with new mail. '*' : Mark all messages in thread This function will mark all messages that belong to a certain thread (messages that are linked with reply links, either forward or backward). With one keystroke, you can now mark all messages that concern a certain topic. After that you can perform an action on the marked messages, like writing to file (if you like the subject) or delete (if you don't! :-) CTRL-<ENTER> : Place bookmark This will place a mark on the current message. TimEd saves the position you are currently at, and when you later press <TAB>, timEd will go back to the message that you marked. With this function, you can mark a message, then move around within the message area as much as you like, and go back to the message you started with, by simply pressing <TAB>. Whenever you enter an area, a bookmark will automatically be placed on the current (i.e.: the lastread) message. <TAB> : Go back to 'bookmarked' message. This key will let you go back to the message you earlier marked with CTRL-<ENTER>. timEd v1.10 manual - page 33 <space> By pressing the spacebar, you tag (mark) the current message. This will be indicated by the text '[marked]' at the right of the screen (in the header). You can tag as many messages as you like in an area (up to 16000), in order to later perform a certain action on these tagged messages (like copying, moving, deleting, writing to file etc). When leaving an area that still has tagged messages, timEd will ask you whether you want to remove these tags or preserve them. That way you can even leave an area, and come back later and still find your 'tags' there. It does take some memory though (this might be a concern for people in tight memory situations). Moving to the next/previous marked message can be done by pressing ctrl-up and ctrl-down. F1 : Help This shows a short help-screen. F9 : Lookup FROM: NAME of message This will let timEd do a nodelist lookup for the name that is found in the from: field of the current message. (Note that this also works in echomail areas!). If you're reading a message, and would like to know more about the person that wrote the current message, you can force timEd to look in the nodelist. If timEd finds the name and pops up a window with the name(s), you can press <tab> to get even more details about the node. F10 : Lookup origin ADDRESS of message This will let timEd do a nodelist lookup for the origination address of the current message. (Note that this also works in echomail areas!). If you're reading a message, and would like to know more about the person that wrote the current message, you can force timEd to look in the nodelist. If timEd finds the address and pops up a window with the node, you can press <tab> to get even more details about the node. Shift-F10 : Lookup TO: NAME of message This function is similar to the two functions above, but will look up the name in the to: field. timEd v1.10 manual - page 34 ALT-X : Exit timEd This will return you to the DOS prompt. If defined in timEd.cfg, an echotoss.log file will be generated at this time. CTRL-N : Change current Username. Pick one of the usernames defined (by the NAME keywords) in timEd.cfg. The name you pick will be used to enter new messages. It will be the default to use until you leave the message area. CTRL-A : Change current Address. A function similar to CTRL-N, but to pick one of the defined ADDRESSes. F2 : highlight keywords in current message This command can highlight lines in the current message that contain a certain keyword. If you execute this function, timEd will ask for a keyword to look for. All lines containing the keyword will be highlighted, and the part of the message containing the first match will be shown, with the first match centered. ALT-H, H : Edit 'Hello' strings This will show a pop-up box, where you can edit the 'hellostring', the 'rephello' string, your 'signoff' and 'origin line' FOR THE CURRENT AREA ONLY. With this you can customize your setup on a per-area basis! {+} The edited strings can be saved in the message area, so timEd can continue using them at a later time as well. Whenever timEd detects a 'custom setup' file *in a message area*, it will use the strings contained in that file (*only* in *that* message area), instead of the defaults defined in timEd.cfg. TimEd saves the info in: <areaname>.SQT for Squish areas, timed.dat for *.MSG areas, and <areaname>.JTI for JAM areas. MSG##.TIM for Hudson areas (## is the board number). The origin is saved in: <areaname>.SQO for Squish areas, origin for *.MSG areas, and <areaname>.JTO for JAM areas. MSG##.TIM for Hudson areas (## is the board number). timEd v1.10 manual - page 35 ALT-U, U: User menu (Message base maintenance). ----------------------------------------------- This menu is totally user definable. It can be defined in the timkeys.cfg file, where you can also redefine the keyboard and create macros. The timEd package comes with a sample setup for these menus, which is what is described here. But please remember that you can modify this menu to do whatever you like! There's one option that is present for all types of areas: Execute mail processor. This command will execute 'mail.bat' (or mail.cmd for OS/2 systems). You can use this to spawn your echomail processor, without the need to exit timEd. For *.MSG areas, the only other option is to renumber. TimEd will renumber the *.MSG area. For Squish areas, there are five other choices: Pack, Re-Index, Fix, Inspect and UNdelete. This will call SQpack, SQreidx, SQfix and SQinfo respectively (with the message area as parameter), or undelete all deleted messages in an area. See to it that the programs (SQpack etc) are in your path. For JAM areas, there is an 'Inspect' option. This will call a program called JAMINFO, with the path + basename of the current area as as the only command line parameter. JAMINFO is a diagnostic utility that will scan JAM areas for errors. Some considerations: If you have a Squish area stuffed away in a directory that has a dot in it (like c:\msgs\sysop.028\sqdfile), SQpack will get confused (only SQpack, not the other utils) and think you specified an area.dat file on the commandline. This will happen if you would do this: SQpack c:\msgs\sysop.028\sqdfile .. which is what timEd does. So it won't work for such areas. CTRL-F : File request generation. --------------------------------- When you press CTRL-F, timEd will try to find filenames in a message (usually seen in 'file announcement' messages for SDS etc). Unlike other message editors, timEd does not (even try to) support specific 'announcement programs' by recognizing their 'formats'. There are many programs out there, and modern ones even allow you to design your own format. I think it's a waste of (programming) effort and code timEd v1.10 manual - page 36 (size/speed) to try and support them. It just looks for strings that look like filenames. This search is 'extension driven': timEd simply looks for file extensions :) Currently recognized: "arj", "zip", "arc", "pak", "lzh", "sqz", "com", "exe", "lha", "zoo", "txt", "sdn", "sda", "ans", "jpg", "gif", "tar", "rar", "ico", "bat", "uc2", "cmd", "bmp", "wav", "avi" When you press ctrl-f, timEd will try to find those extensions in the message, and a list with all filenames will pop up on the right hand side of your screen. You can scroll through the list, select files with <enter> or <space>, select all with '+', unselect all with '-', accept the current selection with <ctrl-enter>. Just as with a file attach. Limited message scrolling is still available: press <ctrl-pgup> and <ctrl-pgdn> to move the message (in case you don't even recognize the filenames, and the descriptions are somewhere else in the message). In case timEd missed a filename, or if you simply want to add one not listed in the message (like FILES), press <INS> and type the name of the file. It will be added to the list, already selected. If timEd can't find any files, it'll show a list with only "FILES" on it. You can also abuse this to just request FILES from someone that seems to have an interesting BBS (but is not announcing files in that message). When you press <ctrl-enter> to accept, timEd will take you to the area selection screen, where you can pick an appropriate (netmail) area. It'll then let you edit the message header (maybe add crash, or maybe do a lookup on the SysOp name to pick another high speed line of the same system), and after you press <enter> it'll write the file request message(s) for you (empty, we don't want to write senseless "automatic file request" messages). Watch your phone bill! :-) timEd v1.10 manual - page 37 6.3 The List Mode. ALT-L, L : List headers, normal format. ALT-B, B : List headers, no TO: field, broad subject field. This will show you a list of message headers in the current area. Use <cursor up>, <cursor down>, <page up>, <page down>, <home> and <end> to move around through the list. Press <ENTER> or <cursor right> to read the highlighted message. You can also press <TAB> to get a display of the full header of the currently highlighted message, without leaving the list mode. <ESC> will take you back to the current message before you pressed ALT-L. Other keys that are active in 'list mode': <Space> : mark highlighted message + : mark range of msgs - : unmark range of msgs This will show a pop-up box, where you can enter the range of messages to be marked. ALT+ : mark all messages in this area ALT- : unmark all messages in this area ALT-D, D, <del> : kill all marked msgs. ALT-M, M : move all marked msgs to another area. ALT-C, C : copy marked msgs to another area. ALT-W, W : write marked msgs to file. ALT-P, P : print marked messages. F1 : Show a short help screen. ALT-J, J : Jump to DOS. ALT-S, S : Switch between 'broad' and normal subject width (for Usenet messages). 6.4 TimEd's Find feature. ALT-F, F : Find message This will show the Find screen, where you can set the criteria for the search. It looks like this: timEd v1.10 manual - page 38 ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ timEd - Search configuration manager ║ ║───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ timed (B--SK ---) & netmgr (B--S- ---) ║ ║ wimm (B--S- ---) ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║─────────────────[ Search options: ]───────────────────────║ ║ Areas : All Messages: New Direction: Forward ║ ║ Action: Read ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ There are two main parts in the screen: A. The biggest part is the part where the strings that timEd will search for are shown. It consists of the strings themselves, followed by the search options for that item between brackets [an example: "timed (B--SK ---)"]. More than one item can be combined. B. The smaller part of the screen, at the bottom. This is where the search options that do not belong to one specific search item are shown. This includes things like which areas to search, and what the direction of the search is. Part A, the search strings. --------------------------- AND and OR searches. TimEd is capable of doing 'AND' searches (that is: search for more than one string, and all strings must be present for the message to be consider a 'match' for the search. It can also do 'OR' searches (search for more than one string, if any of these is present, the message is considered a match). AND and OR can also be combined in a search (string A _and_ string B must be present, _or_ string C must be present in a message). TimEd displays the elements of an 'AND' search on 1 line, like this: timed (B--SK ---) & netmgr (B--S- ---) This line holds two elements, separated by the AND token ('&'). Both elements consist of a string to search for ('timed' and 'netmgr' respectively), and the search options for that item (between brackets, let's ignore the search options for now, we'll get to them later). The example above means: a message must both contain 'timed' AND 'netmgr' to be considered a 'match'. timEd v1.10 manual - page 39 A line can also contain just one element, in that case only that element has to be present for a match. The elements for an 'OR' search are shown as different lines, like this: timed (B--SK ---) wimm (B--S- ---) The above means: a message must contain 'timed', OR 'wimm' to be considered a match. Finally, AND and OR can be combined, where we get the screen that we saw earlier: timed (B--SK ---) & netmgr (B--S- ---) wimm (B--S- ---) This means: a message must contain 'timed' AND 'netmgr', OR it must contain 'wimm', in order to be considered a match. Search options. The search options are shown behind the string, for example: timed (B--SK ---) Here the search options are B, S and K. The following options are possible: B - Search for the string in the body of the message. F - Search for the string in the from: field of the message. T - Search for the string in the to: field of the message. S - Search for the string in the subject field of the message. K - Search for the string in the kludges of the message. W - Search for 'whole words' only (not a part of a word or substring). C - Search is case sensitive. ! - String must NOT be present. Certain letters, that represent certain options, will always show up in the same location. If the 'search body' option is active, the 'B' that indicates this will always be the first letter. If you do not want to search the body, the first 'letter' of the search options field will be a minus sign ('-'). Entering search strings and options. This is very easy. Just press <INS> to enter a new string to search for, or press <enter> on a certain line that you wish to change. Press <del> to delete an existing item. timEd v1.10 manual - page 40 For editing, you will be presented with the following pop up menu: ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ timEd - Search configuration manager ║ ║─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ timed (B--SK ---) & netmgr (B--S- ---) ║ ║ wimm (B--S- ╒══════════════════════════════════╕ ║ ║ │ String: Options: │ ║ ║ │──────────────────────────────────│ ║ ║ │ timed B--SK --- │ ║ ║ │ netmgr B--S- --- │ ║ ║ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ ║ ║ ╘══════════════════════════════════╛ ║ ║ ║ ║──────────────────────[ Search options: ] ───────────────────────║ ║ Areas : All Messages: New Direction: Forward ║ ║ Action: Read ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ In this popup window, you can enter the separate elements of the 'AND' search and it's options. You can enter up to 10 elements for an 'AND' search. Once again, you can add new items with <INS> and edit existing ones with <enter>. You can delete an existing item with <del>. Once ready with editing, press <ESC> to leave this part. First, you can type in the string to search for. The press <enter>, and you will get the following pop-up menu to set the search options: ╒═══════════════════════════════════╕ │ String: Options: │ │─────╒═════════════════════════╕───│ │ test│ Search body │- │ │ │ Search from: field │ │ │ │ Search to: field │ │ │ │ Search subject │ │ │ │ Search kludges │ │ │ │─────────────────────────│ │ │ │ Whole words only │ │ │ │ Case sensitive search │ │ │ │ Should NOT be present │ │ │ ╘═════════════════════════╛ │ │ │ ╘═══════════════════════════════════╛ You can scroll through this menu, and press <enter> to toggle a certain option 'on' or 'off'. Once ready, press <esc> to leave this part. timEd v1.10 manual - page 41 Part B. Setting the search options. From the main screen, you can press ALT-O to set the search options. You will be presented with the following menu: ╒═════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Areas All │ │ Messages New │ │ Direction Forward │ │ Action Read │ ╘═════════════════════════════════════╛ You can scroll through the options, pressing <enter> to switch between the different possibilities. To select an 'Action' you will once again get a pop-up menu, where you can choose what you want to do with messages that are found: Read - Read the found message(s). Mark - Mark ('tag') the message(s). Delete - Delete the message(s). Write to file - Write all found messages to a file. Copy - Copy messages to another area. Move - Move the messages to another area. {+} Since it can be a lot of work to enter a bunch of strings with their options, timEd offers you the possibility to save the search profile of a certain area. If you press ALT-S, timEd will permanently save the search profile. Whenever you enter the Find function in that particular area again, timEd will read in these options from disk. This way, you can regularly do quite complex searches in certain areas without any trouble. It is also possible to save a default search profile (ALT-D in search manager). When the search manager is first entered, this default profile will be loaded, unless a profile was saved for that particular area (in which case that particular profile is obviously loaded). After pressing ALT-R (clear all search strings) in the search manager, timEd will, in addition to clearing all search strings, ask whether the default profile should be reloaded. Once all options are set, and strings to look for are entered, you can start a search by pressing ctrl-<enter>. TimEd will then search where you told him to search, for what you told him to search for. Whenever it finds a match, it will do with it what you told him to do with it :-) It will search headers, kludges or bodies, all areas, the current area timEd v1.10 manual - page 42 etc. And mark, copy, move, delete, write to file or let you read every match it finds. During the search, you can influence timEd's behaviour: <cursor left>: timEd will search backward, even if it was currently scanning forward. <cursor right>: timEd will search forward, even if it was currently scanning backward. '+' Skip rest of this area, and go on scanning in the next area (searching forward from now on). '-' Skip rest of this area, and go on scanning in the previous area (searching backward from now on). <esc> Abort the scanning. These keys can be using during the actual scanning process. They can also be used when you are reading a certain message that timEd found (evidently only if you set the 'action' to 'read' and not something else like 'tag'). timEd v1.10 manual - page 43 7. TimEd keyboard reference This section simply lists all available key combinations that should do something useful in timEd. Features marked with {+} are for registered users only. In general: F1 will give you some help in several places. Area selection screen: ---------------------- ALT-S : Scan unscanned areas for new mail ALT-T : Scan all areas (even if already scanned) for new mail ALT-P {+} : Personal mailscan in all areas When a message is found: ALT-R : Reply ALT-N : Reply in other area etc. <ESC> : Interrupt scan ALT-J : Jump to OS (Shell) ALT-X : Exit timEd <ENTER> : Enter highlighted area <right arrow> : Enter highlighted area ALT-L : Enter area in L)ist mode <space> : Tag area. ALT-W : Write out current 'tagset'. ALT-R : Read in 'tagset' from disk. ALT-M : Change current 'view' on areas (all, new, tagged etc.) F1 : Help Message reading screen. ----------------------- @ = hold down ALT key. ^ = hold down CTRL key. Sh = hold down Shift key. home : Top of message end : Bottom of msg @E, E, ins : Enter message @R, R : Reply to message @T, T : Reply, fast (don't edit header) @N, N : Reply in another area @O, O : Reply 'followup' (reply addressed to the same person). @C, C : Change message ^H : Change header @S, S : Change attributes @D, D, del : Delete message timEd v1.10 manual - page 44 @P, P : Print msg @W, W : Write to file ^U : Unreceive msg (toggle 'received' bit off). ^B : Bounce reply (reply, don't quote but show original message) @M, M : Move/Copy/Forward space : Mark message @L, L : List headers @B, B : Broad list @H, H : Edit 'Hello' info @I, I : Msg & Area info @F, F : Find message ^A, ^N : Change address or change name ^F : Generate file request from files found in this message. @V, K : Toggle display of kludges @X : Exit timEd @U, U : User defined menu to launch macros @J, J : Jump to OS (Shell) ^E : Run an external program '+', '-' : Goto Next/previous area with new mail ^up/^down : Goto Next/previous marked message <number> : Goto msg # (specific number) right, left : Next, previous msg enter : next message ^end, ^home : Last, first message ^right, ^left : goto reply, original @+/@right : next reply (JAM) esc, @A : Quit area ^enter : Set bookmark TAB : Return to Bookmark F2 ; Search for a keyword in the current message F10 : Lookup origination address of message in nodelist Sh-F10 : Lookup TO: name in nodelist F9 : Lookup FROM: name in nodelist Message list screen. -------------------- <ENTER>, <right> : Goto highlighted msg up, down : Move up, down in list page up, down : Move page up, down in list home, end : First, last msg in area <SPACE> : Toggle mark of highlighted message <TAB> : Show full header of highlighted message + : Mark range of messages ALT+ : Mark all messages - : Unmark range of messages ALT- : Unmark all messages ALT-D, D, <del> : Delete marked messages ALT-M, M : Move marked messages ALT-C, C : Copy marked message ALT-W, W : Write marked msgs to file timEd v1.10 manual - page 45 ALt-S, S : Switch between broad/normal list ALT-J, J : Jump to OS (Shell) <ESC> : Return to message reading screen F1 : Help The 'find feature' screen. -------------------------- ALT-R : clear all search strings ALT-S {+} : save current search arguments ALT-O : edit generic search options ALT-D : save current profile as default profile ctrl <ENTER> : start search When a match is found: ALT-R : Reply to msg ALT-N : Reply other area etc. Right arrow : search for next match While searching or match found: <ESC> : Interrupt search + : Skip rest of this area, continue search in next area - : Skip rest of this area, continue search in previous area <right> : Go on searching forward <left> : Go on searching backward File attach selection. ---------------------- <ENTER>, <SPACE> : Toggle mark on file + : Mark all files - : Unmark all files ctrl <ENTER> : Accept selection <ESC> : Go back to subject editing The Internal editor. -------------------- ctrl-<cursor right> : jump word right ALT-S : Save Message ctrl-<cursor left> : jump word left ESC : Abort message ctrl-<home> : Top of message ALT-J : Jump to OS (Shell) ctrl-<end> : End of message ALT-I : Import file ctrl-<page up> : Top of screen ALT-H : Toggle HCR display ctrl-<page down> : Bottom of screen ALT-Z : delete to end ctrl-<del> : Delete to end of line ALT-L : Mark block border ctrl-T : Delete word right ALT-U : Unmark block ctrl-<backspace> : Delete word left ALT-M : Move block ctrl-Y : Erase line ALT-C : Copy block ctrl-U : Unerase line ALT-D : Delete block timEd v1.10 manual - page 46 F1 : Help F4 : Dupline. F2 : Save msg (timsaf.~!~) ^E : External program ALT-W : Write text to disk timEd v1.10 manual - page 47 8. Effective use of timEd: some features explained This chapter explains the use of a number of features that are present in timEd. These topics have not been fully explained in the earlier sections. In order to make good use of these options, reading these sections is required. 8.1 Creating netmail messages. This is a special section on the netmail area. Netmail is different from echomail in many ways, and timEd behaves differently when you enter netmail. While in the netmail area, you will also have to enter a fidonet address, in addition to the name of the recipient. Timed can help you in several ways, especially if a Version 7 nodelist, a FrontDoor style nodelist or a fidouser.lst format list is present. Changing your name and address. ------------------------------- First of all, when timEd lets you edit a header, it will put you in the To: name field. The From: name (your name) and address (your address) will already be entered, using the defaults that are active for that area. If you used CTRL-A (change address) or CTRL-N (change name) just before entering a message, timEd will use that name/address. While editing a header, however, you can still edit that info. Just press <cursor up> and you will go to the origination address and name fields. There you can edit them to be whatever you want, or press TAB to pick one of the names/addresses you entered in timEd.cfg. Entering a (TO:) name: ---------------------- When you enter a name (or part of the last name) in the TO: field and press <ENTER>, timEd will try to find that name in the nodelist and when found it will show a pop-up box with name(s) and address(es) it found. If you defined a bunch of macros in timEd.cfg, you can also press <TAB> at this stage to get a pop-up list of all the macros that are defined. You can then use the cursor keys to scroll through the list, and press <enter> to pick one. TimEd will try to find the exact string you typed. If it cannot find timEd v1.10 manual - page 48 it, it will go to the nearest match of what you typed. Apart from that, timEd will pop up the nodelist browser, where you can scroll up and down through the nodelist. If you want to know a bit more about a certain node, just press <tab> and timEd will show you a few extra details about that particular node. If you then press <ENTER>, timEd will fill in the selected address for you. If you want none of the addresses that are shown, press <ESC>, timEd will then let you fill in an address manually. This function works for all supported formats: Version 7, FrontDoor nodelist and fidouser.lst. TimEd can only use one format at the same time. So you can use a fidouser.lst style list, or a Frodo nodelist, or a V7 nodelist, but not two or all of them at the same time. The above is valid when entering *new* netmail. When replying to a message, or when changing a message, timEd will see that an address is already present, and it will normally only check if that node (the ADDRESS) exists. If it doesn't, timEd will display "Unknown Address". Additionally, a 'fresh' name lookup will be done if you change the TO: name field, or if you press F2 when you're in the TO: name field. Entering an address: -------------------- In the TO: field, you can also enter an address (!). Again, timEd will try to locate that address in the nodelist and try to fill the name in for you. There are several shortcuts when entering an address. When you don't type in a 3D/4D address, timEd will try to fill in the missing parts with the default from *your* address. An example: My address is 2:281/527. If I now enter: 281/1, so with a missing ZONE number, timEd will fill in *my* zone number (that's 2, so the address becomes 2:281/1). In this case, I could even have entered: 1, because then timEd would have filled in net 281 (my NET) and zone 2 (my ZONE), producing the wanted address (2:281/1). I can also enter .1, (so missing zone, net and node info) and timEd will fill in my zone (2), my net (281) and my node (527), producing 2:281/527.1. After 'expanding' the address, timEd will try to find it in the nodelist. timEd v1.10 manual - page 49 This function only supports the Version 7 and FrontDoor nodelists. For the fidouser.lst lists, this is not possible. As with a name lookup, timEd will popup the nodelist browser so you can scroll through the nodelist to search for a certain node. Generating a file-request message. ---------------------------------- When you enter a message with the 'file request' attribute, timEd will ask if you want to include any text in the message. If you send a file request message with a body that is empty, it will usually be automatically killed on the destination system. This way the SysOp of the destination system won't have to wade through all these useless messages that consist of one line only ('This is an automatic file request'). Generating a file-attach message. --------------------------------- When editing a header, you can press ALT-A to attach files to a message. TimEd will put you in the 'Attach file part' of the screen (the lower left part of the screen) where you can type name(s) of files to attach. TimEd will then check whether the filename(s) entered exist, and if you entered a wildcard and more than one match is found, timEd will show a list with matching files. You can then 'tag' the files you want to attach. A file-attach list may look like this: -=- Date : 25-┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ From : Ger│ Current filespec: c:\files\c\t*.* │ To : ROn└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Subj : c:\files\c\t*.* ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ TABX.C 3 K │ │ TADV2DEM.ARJ 53 K │ │ TC1TUTOR.ARJ 105 K │ │ TC2TUTOR.ARJ 83 K │ │ TDT-2.ZIP 268 K │ │ TDT-3.ZIP 249 K │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ -=- timEd v1.10 manual - page 50 You can now 'tag' files with <ENTER> or <SPACE>, move around with <cursor up> and <cursor down> etc, and accept the currently tagged files with <CTRL-ENTER>. You can select all files in one action by pressing '+', and un-select them all by pressing '-'. This process will be repeated for all entered file specifications. 8.2 AKA matching. This option is interesting if you have more than 1 address. If you set the 'AKAmatching' keyword in timEd.cfg to 'Yes', timEd will try to find the most appropriate address to use when writing a message. Say, for example, that you have two addresses: 2:281/527 and 60:100/112. If you write a messages to 2:500/133, you probably want to use your 2:281/527 address. If you write a message to 60:100/1, you probably want to use your 60:100/112 address. In this case, timEd would try to find the address (AKA) that 'matches' the destination address best. It first looks for a matching zone, and if more than one match is found, it'll try to find an address where both 'zone' and 'net' match. If there is still more than one match after that, it will just take the first match. This is always active (in the netmail area): when writing a new message, a reply, or changing a message. If timEd selects an address different from the address that was currently used (so if anything changed), it will say so ("AKA matched") just below the addresses on the screen. If you want to force it at a certain moment, press F2 when on the TO: address field. TimEd will stop matching the AKA's, as soon as you changed your address manually. So if you don't agree with timEd's AKA matching in a certain situation, just manually change it (while editing the header, you can 'cursor up' to the from: address field) to what you want it to be, and timEd will leave it at that. It will not match AKA's anymore after you did that. (Of course, when you enter another new message after that, the game will start again :) AKA matching is only active when you enter a new message. When changing a message (or header), AKA matching won't kick in. You can, however, still force AKA matching by pressing F2. timEd v1.10 manual - page 51 The behaviour of the AKA matching logic can be influenced for particular cases by using the AKAFORCE keyword. See the timEd.cfg keyword reference for more information. 8.3 TimEd's Carbon Copy (CC:) feature. TimEd can also make 'carbon copies' of netmail messages you write. It can happen that you want to send an exact copy of a message to someone other than the original recipient of the message. For example, when I release a new beta version, I should have to write the same netmail message for every beta tester. Now say I want to write the same message to Kasper Kwant, ROn van der Nagel and Frank Troost. I would enter the message, addressing it to Kasper Kwant, and on the first line of the message I would write: cc: ROn van.der.Nagel, Frank Troost When the message is saved, a copy would be generated for both ROn and Frank. Rules for the cc: line(s): * It must start on the first line of the message. * If all names do not fit on one line, proceed on the next line, and put cc: in front of it again. * You can use a full name (it will be looked up in the nodelist), a 'macro' (it will be expanded) or an address (it will be looked up in the nodelist). This is exactly the same as you can enter at the TO: prompt of a 'normal' netmail message. Nodelist lookup is a bit different, though: if timEd only finds one match for a certain name, it will use that to generate the message. If more than one match is found, it will prompt you with a list. In addition, if you type a full name which is *not* present in the nodelist (or if you don't want timEd to look in the nodelist, for whatever reason, like speed), you can also specify *both* name and address, separated by a '#', like this: Gerard van Essen#2:281/527 And finally, if you regularly send CC:'s to the same bunch of people, you can put their names, macro's or addresses in a file, one per line, and specify that filename in the cc: line, like this: <c:\timed\names.cc The '<' is chosen as it looks like 'redirection' in DOS :-) timEd v1.10 manual - page 52 The contents of such a file could be: -=- Kasper Kwant ROn van.der.Nagel Frank Troost pietje#2:281/527.29 -=- Of course, you can combine all this. A full example (let's say that I have a macro for my HUB, called 'hub'): cc: 1, hub, Kasper Kwant, <names.cc cc: ROn van.der.Nagel, .23 ■ '1' will be expanded to myzone:mynet/1 (in this case 2:281/1) ■ 'Kasper Kwant' will be looked up in the nodelist. ■ The file 'names.cc' will be read and all persons listed in that file will get a copy. ■ ROn van.der.Nagel will be looked up in the nodelist. ■ 2:281/527.23 will get a copy too. All CC: messages that are generated by timEd will be marked "kill/sent", so you won't have lots of copies of the same message in your netmail area. The attributes of the original message will be left untouched, of course. Before writing out these messages, timEd will expand the CC: line(s) you entered into <name> (<address>) form, like: Gerard van Essen (2:281/527), so that your macro's and addresses are converted into something everybody can understand. You can prevent this from happening, by using the 'CCVERBOSE No' in timEd.cfg. In that case, timEd will only show the number of carbon copies sent, not the names addresses of the other recipients. You can also hide _one_ of the recipients from the list of names that timEd generates, by placing a '#' in front of it, like this: CC: Gerard van Essen, #Secret Lover, My Wife In this case 'Secret Lover' is not mentioned in the list of other recipients, even though he/she will get a copy. Finally, you can also use HC: instead of CC:. In that case, _all_ names will be hidden from the list and nobody will see that this concerns a CC: message. timEd v1.10 manual - page 53 8.4 TimEd's crossposting feature. TimEd can crosspost messages. Crossposting is a function that will place a copy of a message that you write in several other message areas. This is a heavily abused function (we didn't split up FidoNet into different areas for nothing!), but it can be useful in some cases. You can make timEd place copies into other areas by writing... XC: <areaname>[, <areaname>, <areaname>] .. at the top of the message. A copy of your message will be placed in all areas mentioned behind the XC:, where <areaname> should be a valid areatag. Example: From: Gerard van Essen To : All Subj: New timEd release! -------------------------------------- XC: artware, enet.soft, software.028 Hello All! [....] This will cause copies of this message to be placed in 3 other areas: artware, enet.soft, software.028. 8.5 Message attributes After editing a message header, timEd surprises you with the following screen: ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [P]rivate [O]rphan │ │ [C]rash [Q] ret. receipt re[Q]uest │ │ [A]ttach file [Y] return receipt │ │ [R]equest file │ │ [K]ill/sent Extra 'flags': │ │ [L]ocal │ │ [H]old [E]rase file when sent │ │ sca[N]ned [X] archive file when sent │ │ [F]orward [I]mmediate │ │ [S]ent [T]runcate file when sent │ │ recei[V]ed [W] Lock │ │ [D]irect [M] confirm receipt request│ │ [U]pdate req. │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ timEd v1.10 manual - page 54 This screen lists several message attributes that can be used to influence the handling of your message by echomail processors, mailers etc. For echomail areas, only the following attributes are usually useful and needed: Local - This tells other software that this message was generated locally (i.e.: on this system). In order to let the echomail processor send a message out, the Local bit is often required. It does *not* mean that the message shouldn't be sent out (so: stay 'local' on that system), on the contrary. TimEd automatically sets this bit on messages it creates. Sent - This indicates the message is already (actually) sent, or that the message was already processed by the echomail processor (that is: 'scanned out' and placed into a mailpacket). Scanned - This is practically the same: the message was already scanned (processed) by the echomail processor. Some msgbase format use a 'Sent' bit, others (Squish) use 'scanned' to indicate more or less the same. Received - This indicates that the message was received by the person it was addressed to. So, if you write a message to 'Pietje Puk', the 'received' bit will be set after Pietje Puk actually read your message. In netmail messages, many other attributes can be used, in addition to the four attributes mentioned above. These attributes are not always available, but depends on support by other software (like your echomail processor and/or mailer) and message base format (some formats simply do not support a certain attribute). Additionally, some programs implement the attributes somewhat differently from other programs. Especially your mailer manual could reveal interesting details in this respect. Private - This indicates that it is a Private message, that should only be read by the person who wrote the message, and the person to whom the message is addressed. BBS packages usually honour this attribute and won't show the message to anyone else (except the SysOp of the system, who can always see everything :-) Crash - This indicates that this message is 'high priority'. It should be sent out quickly, often regardless of schedules or cost. The message will definitely not be routed through another system. timEd v1.10 manual - page 55 Attach - File attach. This indicates that a file is attached to this message. You can use this to send files to the person the message is also sent to. When the message is delivered on the recipient's system, the file is sent as well. It 'travels with' the message. The name of the attached file should be placed in the 'Subject' field of the message header. File attach messages can usually not be routed, you must deliver it directly. Request - File request. By sending a file request message to another system, you are requesting (asking for) a file. When your mailer (or echomail processor) 'sees' that you are sending out a file request message, it will take certain actions, and ask for the file to be delivered. The name of the file you want to receive should be placed in the message header's 'Subject' field. File requests can usually not be routed, you must directly call the system, that has the file that you want, to receive it. Kill/sent - This indicates that the message should be deleted from the message base, as soon as it is delivered on the destination system, or as soon as it is packed into an outbound mailbundle. Hold - Hold for pickup. Hold (don't send out) this message, until the 'hold' attribute is removed, or until the person that the message is addressed to calls you to pick it up. Forward - This attribute is placed on messages that were not created on your system, and are not destined for your system either (in other words: this is a 'routed' message, that someone else generated, and that is travelling through your system to it's destination). DIR - Direct. This message must be delivered directly at its destination. It should not be routed through other systems. Update request - This is similar to a file request, but the requested file will only be sent, if the file on the other system is _newer_ than the copy of the file that you already have on your system. Orphan - Indicates that this message is destined for a system that does not appear in the nodelist (Frontdoor environment usually). timEd v1.10 manual - page 56 RRQ - Return receipt request (RRQ). This requests a return message to be sent by the mail processing software of the system the message is destined for, to confirm arrival of the message on the system. Return receipt - A return receipt message that is sent in reply to an RRQ has this attribute. KFS - Kill File Sent, Delete the attached file as soon as the message (and file) is delivered at its destination. IMM - Immediate, high priority mail. Do not route, send out immediately, do not care about schedules or cost. TFS - Truncate File when sent. When the message (and the file) is sent, the file will be truncated (the length of the file will be set to 0 bytes). Lock - This message is locked. Do not pack, send out, delete or whatever. CFM - Confirm Receipt Request. This asks for the software of the destination system to send a confirmation message, as soon as the recipient has actually READ the message. Not all attributes are supported by all programs and message base formats. Some attributes can be represented by a setting a bit in the attribute field in the message headers, others have to be 'emulated' using a FLAGS kludge. This makes the situation somewhat unclear. Below is a table that tries to help you a bit: timEd v1.10 manual - page 57 JAM Squish Hudson *.MSG Local x x x x Sent x x x x Scanned - x - - Received x x x x Private x x x x Crash x x x x Attach x x x x Request x x F x Kill/sent x x x x Hold x x F x Forward x x - x DIR x F(*) F x Update request - x - x Orphan x x - - RRQ x x x x Return receipt - x x x KFS x F F F IMM x F F F TFS x F F F Lock x F F F CFM x x F F Entries that are marked with 'x' are always available. Entries marked with '-' are not available. Entries with 'F' can only be represented with the FLAGS kludge, which means that you have to have 'ArcMailAttach Yes' in your configuration in order to make them available from within timEd. Otherwise, it will allow you to set them, but when the message is written to disk, timEd will not add a FLAGS kludge, causing them to be lost. (*) The DIRECT attribute is a strange thing. Squishmail (the tosser, that is) can 'simulate' that attribute by setting BOTH the 'crash' and 'hold' bits. Squishmail will also NOT recognize the FLAGS kludge. On the other hand, some other programs DO support the FLAGS kludge, and will certainly not know what to do when both 'crash' and 'hold' attributes are set. In environments where Squish takes care of the netmail (Squish combined with Binkley), you need to set ArcMailAttach to 'No' and timEd will use the 'simulated' DIRECT bit. If you set 'ArcMailAttach' to Yes, timEd will write out the FLAGS kludge (all other cases, even Squishmail if combined with FrontDoor). Confusing? Yeah. But I didn't invent it! :-) timEd v1.10 manual - page 58 8.6 Using the internal editor If you put 'Editor Internal' in timEd.cfg, you will be able to use timEd's internal editor. This section describes the main commands you can use within the editor. First some general information: * The editor automatically wraps lines. You don't have to press <ENTER> at the end of a line, in order to go to the next line. Just keep on typing, timEd will place you at the beginning of the next line automatically, together with the word you were typing (if it doesn't fit on the previous line). * The editor also actively rewraps paragraphs if you insert text in the middle, or delete text somewhere. TimEd will rewrap immediately, so you see the result of your actions at once. * The editor is 'quotesmart': it know the difference between a line that is a quote, and a normal line. It does not only show quoted lines in a different colour, but also handles them differently. For example: when you press <ENTER> in the middle of a quoted line, timEd will move the rest of the line down, but will also place a quotestring in front of it! Similarly, if you delete text in a quoted line, and press <del> at the end of that line, timEd will try to append the next line to the current line. It will, however, not append the entire line, but will first strip the quotestring at the beginning! All this may sound a bit difficult, but it is meant to make editing quotes just as easy as editing quoted lines. It may be difficult to explain, but when you use it, you will see that it feels 'natural'! Try it! First of all: help is always available by pressing the F1 key! The editor is mainly a standard editor: you can just type the text you want to enter, use the cursor keys (and page up / page down) to move around, and the <INSERT> key to switch between the 'Insert' and 'TypeOver' modes. There are also some other 'movement' commands: ctrl-<cursor left> : jump one word left ctrl-<cursor right> : jump one word right ctrl-<home> : Go to the top of the entire message ctrl-<end> : Go to the end of the entire message ctrl-<page up> : Go to the top of the screen ctrl-<page down> : Go to the bottom of the screen timEd v1.10 manual - page 59 Some commands to delete text: ctrl-T : Delete the word to the right of the cursor. ctrl-<backspace> : Delete the word to the left of the cursor. ctrl-Y : Erase the entire line. ctrl-U : Unerase a line that was erased with CTRL-Y. ctrl-<del> : Delete from the cursor to the end of the line. Some block commands: ALT-L : Mark block border. Use this at the beginning and the end of a block. You can only mark entire lines, not a part of a line. The block functions will also work if you only mark one line. ALT-U : Unmark block. This removes the mark you defined earlier with ALT-L. ALT-M : Move block. Move a block to another position. The block is inserted below the line the cursor is currently on. ALT-C : Copy block Copy a block to another position. The block is inserted below the line the cursor is currently on. ALT-D : Delete block This will delete all the marked lines. They can NOT be undeleted with CTRL-U! ALT-Z : Zap quoted lines until end of text. This will delete the quoted and empty lines below the cursor, until a non-quoted, not empty line is found. This is useful when editing a quoted message. With this, you can 'zap' all quotes until the end of the message, without deleting your signoff and origin lines. Some general commands: F4 : duplicate current line. An exact copy of the current line will be inserted on the line below the current line. ALT-H : Toggle HCR display (HCR == Hard Carriage Return). The editor has an option to display the 'hard returns' in the text. timEd v1.10 manual - page 60 In fidonet, 'hard returns' should only be at the end of a PARAGRAPH. The internal editor will rewrap entire paragraphs, which means it will wrap until a line with a 'hard return' is encountered. Other fidonet systems (receivers of your message) will do the same. The HCR display gives you total control over the location of any hard returns. If you don't want a certain part of the message to ever be rewrapped, you can place 'hard returns' at several places. TimEd can show you exactly where the HCR's are located! ALT-J : Shell to OS This will give you a shell to the operating system (DOS or OS/2). CTRL-E: Run external program With this command, you can run an external program. See the special section on running external programs in this manual for more information! ALT-I : Import file This option will let you import a file from disk. A pop-up box will ask you for the name of the file to import. You can enter a wildcard here (like c:\doc\*.*). If more than one file is found, timEd will display a selection list where you can choose the file you want to import (by pressing <ENTER>). If you enter a directory name (like c:\msgs), timEd will pop up a directory listing of that directory (in this case: c:\msgs\*.*). The directory lister sorts the files found in a directory, and allows you to move into other directories. ALT-E : Edit header. This will let you edit the header of the message you are currently working on. That way you can still change the attributes, or attach a file or something like that, even if you already started editing the body! ALT-S : Save Message This will end the editing session. The text you entered will be used to generate a message. timEd v1.10 manual - page 61 F10 : Save message, go through 'EditSaveMenu' first. This will end the editing session, but will first show you the EditSaveMenu, where you can choose to do spellchecking, encrypting, and so on. ESC : Abort message This will end the editing session. The text you entered will be lost, and no message will be generated. It is possible to get a confirmation first, look at the 'Confirm_Edit_Exit' keyword for more info. ALT-W - write entire text to a file. This writes the entire text to a file. You will be prompted to enter a filename. CTRL-W - write block to file. This writes the currently marked block to a file. You will be prompted to enter a filename. There's also a sample macro included that uses this command: F2 - write entire text to a file called TIMSAF.~!~ 8.7 Using an external editor Many people are very attached to a certain editor. They want to use that editor, and that editor only. TimEd will let a user do just that. When the time has come to edit the message text, timEd will create an ASCII file on disk, and spawn an external program to edit that text. The user can now edit the message text. When ready, the text should be saved to disk. After leaving the external editor, timEd will regain control, read the (edited) message text back in, and create a message from it. This sounds to good to be true, and unfortunately it is not without problems.. Using an external editor has one big problem: most editors put a 'hard return' at the end of *every* line, not just on the lines where the user actually pressed <ENTER>. In Fidonet, 'hard returns' should only be present at the end of a *paragraph*. The actual formatting (word wrapping) of the paragraph should be done by the message reader, according to the current screen size (usually, the screen has lines of 80 characters, but that is certainly not always the case! Think about older terminals, about 132 character mode, about proportional fonts [OS/2, Windows]). timEd v1.10 manual - page 62 Placing a 'hard return' at the end of every line (at position 80), would only use the first 80 characters of a line, even on a 132 character display! Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of programs that leave a hard return at the end of every line anyway. Especially QWK readers are notorious for that. It's quite a lot easier for the programmer though. Many people even think that stripping 'hard returns' is wrong, because their text may not be formatted the way they wanted. Remember that _not_ stripping them is even worse! How do you think your formatted text looks on a terminal with 80 or 132 columns? So, timEd has to strip 'hard returns'. It tries it's very best, but sometimes fails miserably. But you can help timEd to keep your message 'tidy', read on! One of the 'rules' is, that timEd will strip the 'hard return', if it is found at a position *after* <length of line> - 20 (so on a 80 character display, it would be 60). 'Hard returns' found after that position are supposed to be the result of the 'word wrapping' feature of an editor and are stripped. There is an exception to this: if the *next* line is starting with a <space> or one of the following characters: *-,. the 'hard return' will not be stripped. Usually there is some formatted text (in the case of '*' and '-' probably a list, in the case of a space it could also be a 'listing' of some code for a programming language), so that will be left untouched. There is a way to prevent timEd from 'intelligently' stripping 'hard returns'. Usually it does what you want, but formatted text can be awfully messed up, when the individual lines exceed 60 characters in length (for example Binkley logfiles :-). TimEd will then strip 'hard returns' making a mess of your nicely formatted logfile or C-listing. There are 2 methods to prevent timEd from stripping 'hard returns': - Forcing a 'hard return' for one line: Put a ~ at the end of a line. The ~ will be replaced with a 'hard return'. - Forcing 'hard returns' for a sequence of lines: Put ~~ at the beginning of a line (rest of line should be empty!) to start, and another one at the end. All of the text between those two lines will get a 'hard return' at the end of the line. The lines with the ~~ at the beginning will be stripped from the text. Examples: This line will certainly have a 'hard return' added to it.~ timEd v1.10 manual - page 63 Now look at my nicely formatted logfile: -=- ~~ = 23 Sep 03:23:35 MAX DL-Z C:\Files\Tekst\Contrast.Lzh = 23 Sep 03:23:35 MAX Free DL: reimbursed 227 seconds = 23 Sep 03:23:35 MAX Free DL: reimbursed 51 Kb + 23 Sep 03:23:59 MAX Jack Brons off-line. Calls=16, Len=6 : 23 Sep 03:24:00 MAX End, v2.01 (5) ~~ -=- Keep this in mind, and experiment a bit. Just type some messages and check the results after timEd read it back in. 8.8 Reading messages 'gated' from Usenet/Internet Some consideration was also given to people reading messages that originally came from Usenet/Internet 'newsgroups'. FSC-0035 ======== TimEd supports the 'Replyto' and 'ReplyAddr' kludges as outlined in FSC-0035 (Fidonet Technical Specification - a proposal, actually). This is used for netmail replies. If you read gated Use/Internet messages that have this kludge (Fredgate can generate them), this will automatically address the netmail reply to your UUCP gate and put a TO: line at the top of your message. 'Broad' message List display. ============================= For Use/Internet newsgroups the standard L)ist display is far from optimal: there, every message has 'All' in the TO: field (put there by the UUCP <-> Fido gate). TimEd has two L)ist modes, a 'normal' one, and a 'broad subject line' one (you get it with Alt-B when reading a message). The latter has (as one would expect) a much broader Subject displayed, the TO: field is entirely zapped in that mode. While in the L)ist mode, one can switch between the two styles with ALT-S (from S)witch..) timEd v1.10 manual - page 64 Usenetmacros ============ TimEd has a special type of macro's available for message that need to be gated to Internet. See the 'Usenetmacro' keyword for further reference. Transparent use of internet address. ==================================== When properly configured, timEd will let the user enter an internet address in the TO: field just as easy as a username. Simply put an internet address (like art@cnh.wlink.nl) in the TO: field and timEd will automatically take care of the rest! In order for this to work, two keywords need to be defined in timEd.cfg: UucpAddress <address> : Address of your Internet gate. UucpName <name> : Name used for the gate (usually 'UUCP' or 'Postmaster'). TimEd will now detect internet addresses in the TO: field and automatically address the message to the gate, and put a TO: field in the message body. You can enter a string longer than 36 chars in the header as well, timEd will handle it. Reading is also improved with these keywords: the TO: field in the message body will also be detected and the Internet address will show up in the header instead of the body. The idea is to never see a TO: field in the body anymore. The internet addresses should always show up in the header and can be edited there, just like a normal name or address. Underneath, TimEd will write the messages to disk with a TO: line in the body. The user is not bothered anymore with the nasty details of addressing messages to the internet gate and will never even see anymore that this happens. Entering internet mail is then just as easy as entering FidoNet mail. NewsAreas and MailAreas ======================= There are two special types of areas: NewsArea: In such areas, the TO: line is not shown (it doesn't exist in news), the 'Organization' is shown instead (if found). No Origins are added/required, and timEd doesn't use the initials of the message writer when quoting, just '>', which seems to be more standard on the Internet. timEd v1.10 manual - page 65 MailArea: The type 'MailArea' (for Internet 'mail') is also recognized, but I'm not sure how to implement it exactly yet. You may try it, but until some special programs that handle this are made, it may be better to simply use a NetArea for this purpose and rely on timEd's built in capabilities to hide TO: lines etc. 8.9 Running external programs TimEd has the ability to run external programs from the message reading screen. The function name of the function to use for this is READrunexternal. When executed, timEd will ask for two things: the name of the program to run, and the command line parameters to use for that program. The message area will then be closed, the external program run, and the area opened again. This offers the opportunity to run programs that perform actions on the message area (like a maintenance program) that need exclusive access. After the external program ended, timEd will wait for a keypress so you can see what happened. When entering command line parameters, you can use several variables that will be filled in by timEd according to the current area and message. These variables are always between square brackets: '[]'. The following variables can be used: from - Name in the 'from' field of current message. to - 'to' subject - 'subject' orig - Origination address of current message (like 2:281/527). dest - Destination address of current message (like 2:281/527). areatype - Type of current area (NETMAIL, ECHOMAIL, LOCAL, NEWS, MAIL). areatag - Official areatag of current area. format - Storage format (SQUISH, HMB, JAM, SDM). areadir - Directory or base name of current area, board number if Hudson. msgno - Message number of current message ('relative' number for Squish and Hudson) realmsgno - Real message number, for Squish (UMSGID) and Hudson (real number in Hudson base, not the relative number in the area). For JAM and *.MSG, this is always equal to msgno. file - Name of the current file to use. Not in use when reading a message (it's for EXESIGN, EXECRYPT and EXESPELL described below). newfile - Name of a new file to use (this is also for EXECRYPT, EXESIGN and EXESPELL). attach - Files attached to this message (list of files). request - Files requested in this message (list of files [!passwords]). timEd v1.10 manual - page 66 So the command line parameters "scan -s[areatag]" could be translated to "scan -sARTWARE", and "zfax 4 [attach]" could be translated to 'zfax 4 c:\xenia\faxin\xenia001.fax' and so on. If you want to add a literal '[', you should put two of them in the string: '[[in brackets!]'. The ability to run external programs with these variables allows you to do extremely powerful things with timEd. You can run message base maintenance programs, start mail processing software, launch FAX viewers and so on. Combined with the macro capabilities that timEd offers, these things can be done with only one keypress! And combined with the user definable menus (see section concerning keyboard redefinition) you may even add these capabilities to a user friendly menu! Combined with special commands that are also available, like writing messages (or only message bodies) to a file, and commands to replace the body of a message with a textfile you can even perform encryption/decryption with a program like PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) or run a spellchecker on a message and replace the body with the checked file. These are popular examples to show what can be done with these commands. However, for the topics mentioned above timEd has more added capabilities to make support for encryption and spellchecking even easier. It is also possible to run external programs from the internal editor, using the command EDITrunexternal. It functions exactly like the READrunexternal function. 8.10 Interfacing timEd with PGP and spellcheckers. TimEd has several 'hooks' that allow you to run spellcheckers and PGP (encryption) programs. In order to use these hooks, all you have to do is add a few items to timEd.cfg, to specify the exact programs you want to use for encryption and spellchecking. You can use the following keywords: ExeSpell <progname> <parms> : Spellchecking command line SpellCheck_Default <Yes|No> : Whether spellchecking is default for a new message. ExeCrypt <progname> <parms> : Encryption command line ExeSign <progname> <parms> : Signing command line ExeCryptSign <progname> <parms> : Encryption + Signing command line timEd v1.10 manual - page 67 The parameters can contain the 'variables' enclosed in square brackets, that can also be used when executing an external program with READrunexternal. This time, [file] does contain something useful: the name of the file the message will be written to before the external program is executed. With these functions, msgno and realmsgno are unusable - the message does not have a number yet, because it is not yet written when these commands are executed. The logic of the 'encrypt', 'sign' and 'spellcheck' commands are as follows. TimEd writes out the body of the message to a file (the name is available for the EXESPELL, EXECRYPT and EXESIGN commands as the variable [file]). It then runs the external program as indicated by the ExeSpell, ExeSign, ExeSpellSign or ExeCrypt keywords in timEd.cfg. After that it will check whether a new file in the timEd directory (available as the variable [newfile]) is present. If it is present, and the date/time is the same or newer than the date/time for the original file, this new file will be used as the body. If it is not available, or older than the original file, the original file will be used. The file that is found as a result, is used as the body for the message. If you ran a spellchecker, the checked/corrected version of the text will be used. If you ran and encryption program, the encrypted (or signed) version of the text will be used. In practise, this means that you can make a spellchecker or encryption program modify the original file (variable [file]), _or_ you can have it write it's output to another file (variable [newfile]). Examples, that work here, to get you underway: execrypt d:\pgp\pgp -eta [file] -o [newfile] exesign d:\pgp\pgp -sta [file] -o [newfile] execryptsign d:\pgp\pgp -eas [file] -o [newfile] These actions can be triggered in several ways: - By 'checking' the correct box while editing the header of a message. While editing a header, press ALT-S to go to the 'special' section of the screen (the lower rightmost part). You can move around with the cursor keys and press <enter> to check one or more of the options. - From the internal editor: by executing the 'EDITeditheader' function (default keybinding: ALT-E). You can then edit the header and set the option using the message described in the first option. timEd v1.10 manual - page 68 - By exiting the internal editor with the 'EDITsavemenu' option (default keybinding: F10), or when exiting either the internal or external editor with the option EditSaveMenu in timEd.cfg set to 'Yes'. In this case, a small menu with several options will appear, where you can move around and set the options 'SpellCheck', 'Encrypt' and 'Sign'. Of course, in order to use PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), you will first have to configure it and get used to how it works. Please read the PGP documentation first before using it. The author of PGP recommends that you do that, and all I can do is repeating that advice. Of course, encrypting is one thing, but you also want to DEcrypt messages again! In order to do that, you will have to make a few macros, that write out the body of the message, execute an external program, and use the resulting unencrypted file as the body. In order to do that, you need to use a few functions that timEd offers. A few interesting commands: Extra commands to write out messages to a file: READwritebody - write the body (so no header) out to file READwriterealbody - write the real body (without tearline/origin) to file. READwriteheader - write only the header to a file. These work just like the standard 'write to file' command. TimEd prompts for a filename to write to first. These commands are, by default, not assigned to any key (-combination). Commands to replace the body of a message with the contents of a file: READfiltermsg - zap the entire message body and replace with a file. READfilterrealbody - zap the real body of a message (so this saves the tearline / origin) and replace with text from a file. READfiltermemory - This functions exactly like 'READfilterrealbody' but it will only replace the message body in memory. You can then view this new body, and reply to it, forward it or write it to file. Whenever you move off that message, this new body will be lost. So moving one message forward and one message backward will make the 'old' body re-appear again. Also keep in mind, that several actions (like 'move' and 'copy' for example) actually re-read the original message body from disk for their work. So using 'copy' for a message with a body replaced using 'READfiltermemory' will actually copy the _original_ body! timEd v1.10 manual - page 69 Combining some of these special functions with READrunexternal, bundled in a few macros, you can easily add decryption commands to timEd. For example, you might add the samples below to your timkeys.cfg file, in the section [menu]. They will then show up as two new options when the user menu (function READmaintenance, default keybinding ALT-U). MenuAll "~D~ecrypt PGP mail" READfiledelete "c:\timed\timed.msg" enter READfiledelete "c:\timed\timed.msn" enter READwriterealbody "c:\timed\timed.msg" enter READrunexternal "d:\pgp\pgp" enter "c:\timed\timed.msg -o c:\timed\timed.msn" enter enter READfiltermemory "c:\timed\timed.msn" enter MenuAll "~C~hange to unencrypted" READfiledelete "c:\timed\timed.msg" enter READfiledelete "c:\timed\timed.msn" enter READwriterealbody "c:\timed\timed.msg" enter READrunexternal "d:\pgp\pgp" enter "c:\timed\timed.msg -o c:\timed\timed.msn" enter enter READfilterrealbody "c:\timed\timed.msn" enter Due to formatting, the commands above are spread over several lines. In your timkeys.cfg file, however, everything following the 'MenuAll' should be on only one line! The first macro will decrypt the message to memory only. You can see the decrypted result, but the message will not be saved in decrypted state. When you move off the message, the decrypted text is lost again. The second macro actually decrypts the text, but also changes the message on disk into it's decrypted counterpart. Remember that these are just examples, and could be used as a starting point for your own version of the macros! Spellchecking ------------- Running a spellchecker is very similar to running PGP. They are both programs that 'filter' the original text. However, some spellcheckers seem to have big problems with the way messages are sent through FidoNet. In FidoNet, only PARAGRAPHS are separated by a 'hard return', not all lines. This leads to lines that can be hundreds of characters long. Spellcheckers that are properly written do not have a problem with this, but there are several programs out there that either crash or completely mess up your text. Programs that seem to work properly are DoSpell and AMSpell. Both are available from the author's system (2:281/527). timEd v1.10 manual - page 70 8.11 Packing the search database Included in the timEd package is FDBPACK(P).EXE. This is a tiny program that must be executed from the timEd home directory. It will remove the 'slack' from the database that timEd's 'Find manager' keeps to store the search profiles. If you use the find feature a lot, this utility will bring down the size of the FDB.DAT file that the search manager uses. 8.12 Text style nodelist flags with the V7 nodelist The V7 nodelist doesn't, by default, store a lot of information about the 'flags' that a node has in the nodelist. Flags like V32, VFC, V34 or NEC are not stored by default. However, most nodelist compilers give the user the opportunity to store some user-defined values in the V7 nodelist, based on the presence of certain flags in the raw (St. Louis) nodelist. Two values can usually be stored: a value for the 'ModemType' and a value for the 'NodeFlags'. ModemType. ========== The modemtype value is (obviously) a value to indicate what kind of modem a certain node has. In the nodelist, several flags are present to indicate the type of modem the node uses ('V32B' for a V32bis modem, 'V34' for a V34 modem, 'V42b' if the modem support V42bis compression, etc). The 'modemtype' value in the V7 nodelist is one byte (8 bits). There are two ways to use this byte: 1 - Each bit independently, where each bit signifies a certain flag. When the bit it set (a value of 1 for that bit), a certain flag in the nodelist is present. When the bit is not set, the flag is not present. Because there are 8 bits in a byte, you can store the presence/absence of 8 different flags this way. The good thing is, that several flags can be present at the same time: three different bits may be set at the same time, indicating that three different flags are present. 2 - All bits taken together as one value (byte). By looking at the entire byte, you can have 256 different values (0 - 255). When the byte has a certain value, a certain flag in the nodelist is set. The advantage of this is, that you could represent up to 255 different flags. The disadvantage is that you can only have one flag per node. timEd v1.10 manual - page 71 Most (if not all) V7 nodelist compilers support method 1. It is the 'old' method that has been used by Binkley in the past. Some newer compilers (also) support method 2. TimEd now has the ability to convert a certain value in the ModemType field of a V7 nodelist back into a nodelist flag (like 'V34'). If you do a nodelist lookup, and press <tab> for details, these flags will be shown. Two keywords are possible, to support both methods: V7ModemTypeBit - to support method 1. ------------------------------------- Syntax: V7ModemTypeBit <bit value> <flag> Example: V7ModemTypeBit 64 V34 The 'bit value' must be a power of 2 (i.e.: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128). For each of those values, one of the bits will be set (to indicate one of the flags in the nodelist is present). The above example indicates that if the bit representing the value 64 is set, the V34 flag is present. Another example: V7ModemTypeBit 4 VFC This would indicate, that if the bit representing the value 4 would be set, that node has the 'VFC' flag in the nodelist. This is the same as the 'BitType TypeDef' statements that the FastList nodelist compiler (made by Alberto Pasquale) uses. It is also the same as the 'ModemType' values that the FastV7 nodelist compiler (made by Marius Ellen) uses. V7ModemTypeValue - to support method 2. --------------------------------------- Syntax: V7ModemTypeValue <byte value> <flag> Example: V7ModemTypeValue 13 V34 This would indicate, that if the 'ModemType' field is set to 13, the node has the 'V34' flag in the nodelist. Along the same lines: Example: V7ModemTypeValue 9 VFC This would indicate that if the modemtype field is set to 9, the node has the VFC flag in the nodelist. These values are the same as Fastlist's 'normal' TypeDef statements. timEd v1.10 manual - page 72 NodeFlags ========== The NodeFlags value in the V7 nodelist is a 16 bit value. It is present to indicate the nodelist flags a node has (and this could include flags to indicate what type of modem is present...). The different bits in the NodeFlags field indicate different flags (just like method 1 for the ModemType value). Some of the bits are pre-defined (like a certain bit to indicate CM (Continuous mail) status, and a bit to indicate a node is a HUB, etc). TimEd can now convert these bit values back to flags, using a method very similar to method 1 of the ModemType field. The keyword to use is V7NodeFlagBit. Syntax: V7NodeFlagBit <bit value> <flag> Example: V7NodeFlagBit 16 CM This indicates, that if the bit that represents the value 16 is present, the CM flag is present for that node. Another example: V7NodeFlagBit 1 HUB If the bit representing the value 1 is present, a node is a HUB. Both of the above examples are predefined values. But some nodelist compilers allow a user to define a few bits themselves. The FastV7 compiler uses the keyword 'NodeFlag' to allow this. The value of that keyword are the same as the values timEd uses. Because the ModemType field consists of 16 bits, and the values have to be a power of 2 again, the possible values are: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768. Predefined values (in the nodelist, not in timEd!) are: V7NodeFlagBit 1 HUB V7NodeFlagBit 2 HOST V7NodeFlagBit 4 REGION V7NodeFlagBit 8 ZONE V7NodeFlagBit 16 CM V7NodeFlagBit 4096 POINT V7NodeFlagBit 32678 REDIR To get the same functionality as previous versions of timEd, you have to add: V7NodeFlagBit 16 CM timEd v1.10 manual - page 73 9. Character translation Starting with version 1.10, timEd also supports character translation. 9.1 The problem addressed. The FidoNet standards (FTS-0001) limit the use of 'special' characters in messages sent through FidoNet. Officially, only 'standard ASCII' characters are allowed to be sent. The main reason for this is, that FidoNet tries to connect many different machine hardware architectures. A message written on one architecture, needs to look the same or should at least be readable on another architecture. After all, FidoNet's primary goal is to be able to communicate. In order to achieve this goal, only characters that are the same on most (if not all) architectures are allowed to be used, and that happens to be ASCII. In many cases, this is more than enough. However, there are several languages that make extensive use of characters that do not belong to the 'standard ASCII' character set. Examples are languages spoken in Scandinavian countries and the German language. Not being able to use these characters is a big handicap if you want to write a message in your own language. 9.2 The solution. There have been several attempts to solve this problem. The most heavily used proposal to solve this problem is 'The Charset proposal' by Duncan McNutt. This proposal can be found as FSC-0054 (an FSC is a FidoNet standard proposal) on several systems connected to FidoNet. FSC-0054 allows people to use 'special characters', as long as a special kludge in the message shows exactly what character set is used in that message. That kludge is the 'CHRS' (charset) kludge. It consists of 'CHRS:' followed by the character set that was used and the 'level' of that character set (levels will be explained later). An example would be "CHRS: IBMPC 2', or "CHRS: SWEDISH 1". The idea is, that other programs that are reading that message will detect the kludge and will consequently know what character set was used to write the message. The program will then have to 'translate' or 'remap' that character set to a character set that is used on the local architecture, so that it can be correctly displayed. So in order to read work successfully, a few things are needed: - A kludge in the message, identifying the character set that was used to create the message. If you are the one generating that message, your message editor must be able to put such a kludge in the message. timEd v1.10 manual - page 74 - A program that can detect this kludge, and do the required conversions to display it properly on the local architecture. - Character translation tables, that can convert characters from one character set to another. In order to read a 'foreign' message correctly, one would need a translation table that converts characters from the 'foreign' character set to the local character set. Character translation tables come in two flavours: 'level 1' and 'level 2'. Level 1 concerns itself with characters with ASCII codes lower than 128. Level one character maps can translate characters with an ASCII code between 0 and 128 to any other character (with a code between 0 and 256). It can also convert one character between 0 and 128 to two other characters. Characters with an ASCII code higher than 127 will not be translated. Level 2 concerns itself with characters with ASCII codes higher than 127 (so between 127 and 256). Level 2 character maps can translate characters with ASCII codes higher than 127 to any other character (with a code between 0 and 256). It can also convert one character higher than 127 to two other characters. Characters with an ASCII code lower than 128 will not be translated. There are more level defined in FSC-0054, but these are not widely used. 9.3 The implementation in timEd TimEd fully supports level 1 and level 2 of FSC-0054. The implementation is closely modelled after the sample implementation provided by the author of FSC-0054. The sample implementation uses a special way to define and store character sets. Because timEd uses the same way to define and store character sets, character sets made by the author of FSC-0054 or others can be used for timEd as well. TimEd uses two binary files for the character translation: * readmaps.dat - this file contains character translation maps that are used when reading a message. In order to read messages, the characters in the message have to be translated to the character set that is used on the local machine. Because timEd only runs on 'IBMPC style' hardware, this is always IBMPC. Maps in this file therefore need to translate from a foreign character set to IBMPC. timEd v1.10 manual - page 75 * writmaps.dat - this file contains character translation maps that are used when writing a message. In order to write messages, the characters in the message have to be translated to the character set that is used in the message area you are writing the message in. In timEd, you can define what character set you want to use for a certain area. TimEd will then translate the characters in your message to the character set that is defined, before actually writing the message to disk. Maps in this file therefore need to translate from IBMPC to some foreign character set. A standard version of these files, with some of the most heavily used character sets, are shipped together with timEd. The author of FSC-0054 has made a small program that allows you to make your own character sets, called MAKEMAPS.EXE. With MAKEMAPS.EXE, you can modify or generate your own versions of readmaps/writmaps.dat. For more information on how to do this, please see FSC-0054 and the sample implementation (available as CHARSET3.ZIP, available from 2:281/527). The MAKEMAPS.EXE program, and the 'source' files used to generate the standard maps are also shipped with timEd, as CHRSTUFF.ZIP. - Default behaviour Character translation is always active. In most cases, you will not notice it at all. In some cases, however, timEd will react a bit differently than you may expect. When reading messages, timEd will always monitor the message for a CHRS: kludge. When present, timEd will try to find a character translation map that can be used to remap the message to IBMPC, so it can be displayed correctly. If it succeeds, the message should look good, even if special characters are used. If it fails, the special characters in the message may not look good. However, that is what can be expected when 'strange' characters are used in a message. You may than try to find a character translation map to remap those special characters to IBMPC, so they can be correctly viewed on your PC. When writing messages, timEd will by default use the standard ASCII character set for output. This means, that if you use special characters in your message, timEd will remap those to standard ASCII! Remember, the official FidoNet standard disallows use of special characters, and timEd's default behaviour is based on that. It means that your message will be translated to something other than what you entered, which may not be what you expect. - Changing timEd's behaviour TimEd's default behaviour can be changed by using several keywords in timEd.cfg. timEd v1.10 manual - page 76 Apart from that, functions are available to modify timEd's behaviour from within timEd. Keywords in timEd.cfg: ■ DefaultOutput <charset to use by default> This defines the default CharSet to use when writing out messages. If you leave it out, the default is ASCII, as mentioned before TimEd will not write 'CHRS: ASCII' kludges, so if you leave out all this stuff, no CHRS kludges will appear in your messages. If you want to keep the 'special' characters in your messages, add 'DefaultOutput IBMPC' to your config. TimEd will then use the IBMPC chracter set (which is what is used on your local machine). The result is, that timEd will write out the message exactly as you entered it, and will add a 'CHRS: IBMPC' kludge to tell this fact to the rest of the world. Make sure, that you define this *before* any areas are defined in timEd.cfg, otherwise timEd will use the 'ASCII' character set for the areas defined in timEd.cfg before this new keyword! So move this keyword up in timEd.cfg 'above' any area definitions. ■ ConvertOutput <character set to use> <areatag> [ <areatag> .. ] The above keyword gives an exception to the 'DefaultOutput'. You give the name of the charset to use, and the areatag(s) of the area(s) to use it for. Limited wildcard support is available, the first or the last character can be a '*'. Example: ConvertOutput LATIN-1 artware *028 artware* In the example above, both "basic.028" and "demo.028" will match the '*028', and both "artware" and "artware.closed" will match 'artware*'. ■ DefaultInput <charset> This keyword controls character translation when READING a message. This gives the default charset to use for a message, when no CHRS: kludge is present in a message. In other words: timEd will act as if 'CHRS: <charset>' is present in the message. In some cases/areas/countries, messages are written with a special charset, but this is not signalled to the reader through a CHRS: kludge. As a result, timEd will do no conversion at all on the message (implicitly assuming CHRS: IBMPC), even though that may be applicable. timEd v1.10 manual - page 77 This keyword can _force_ timEd into doing character translation when reading a message, even though there is no CHRS kludge in a message. DefaultInput gives the global default for reading messages in any area, just like DefaultOutput does for writing messages. For this keyword (just like DefaultOutput): Make sure, that you define this *before* any areas are defined in timEd.cfg, otherwise timEd will not use your 'default' for the areas defined in timEd.cfg before this new keyword! Move this keyword up in timEd.cfg 'above' any area definitions. Please note, that when a 'CHRS:' kludge is present in a message, this will obviously overrule the 'DefaultInput' or 'AssumeCharset' setup. The writer of the message is supposed to know best what charset was used.. ■ AssumeCharset The format to use is: AssumeCharset <charset> <area> [<area> [..] ] This keyword is used to control the charset assumption per area. You can specify certain areas here, with a syntax equal to the syntax of ConvertOutput. ■ LevelOneOutput <charset> [<charset> [<charset>]] This indicates that a certain character translation map produces level 1 output. What this means may not be clear when you haven't read FSC-0054. I'll give a short explanation for those who have, if you haven't, what is written below is probably not clear. It may be better to forget about it then :-) Level 2 only concerns itself with translation of character codes > 127, while level 1 concerns itself only with translation of characters <= 127. However, it is possible that you want to write a message using 'extended characters (so > 127, most likely the IBMPC extended characters), but want to produce a level 1 message as output (for example using the SWEDISH character set). In order to remap 'IBM extended characters' you need a level 2 remapping table, and as a result you would get a 'CHRS: <charset> 2' kludge, indicating a level 2 message, even though your remapping table may only output characters <= 127, which is level 1. But you actually want a 'CHRS: <charset 1' kludge, so people can use a level 1 character map to properly remap your message! timEd v1.10 manual - page 78 The LevelOneOutput keyword gives you the opportunity to use a level 2 character map with timEd, but to indicate that the output is actually a level 1 message. So if you add 'LevelOneOutput SWEDISH' to timEd.cfg, timEd will use the level 2 SWEDISH character map, but will add a 'CHRS: SWEDISH 1' kludge to the message. Make absolutely sure that output is indeed level 1 (and that level 1 maps, to remap your message back to what it should be, actually exist!). You may add more than one name on one line for this keyword, like this: LevelOneOutput Swedish AnotherCharset You may also add this keyword more than once in timEd.cfg. Finally, there is also a command in timEd, that can be used to temporarily change timEd's behaviour while you are actually using timEd (without changing timEd.cfg and restarting). The command is called: READchangecharset This function will show you a popup window with all charsets available for reading messages. Regardless of the setting of 'DefaultInput' or 'AssumeCharset', this will let timEd use a specific charset of your choice. (It will not overrule a CHRS: kludge in a message, though). After a charset is selected, timEd will re-read the current message and use the translation you just selected. It can be used on messages that are written using a specific charset, but do not contain a CHRS: kludge. In you didn't use 'AssumeCharset' for that area (or that charset is not correct), you can pick the correct charset with this function. timEd v1.10 manual - page 79 10. Keyboard redefinition and macro's Starting with version 1.10, timEd allows you to redefine the keys used for certain functions. For nearly all situations, you have full control over the function of a certain key. Apart from that, it is also possible to attach a series of commands to a certain key. In other words: just pressing one key will trigger a number of commands to be executed. This is actually what is usually called a macro, and can be used to reduce the number of keystrokes needed to perform regular tasks. Keys and macro's are defined in a file called TIMKEYS.CFG. The file should be present in the timEd home directory. 10.1 The format of timkeys.cfg The format of the timkeys.cfg file is as follows: [<section name>] [<os>] <key> <command> [<command>, [<command]] [<os>] <key> <command> [<command>, [<command]] . . [<section name>] [<os>] <key> <command> [<command>, [<command]] [<os>] <key> <command> [<command>, [<command]] . . <section name> defines the scope of the key binding or macro. The scope defines where the macro is active. The scope (and thus the section name) can be ■ AreaSelection - key/macro active in the area selection screen. ■ Editor - key/macro active in the internal editor. ■ MessageReader - key/macro active in the message reading screen. ■ List - key/macro active in the message list mode. ■ Global - key/macro active everywhere in the program. ■ Menu - this macro is not bound to a key, but shows up in the 'user menu' in timEd. See special section about this, later in this document. This means that a key can have a function/macro in the Area Selection screen, and a different one in the internal editor. Also, a key defined in the section 'AreaSelection' will do nothing in the 'List mode' (unless that key is defined in that section as well). 'Global' is dangerous: it overrules everything. If you would define the 'esc' key to produce an 'a' in the global section, it will produce timEd v1.10 manual - page 80 this 'a' EVERYWHERE in the program and NEVER work like it is supposed to. However, for some keys (most function keys, and ALT-0 to ALT-9 for example) this doesn't make any difference, because they are never used anyway. Maybe it's useful to translate to 'oe' everywhere as well, or something similar, depending on your actual situation. <os> ---- This should be the first keyword on the line if it used, but it is optional. It can be either DOS, OS2 or 386. If it is used, the line will only be valid for the operating system (or version of timEd) that is mentioned: if you specify 'DOS' for example, the line will only be read by the DOS 16 bit version, the OS/2 and DOS/386 versions will ignore the line. With this keyword, you can have different macros in different versions of timEd. This is especially useful if it concerns running external programs: you can then make different versions that call the correct executable (the DOS version or the OS/2 version, for example). <key> ----- This is the key on your keyboard that you wish to bind a certain command to. Key can be any printable character ('a', 'A', 'z', and so on), F1..F12, ins, enter, del, home, end, pageup, pagedown, cursorup, cursordown, cursorleft, cursorright, space, esc, tab or greyminus (the grey '-' key on your numeric keypad). Then there are variations of these: Shifted (prepend #, like #F1 for shift-F1), with the CTRL key (prepend ^, like ^F1 for CTRL-F1) and with the ALT-key (prepend @, like @F1 for ALT-F1). All 'normal' keys are also available with ctrl (^a .. ^z) or ALT (@a .. @z). And numeric keys can only be combined with ALT (@0 .. @1). This gives the user more than enough combinations to choose from. See sample timkeys.cfg to see how easy it actually is. <command> --------- This can be any of the functions that timEd can perform, like 'move up', 'move down', 'enter a message', 'find', 'delete message' etc. All functions have a name, usually a name that speaks for itself like 'EDITup' to move one line up in the editor, or 'EDITshell' to shell to timEd v1.10 manual - page 81 the OS from within the editor. Most commands are already shown in the sample timkeys.cfg. A full list of all commands can be found in this manual. 10.3 Some examples The line: cursorup EDITup tells timEd to execute the command 'EDITup' whenever the key 'cursorup' is pressed (now that makes sense!). And: @J EDITshell tells timEd to shell to the OS from the internal editor whenever the key combination ALT-J is pressed. You can also insert 'literal strings' as a command. Literal text should be enclosed in quotes, like this: "sample text", or this: 'sample text'. You can enter quote-characters inside a literal string. If you enclose the string in double quotes, you can enter single quotes inside the string, like this: "literal with a ' quote inside!". Similarly, you can enter double quotes inside the string if you enclose the entire string in single quotes. For example: F5 "My lipf are fealed" Whenever you press F5, timEd will write the string 'My lipf are fealed'. It is also possible to enter more than one command for a certain key. For example: F2 EDITenter "See you later!" EDITenter EDITenter "Gerard." EDITsave Whenever F2 is pressed, timEd will move one line down in the editor, 'See you later' will be printed, timEd will move two lines down, then print 'Gerard.' and then the message will be saved. Now in most places the defined commands will suffice. However, sometimes a certain action doesn't have a command. When you edit a header, for example, there is no special command to press 'enter' to accept the input of a field and move to the next (there is no command HEADEREDITaccept or anything like that). In such cases (and only such cases!) you can also give the name of the key (in this case 'enter') as a command. Entering a new message/header timEd v1.10 manual - page 82 could be defined as follows: @F1 READenter "All" enter "A new message" enter enter This would start a new message, write 'All' in the TO: field, press enter, write 'A new message' in the subject field, press enter, and press enter again to get through the attribute editing screen. Please note, that this only works if there is no special command. For example, 'ins' in a macro will do nothing when inside the internal editor. The fact that you may have connected the command 'EDITtoggleinsert' to the 'ins' key makes no difference. There is no 'ins' command in the internal editor, so using 'ins' in a macro for the internal editor does not work. 10.4 Defining the user menus in TIMKEYS.CFG There is a special function in timEd, that will display a small popup menu, available when you are reading a message. From this menu, that can be defined by the user, a function or macro can be executed. Because this menu is nothing more than a specialized macro launcher, you need to define it in 'timkeys.cfg'. A special section called [menu] is available to define the menu. The format in this section is: <scope> <description> <command> [<command> [<command>]] <scope> can be: menusquish - item appears in Squish style areas menujam - item appears in JAM style areas menuhmb - item appears in HMB style areas menusdm - item appears in *.MSG style areas menuall - item appears in all areas <description> gives the description of the action that will be performed when the macro is executed. It is what appears in the 'maint menu' in timEd, like "Pack area", or "Undelete messages". It should be enclosed in single or double quotes. You can also highlight a part of the description (one letter most likely) by enclosing it in tildes, like "~P~ack area". The letter 'p' will now be highlighted, and will also act as a 'hotkey' (when that particular key is pressed, the function will be executed). Take care to not add the same highlighted key to the menu twice, or it will not work as intended. Finally, <command> [<command>...] gives the actual macro (just like 'normal' macro definitions) to be executed when the item is selected. timEd v1.10 manual - page 83 Samples: [menu] menusquish "~P~ack area" READrunexternal "sqpackp" enter "[areadir]" enter menusquish "~U~ndelete message" READsqundelete menujam "~J~am pack" READrunexternal "mbutil" enter "pack [areatag]" enter menuhmb "~H~mb pack" READrunexternal "hmb" enter "[areadir]" enter menusdm "~R~enum SDM" READsdmrenumber (Due to wordwrapping, not all commands always fit on one line. In the config file, they should be on one line, however. So on the second line of the example above, where you see 'enter' as the only word on the line, this word should actually be appended at the end of the first line). This will produce a menu looking like this in a Squish area (only the first two items are for Squish areas): ╒════════════════════════╕ │ Pack area │ │ Undelete messages │ ╘════════════════════════╛ And like this in a HMB area (only the one item that is defined for HMB areas..): ╒════════════════════════╕ │ HMBPack │ ╘════════════════════════╛ You will see a highlighted scrollbar on the menu, that can be moved using the cursor keys. Pressing <enter> will execute the macro that is connected to the highlighted item. 10.5 Common problems with macros Creating macros is not the easiest thing to do. The macro capabilities of timEd are not much more than an automated sequence of keystrokes. This means that you have to get all keys exactly right. You mustn't forget even only one. If you do things wrong, timEd will not complain. It's not a programming or macro language, just a keyboard playback. The best approach is to develop macros step by step. Do not try to create a complicated macro at once. Break the operation you want to perform down in a few steps. These steps should not take more than 3 or 4 keystrokes. Then implement the macro step by step, each time expanding the macro when the previous step was successfully implemented. This takes some time (you have to exit and reload timEd timEd v1.10 manual - page 84 every time), but in the end it is probably the fastest method anyway. One common pitfall is execution of external programs. In many cases, timEd stops after execution of an external program, simply waiting for a keystroke, allowing you to study the screen output of the external program. This is no problem: simply add an extra 'enter' in the macro after the external program, to simulate a user pressing <return>. Often this is forgotten, and because timEd waits for a keystroke before continuing, the next command in the macro is 'eaten', causing the macro to fail. Consider the following example: @Z READwriterealbody "c:\timed\timed.msg" enter READrunexternal "d:\pgp\pgp" enter "c:\timed\timed.msg -o c:\timed\timed.msn" enter enter READfiltermemory "c:\timed\timed.msn" enter This macro tries to unencrypt a message when ALT-Z is pressed (see the section about PGP for a better example). First it writes the current message to a file (READwriterealbody). Then it runs the external program PGP. Now the crucial part is on the last line, where you see 'enter enter'. You really need the 'enter' two times: - The first one to end the input in the field where you type the command line parameters for the external program. - The second one to get past the 'press any key to continue' screen that timEd will give you after execution of an external program. The second 'enter' is often forgotten. If you forget it, the next command (READfiltermemory) will be 'eaten' by timEd as the keypress needed to get past the 'press any key' screen and the macro will not work as intended. timEd v1.10 manual - page 85 11. Message base formats explained There are several different formats to store messages on a system. TimEd supports four of them: Squish, JAM, Hudson and *.MSG. What follows is an explanation of each of these formats. It is not my intention to give an in-depth discussion of the inner workings of these formats. That information may be very interesting for developers, but this document is not intended for programmers: it is meant for users, and as a consequence only the practical implications that are a result of the inner workings and design of the formats is discussed. 11.1 *.MSG This is 'the original'. In the beginning stages, Fidonet was very small. The amount of messages that had to be processed was equally small. The format used to store the messages was very simple: Every message area has its own directory. In this directory, the messages for that area are stored, each message in a separate file, called <number>.MSG, for example 55.MSG. For an area that is called ARTWARE, the messages could be stored in C:\MSGS\ARTWARE, and message number 10 would then be C:\MSGS\ARTWARE\10.MSG. This means that maintaining the message base can be done through standard file system operations: deleting a message is equal to deleting a file, copying a message is equal to copying a file, etc. The lastread pointers are stored in a file called lastread (for the sysop) and usually lastread.bbs (for the other users, for those who are running a BBS). The advantages and disadvantages of this format are closely related to the file system used: Advantages: * This format is very simple. Implementing and supporting it is easy. * It is a very safe format: every message is in a separate file. If a file gets corrupt, this is only one message. Reconstruction of damaged message bases can be done through standard file recovery software (even DOS' undelete and checkdisk!). Disadvantages: * In DOS, every file takes up at least the size of one cluster. On most harddisks this is 2 kilobytes. As a result, even the smallest message takes at least 2 Kb. timEd v1.10 manual - page 86 With several thousands of messages available on a system, this 'slack space' may add up to quite a large amount. * DOS gets very slow when there are a lot of files (>250) in one directory. On larger message areas, this will slow down even the most efficient programs. * Processing messages means constantly opening and closing a lot of files. This also slows things down. OS/2's HPFS file system will help to relieve the two first disadvantages, but not enough to make it efficient. 11.2 Hudson Hudson is more or less the exact opposite of *.MSG. Where *.MSG stores all areas in a different directory, and every message in a different file, Hudson puts all messages from all areas in only one set of files. This 'set' consists of the following files: * msginfo.bbs This file is always 406 bytes long, and contains general information about the message base, like the total amount of messages, the highest message number and the amount of messages present in each different area (called 'board' in Hudson speak). * msghdr.bbs This file contains the message headers (from: and to: fields, subject, date etc). * msgtxt.bbs This holds the actual message text (the 'bodies' of the messages), including the kludges. * msgidx.bbs This is an index that holds, for each message, the message number and the board number. This index can be easily searched for messages that are present in a certain board. * msgtoidx.bbs This file holds a copy of the TO: field, for each message that is present in the Hudson base. In other words: for the entire message base. In order to do a personal mailscan for a particular user, on the *entire* message base, all an application has to do is scan through this file! timEd v1.10 manual - page 87 This is the one and only reason why a personal mailscan on Hudson bases is so fast. Everyone has sometimes logged onto a QuickBBS or Remote Access (pre 2.00) board, and saw how fast it was... * lastread.bbs This file holds the lastread pointers for all users in all boards. Advantages: * Speed. Because all messages are stored in one set of files, an application has to open 1 set of files and can then reach each single message on the system without having to change directory, or open any other file. For tossers, the speed can also be very high, because it is easy to buffer information. You're only doing sequential writes to a single set of files, which makes buffering relatively easy. * It also takes less space than *.MSG, as it doesn't take a file for each message. Internally, the Hudson base works with 'records' of 256 bytes, however, so there is some internal 'slack'. * Widespread and very popular. Lots of high quality support packages are available. Disadvantages: * Vulnerability: - All messages are stored in one set of files. If these get corrupt, your entire message base can be lost. - The headers are stored separately from the bodies. If the headers and bodies get 'out of sync', you won't be able to do a lot of useful reading. * Limits. Hudson is limited to 200 areas, and 16 Mb of message text (total space taken by all message bodies). For a somewhat larger system, this is not enough anymore. 11.3 Squish Squish could be placed somewhere between Hudson and *.MSG. It stores messages for every *area* in a set of files. So, messages for the same area go into the same set of files, but messages for other areas go in other files. timEd v1.10 manual - page 88 A Squish file area basically consists of 3 files: * <name>.SQD This is the 'datafile'. It contains the messages (both the headers and the bodies). Messages are stored in a 'doubly linked list' in the message area. In every message area, there are two 'doubly linked lists': a list containing the 'active' messages, and a list containing the deleted messages. The linked list of deleted messages can be used when a new message needs to be added: if the space that the deleted message once took is large enough, its space can be reused. In addition, Squish can purge messages 'on-the-fly': when messages have to be added to the message area, Squish can delete messages while it is tossing in order to keep (no more than) a certain amount of messages in that area. * <name>.SQI This is an index file that holds, for each message, the offset in the .SQD file where that message starts, and the 'hash value' of the 'TO:' field of the message. The hash value is a 32 bit number, that is calculated using the TO: name. Although this number is not entirely unique, I have not seen two real names with the same hash value. The hash value can be used to do a quick personal mailscan: just calculate the hash value for the name of the user, and compare these values to the hash values found in the index. * <name>.SQL This file holds the lastread pointers for each user. as fast as Hudson (it doesn't have to open a file for each message, but it has to for each area. Disadvantages ------------- * People that have always used Hudson, will find tossing and maintenance to be slower, especially if 'on-the-fly' purging is used. *.MSG people will not suffer from this. * Less 'third party' support than Hudson. For a long time, Squish was the best thing in my opinion: it was space efficient, sufficiently fast if 'on-the-fly' purging was turned off, and very safe. timEd v1.10 manual - page 89 11.4 JAM JAM was only 'released' a short while ago (late 1993). It uses the same concept as Squish: messages are stored in one set of files per area. Messages are not stored using linked lists, however, and 'on- the-fly' purging is not part of the standard. Every JAM area consists of the following files: * <name>.JHR This file contains the headers of the messages, and the kludges. * <name>.JDT This file contains the actual message text (the 'bodies' of the messages). * <name>.JDX This is an index that is holding, for each message, the offset in the .JHR file where the header starts. It also contains a CRC value, calculated over the TO: field of the message. This can, just like the hash value for the Squish areas, be used for a fast personal mail scan. * <name>.JLR This file holds the lastread pointers for all users. Advantages: * Safe. It is much safer than Hudson (because of the separate storage for different areas, but not as safe as Squish (whose recovery capabilities are better, because of the 'linked list' design). * Faster than *.MSG, slower than Hudson. * Very space efficient, better than Hudson and Squish. * Already is, or will be, supported by many authors of well known (and high quality) software packages that are available for Hudson bases. Disadvantages: * It is quite new, and still has some weak points (in both design and (some!) offered implementations). * Hudson users will find it slow in both tossing and maintenance. timEd v1.10 manual - page 90 12. timEd configuration reference This section will list all keywords that can be used in the timEd.cfg configuration file. The listing is alphabetical, making it easy to find the keyword you are looking for. Included in the timEd package is a sample timEd.cfg, that lists all commands in a more logical order. This reference section is provided to offer detailed information about every configuration keyword. General rules for the configuration file: The configuration file for timEd should be called timEd.cfg and must reside in the current directory, so timEd can find it (use the -C command line parameter otherwise). It is a plain ASCII file and may contain comments. A comment is a line that starts with a semi-column, like this: ; this is a comment. Blank lines are ignored, all others should contain a keyword. Usually, in this form: <keyword> <value> [value value] So first the keyword, followed by the value of that keyword, optionally followed by more values.. Every keyword in timEd.cfg can now be prepended with 'OS2', '386' or 'DOS'. Keyword prepended with one of those keywords will only be used by the indicated version of timed. For example, you can have: OS2 EXESIGN c:\os2progs\sign.cmd DOS EXESIGN c:\dosprogs\sign.bat The OS/2 version will use the first line (so the .CMD file) and ignore the second line. The DOS 16 bit version will use the second line and ignore the first. Similarly, you can use '386' for command only intended for the DOS 32 bit version. This gives you the opportunity to use the DOS, OS/2 and 386 versions with the same config file. The following keywords can be used in timEd.cfg: timEd v1.10 manual - page 91 ADDRESS Use this keyword to let timEd know what your address is. You can enter up to 35 of them, for your main address and AKA's. The first one given will be the default address. If you want to use an AKA for a certain area, you must use the -P switch (see EchoArea keyword). -P switches found in a Squish configuration file will be recognized and used. Also AKA's found in other configuration files (like Fastecho.cfg) will be recognized and used. However, you *must* always define all addresses to use in timEd.cfg. By playing with the order of the addresses (and/or by leaving some addresses out), you can influence the AKA-matching process. Example: address 2:281/527 address 2:500/133.999 AKAFORCE You can force akamatching by using the AKAFORCE keyword. Format: AKAFORCE <mask> <address to use> example: AKAFORCE 50:*/*.* 49:500/1 This means: always use 49:500/1 as address when mail is sent to any zone 50 address. This forcing will then always be active (regardless of your 'AKAMATCHING' setting), and will take precedence over 'automatic' akamatching. AKAmatching Format: AKAmatching < Yes | No > This option is interesting if you have more than 1 address. If you set this to 'Yes', timEd will automatically try to find the most appropriate address to use when writing a message. Say, for example, that you have two addresses: 2:281/527 and 60:100/112. If you write a message to 2:500/133, you probably want to use timEd v1.10 manual - page 92 your 2:281/527 address. If you write a message to 60:100/1, you probably want to use your 60:100/112 address. In this case, timEd would try to find the address (AKA) that 'matches' the destination address best. It first looks for a matching zone, and if more than one match is found, it'll try to find an address where both 'zone' and 'net' match. If there is still more than one match after that, it will just take the first match. See the section about writing netmail for more info. AREALISTSORT Use this keyword to let timEd sort the arealist, on the following criteria: T - Type of area (order: Netmail, Local, Echomail). N - Nametag ('areatag' of the area, like 'Artware'). D - Description of the area. A - Aka used for that area. G - Group of the area. You can combine more than one criterium. Example: AreaListSort TGN This will sort on type, then on group, then on Nametag. AREASBBS This gives the path and filename of an Areas.bbs format file. Many echomail processors are able to generate such a file. TimEd also recognizes Squish and JAM areas in this file (in addition to the 'standard' *.MSG and Hudson areas). Squish areas must start the definition with a '$', like: $c:\msgs\tub tub 2:281/500 JAM areas must start the definition with a '!', like: !c:\msgs\jamdev jamdev 2:281/500 timEd v1.10 manual - page 93 ArcMailAttach Format: ArcMailAttach < Yes | No > This keyword is needed to support the 'Direct' message attribute (and other, extra attributes like 'Immediate', 'Kill file sent' etc) for people that are running FrontDoor (and maybe D'Bridge too..). Frodo supports the 'FLAGS' kludge that makes these extra attributes available. For Binkley-users (where Squish packs the netmail) one must set both 'Crash' and 'Hold' to get the 'Direct' attribute. The other attributes are simply not available in that environment. How does timEd know what system you run? It looks in your Squish.cfg, if it finds 'Arcmailattach', you are running FD, otherwise Binkley. If timEd doesn't read a Squish.cfg, you can force 'Arcmailattach' by specifying: ArcMailAttach Yes Anyone not using Squish (but Fastecho, for example) and running Frodo (or similar) should use this keyword. Default is *not* ArcMailAttach. ASSUMECHARSET This keyword control character translation when READING a message. AssumeCharset <charset> <area> gives the charset to use for a message, when no CHRS: kludge is present in a message. In other words: timEd will act as if 'CHRS: <charset>' is present in the message. In some cases/areas/countries, messages are written with a special charset, but this is not signalled to the reader through a CHRS: kludge. As a result, timEd will do no conversion at all on the message (implicitly assuming CHRS: IBMPC), even though that may be applicable. This keyword can _force_ timEd into doing character translation when reading a message, even though there is no CHRS kludge in a message. timEd v1.10 manual - page 94 AssumeCharset <charset> <area> [<area> ... ] can give exceptions to 'DefaultInput' for certain areas. The syntax is equal to the syntax of 'ConvertOutput' (with limited wildcard support). CCVERBOSE This can prevent timEd from expanding CC:'s into <name (address)> form with. Possible values: Yes: still expand CC:'s to 'name (address)' form. No : only show to whom the original was addressed, and the number of other recipients. Example: CCVERBOSE Yes CLOCK A clock can be shown in the message reading and edit screen. In the DOS version, you can set this to 'Yes' to see a clock, while 'No' will give you the amount of free memory instead of the time. In OS/2, the clock is always active. The DOS version will give up time slices to DESQview and Windows (or call INT 28 if neither of those are found), because updating the clock means it cannot be blocked on I/O anymore. With "Clock No" it _will_ be blocked on I/O again, so that's the way to go in case of an unacceptable performance hit / unsupported multitasker. In the OS/2 version, the clock runs in a separate thread that is sleeping most of its life, while the main thread is blocked on I/O, waiting for a keypress. For those who do not understand what I wrote above: timEd is very multitasker friendly, and won't 'steal' any processor time away from other tasks that may be running on your system. COLOURS Lots of colours can be specified by the user. The numbers specify the colour to be used. Note: by default, timEd uses a monochrome setup. So if you don't have a colour monitor, you can initially leave all color_... statements out (in fact, you can do that with a colour monitor timEd v1.10 manual - page 95 as well, it just looks very boring :-). The numbers are as follows: Foreground Background BLACK 0 0 BLUE 1 16 GREEN 2 32 CYAN 3 48 RED 4 64 MAGENTA 5 80 BROWN 6 96 LIGHTGRAY 7 112 DARKGRAY 8 n.a. LIGHTBLUE 9 n.a. LIGHTGREEN 10 n.a. LIGHTCYAN 11 n.a. LIGHTRED 12 n.a. LIGHTMAGENTA 13 n.a. YELLOW 14 n.a. WHITE 15 n.a. BLINK 128 n.a. Now take the preferred colours of the foreground and the background of a certain item, and add them. So, blue (foreground) on black (background) would be 1 + 0 = 1 lightgray on black is 7 + 0 = 7 white on blue is 15 + 16 = 31 etc. Tip: A much better way to define your colours for timEd is using Dick Pluim's TIMCOLOR utility. It will let you change timEd colours in an interactive way, and can write out configuration segments (to be included in timEd.cfg with the 'Include' keyword) with the corresponding COLOR_.. keywords. Here are the colours you can define, and the keywords to use + my personal setting of these colours. There are three main categories: * color_as... For the area selection screen, where you can select a message area to read. These colours will also be used for the message header list (ALT-L) and the file selection box that will appear when you use a 'wildcard' in the subject when doing a file attach. timEd v1.10 manual - page 96 * color_msg... For the part where you will spend most time: the message reading screen. * color_pop... For popup-screens, like help screens and errors. Area selection screen settings ------------------------------ Area selection 'Title' Bar, at the top of the screen: color_asbar 112 Area Selection Frame, the single line around the total screen: color_asframe 4 Area Selection Normal Text, like the names of the areas: color_astext 7 Area Selection Highlighted bar, the message area that is currently selected: color_ashigh 31 Special colour, currently only used in a msg header list for personal messages: color_asspecial 14 In a picklist, an accented character (hotkey). Try ALT-M in the area selection screen for a test. color_asaccent 14 Same as above, but in a highlighted (current) line: color_ashighaccent 30 Message reading screen settings ------------------------------- Message reader Header, like the From: and To: field contents: color_msgheader 7 timEd v1.10 manual - page 97 Message reader date, part of the message header: color_msgdate 14 Message reader 'labels', like the words 'TO:' and 'From:': color_msgdata 15 Message reader reply link information: color_msglinks 3 Message reader message attributes: color_msgattribs 3 Message reader horiz. line, between header and text: color_msgline 9 Message reader quotes, quoted text (starting like GvE> ): color_msgquote 14 Message reader normal text, the body of the message: color_msgtext 7 Message reader 'Status' bar at bottom, with current msg area etc: color_msgbar 31 An accented character in the statusbar at the bottom of the screen (msg reading screen, helplines when displaying a picklist): color_msgbaraccent 30 Message reader origin, the origin of a message: color_msgorigin 15 Message reader kludges (controlinfo like MSGID and SEEN-BY): color_msgkludge 3 Message reader, the TO: field in the header for personal messages. Also used for 'highlights' in the message body when using the F)ind feature. color_msgspecial 12 timEd v1.10 manual - page 98 Popup boxes settings -------------------- Popup boxes frame, the box around a popup text: color_popframe 121 Popup boxes text, the text inside the box: color_poptext 112 The colour of the title of popup boxes. Hardly used (only if you press F1): color_poptitle 30 Generic entry colour --------------------- Colour of all entry fields (for example when you edit a header, the field where you enter the TO: name): color_entry 30 Internal editor colours ----------------------- Current line, normal text (set to COLOR_MSGTEXT if you don't want the current line to be 'highlighted'). color_editcurnormal 15 Current line, quoted text (set to COLOR_MSGQUOTE if you don't want the current line to be 'highlighted'). color_editcurquote 6 Current line, text in a block (set to COLOR_EDITBLOCK if you don't want the current line to be 'highlighted'). color_editcurblock 113 Text that is in the currently defined block: color_editblock 112 Colour of the 'Hard Return Token': color_edithcr 8 timEd v1.10 manual - page 99 Find Screen Colours ------------------- The colour of the frame of an active window: color_findactive 11 The colour of the frame of an passive window: color_findpassive 1 The colour of normal text (search strings, and 'labels' like 'Action:' color_findtext 7 The colour of data-items (value of a label, 'Read' as the value of the 'action' parameter for example): color_finddata 3 The colour of the highlighted ('selected') entry (highlighted bar): color_findhigh 113 Accented ('highlighted') characters, what keys to press in the helpline at the bottom of the screen: color_findaccent 14 Confirm_Edit_Exit <Yes | No> This controls whether timEd asks for confirmation when you press <ESC> in the internal editor (to abort the message). If you set this to 'Yes', timEd will first ask if you're sure, before it dumps all the text you so carefully edited :-) Confirm_Exit Format: Confirm_Exit <Yes | No> This controls whether timEd asks for confirmation before exiting to DOS. If you set this to 'Yes', timEd will ask if you are really sure, before exiting to DOS. Confirm_Delete Format: Confirm_Delete <Yes | No> timEd v1.10 manual - page 100 This controls whether timEd asks for confirmation before deleting a message. If you set this to 'Yes', timEd will ask if you are really sure, before deleting a message. CONVERTOUTPUT Syntax: ConvertOutput <charset> <area> [<area> [<area>]] This command gives exceptions to the DefaultOutput definition, for certain areas only. You give the name of the charset to use, and the areatag(s) of the area(s) to use it for. Limited wildcard support is available, the first or the last character can be a '*'. In the example above, both "basic.028" and "demo.028" will match the '*028', and both "artware" and "artware.closed" will match 'artware*'. DEFAULTOUTPUT Syntax: DefaultOutput <charset> Example: DefaultOutput IBMPC DefaultOutput gives the global default of the character set to use for writing messages in any area. See the special section about character translation for more information! DEFAULTINPUT Syntax: DefaultInput <charset> DefaultInput gives the global default for reading messages in any area (just like DefaultOutput does for writing messages). DEFAULTINPUT Syntax: DefaultInput <charset> DefaultInput gives the global default for reading messages in any area (just like DefaultOutput does for writing messages). Also for this keyword (just like DefaultOutput): Make sure, that you define this *before* any areas are defined in timEd.cfg, otherwise timEd will not use your 'default' for the areas defined in timEd.cfg before this new keyword! So move this keyword up in timEd.cfg 'above' any area definitions. Please note, that when a 'CHRS:' kludge is present in a message, timEd v1.10 manual - page 101 this will obviously overrule the 'DefaultInput' or 'AssumeCharset' setup. The writer of the message is supposed to know best what charset was used.. DRIVEREPLACE Drive 'mapping' for the import routines for tossers. Handy for peer-to-peer networks. If the programs on the 'server' for example always use drive C:, and you try to use these programs from another PC where that drive is (network-)drive F:. If you use 'DriveReplace C F' all references to drive C: will be changed to references to drive F:. Format: DriveReplace <olddrive> <newdrive> (So: Replace <olddrive> with <newdrive>). Please note that this replace is only for the routines that import the tosser configuration, not in other places in the program. ECHOAREA, NETAREA Area definition, Squish alike. You can specify areas in timEd.cfg as well, in addition to the areas found in Squish.cfg. The squish.cfg file is read *after* these are read, however, so you can 'overrule' areas here (areas already defined in timEd.cfg will be skipped in squish.cfg and/or areas.bbs). This is the only place where you can give a 'long' description of an area (can't do that in squish.cfg, of course) and where you can specify 'default message attributes' for newly created messages in that area. It looks quite a bit like definitions in squish.cfg. There are 3 keywords: ■ EchoArea - for echomail areas ■ NetArea - for netmail areas (define as many as you want) ■ LocalArea - for local areas ■ NewsArea - for Usenet style news areas ■ Mailarea - for Internet style mail areas The format for all of these: <keyword> <description> <areatag> <location> [-Pxxx -Axx -$ -J - timEd v1.10 manual - page 102 H] <keyword> is NetArea, EchoArea, LocalArea, NewsArea or Mailarea. <description> is a description of the area, between double quotes <areatag> is the official areatag of the area (like: TUB). Even if the area is a Local area or a Netmail area, the area must have a UNIQUE areatag, as timEd uses these to distinguish areas! <location> is the directory/basename/board where the area resides. And where: The default is *.MSG format, but: -$ is for squish style areas. -J is for JAM style areas. -H is for Hudson base areas. And: -A gives default attributes. p = private, c = crash, k = killsent, d = direct, i = immediate, r = readonly (seen notes below); -Pz:nnn/nnn.p is the AKA to use for this area (also active for NetArea). The default is to use the primary address. You can make an area 'read-only' if you add -Ar in the area definition in timEd.cfg. The term 'Read-Only' is not really correct, but replying to a message in that area or creating a new one is not possible. It is meant as a convenience (for example to prevent you from writing messages in a 'personal mail area') and certainly not as a security measure! Deleting a message, for example, is possible. So is mass copying/moving to such an area. Examples: NetArea "Netmail Area" netmail c:\fd\netmail -Apk My primary netmail area, with a nonsense areatag, is in *.MSG format and all messages get the 'private' and 'kill/sent' bits by default. The 'local' bit is always added to all messages as well. timEd v1.10 manual - page 103 NetArea "Wlink net" w_net c:\fd\wnet -Ap -$ -P60:100/112 A second netmail area, in Squish format. Messages get the 'private' bit by default and I use my AKA 60:100/112 in this netmail area. LocalArea "Bad_Msgs" BAD_MSGS C:\Squish\Msgs\Bad -$ LocalArea "Dupes" DUPES C:\Squish\Msgs\Dupes -$ Here I add my bad_msgs and dupe areas. I like to see what's happening. LocalArea "SysOp" Sysop d:\local\sysop -$ -Ap I define my SysOp area, default private messages. EchoArea "JAM development" JAMDEV d:\echo\jamdev -J An echomail area in JAM format. EchoArea "Contrast" CONTRAST d:\echo\CONTRAST -$ An echomail area (my local points area, defined here as well as in squish.cfg, but I define it here, because I want it at the top of my area selection screen..) EchoArea "Points" POINTS.133 c:\sqsh\pnt -P2:500/133.999 Another echomail area, where I use my AKA 2:500/133.999, *.MSG format. EchoArea "Artware testers" artware.closed 3 -H An echomail area, in the Hudson base format (that's what the -H is for). The area is board number 3 in the Hudson base. ECHOLOG Where to put the echotoss.log file (name + path). If this is specified, an echotoss.log file will be written when you exit timEd. An echotoss.log file is a file containing a list with the areatags of areas that contain newly entered messages. You can pass this file to your tosser/scanner to scan out and pack these new messages. (For Squish, this is done by using the '-f' command line parameter). timEd v1.10 manual - page 104 Example: EchoLog C:\timEd\echotoss.log EDITOR This tells timEd what editor you want to use to edit your messages. There are two possibilities: 'Internal' - this will let you use timEd's internal editor. '<path + filename>' - if you give the name of a program, timEd will execute that program instead of using timEd's internal editor. Whenever it is time to edit a message, timEd will execute this program. Entering a full path is not required (because timEd will look for the editor in your PATH), but speeds up things. TimEd will call the editor with 1 parameter: the name of the temporary file that timEd created and that contains the message body to be edited. You can also use a batchfile here. You could use this to start up your editor with extra options, or to call other programs before or after the editor (a spell-checker maybe?). TimEd calls batchfiles with two parameters: the name of the file to edit (%1) and the areatag (%2). You might use the areatag to perform some magic in a batchfile, like calling different editors for different areas. Example: Editor c:\misc\q.exe or Editor Internal EDITSAVEMENU Syntax: EditSaveMenu <Yes|No> If you set this to 'yes', a menu will pop up after you save a message. This allows you to toggle the 'sign', 'encrypt' and 'spellcheck' actions. When you're done, select 'save message'. This is mainly for people using an external editor. People who use the internal editor can use the command EDITeditsavemenu. timEd v1.10 manual - page 105 Empty_Tearline Format: Empty_Tearline <Yes|No> This controls whether echomail messages will have a tearline mentioning the timEd version (like: --- timEd/B10) or an empty tearline. If you set this to 'Yes' an empty tearline will be created. In that case, a ^APID kludge will be added to show the timEd version you are using. End_of_Area_Menu Format: End_of_Area_Menu <yes | No> If this is set to 'Yes, and timEd reaches the last message in an area, pressing <right> or <enter> will have a message pop up, that gives you the choice to: - go to the next area with new mail (<right>, <enter>, '+'). - exit the area and go to the Area Selection Screen (<esc>). - just stay where you area (any other key). Lazy readers can just keep on pressing <right> or <enter>, and cycle through all their areas.... :-) With this set to 'No' timEd will just 'beep' at the end of an area, and do nothing else. ENTERMARKS *** obsolete *** If this is set to 'Yes', the <enter> key will mark a message. If this is set to 'No', <enter> will not mark a message but will function as <cursor right> and move you to the next message. In this case, <space> will mark messages. Example: EnterMarks No EXECRYPT Syntax: ExeCrypt <progname> <parms> This defines the program to run when the user wants to run the program to encrypt a message. See the special section about PGP and spellcheckers for more information. timEd v1.10 manual - page 106 EXECRYPTSIGN Syntax: EXECRYPTSIGN <progname> <parms> This functions like EXECRYPT and EXESIGN, and will be executed if BOTH the options 'encrypt' and 'sign' are toggled on. EXESIGN Syntax: ExeSign <progname> <parms> This defines the program to run when the user wants to run the program to clearsign a message. See the special section about PGP and spellcheckers for more information. EXESPELL Syntax: ExeSpell <progname> <parms> This defines the program to run when the user wants to run the program to do spellchecking on a message. See the special section about PGP and spellcheckers for more information. FASTECHOCFG TimEd can read the Fastecho.cfg for you (current version: 1.45), and get all echomail areas from that configuration. Note that Netmail, bad_msgs and dupes are not read by default; add 'ReadNetAreas Yes' and/or 'ReadLocalAreas Yes' to your timEd.cfg file to let timEd read those areas as well. Different AKA's used in your Fastecho setup will be recognized and used when creating a message. Give full path and name of the file. FastechoCFG c:\fe\fastecho.cfg TimEd also supports the use of environment variables (in the form: $[<environment variable>]) that this tosser allows you to use. FDNODELIST This tells timEd where it can find a FrontDoor nodelist (used by.... FrontDoor! Yes!) TimEd can use the files called USERNAME.FDX, NODELIST.FDX, NODELIST.xxx, FDNODE.FDA, FDNET.PVT and FDPOINT.PVT (the last three only if applicable, not required). When looking up a SysOp-name, timEd will try to locate *all* timEd v1.10 manual - page 107 matches for the (part of the) name entered. So, if you enter 'Essen', it might find both 'Gerard van Essen' and 'Martin Essenburg'. With the frontdoor nodelist, you can always get the same SysOp name more than once, and pick one of their addresses (HUBs etc. often have more than one address). Unlike the Version 7 nodelist, duplicate SysOp names are always preserved in the index. Example: FDnodelist C:\Frodo\Nodelist FMAILCFG TimEd can read the Fmail config files for you (current version: 0.96), and get all echomail areas from that configuration. Note that Netmail, bad_msgs and dupes are not read by default; add 'ReadNetAreas Yes' and/or 'ReadLocalAreas Yes' to your timEd.cfg file to let timEd read those areas as well. Different AKA's used for message areas in your Fmail setup will be recognized and used when creating a message. Give full path and name of the file Fmail.cfg FmailCFG c:\fmail\fmail.cfg FOLLOWHELLO See 'HELLO'. FREQATTRIBUTES This is the default status of a file request message created by the ctrl-f function. Values: i)mmediate, c)rash, d)irect, h)old, k)ill, p)rivate. Example: FreqAttributes ck File request messages created by timEd's 'ctrl-f' function will now automatically have the 'crash' and 'kill/sent' attributes. timEd v1.10 manual - page 108 GECHOCFG ! Note: older versions of GEcho (older then 1.01) are not supported! TimEd can read the GEcho config files for you (current version: 1.12, 1.20/beta), and get all echomail areas from that configuration. Note that Netmail, bad_msgs and dupes are not read by default; add 'ReadNetAreas Yes' and/or 'ReadLocalAreas Yes' to your timEd.cfg file to let timEd read those areas as well. Different AKA's used for message areas in your GEcho setup will be recognized and used when creating a message. Give full path and name of the file Setup.ge GEchoCFG c:\GEcho\Setup.ge TimEd also supports the use of environment variables (in the form: $[<environment variable>]) that this tosser allows you to use. HELLO, REPHELLO, FOLLOWHELLO HELLO : This defines the string to start a new message with. You usually say 'hello' before you start a message, so this is called 'hello' and will be referred to as 'hellostring' throughout the documentation. REPHELLO : This defines the string to start a reply with. This is usually something like: 'In a message xxx wrote to yyy'. This will be referred to as the 'rephello string'. FOLLOWHELLO : This defines the string to start what to start a 'follow-up' (created by pressing ALT-O) message with. *Always* put the 'hello', 'followhello' and 'rephello' strings between double quotes. There are several 'variables' that can be used in this string (and in the 'rephello' and 'followhello' strings as well): %to : The full name of the person that the message IS addressed to (for a new message) or that the original WAS addressed to (for a reply, the REPHELLO keyword). %fto : As %to, but only the first name of that person. %thisto: name of person *this message* is addressed to %thisfto: first name of person *this message* is addressed to timEd v1.10 manual - page 109 %from : The full name of the person who wrote the original message (in the case of a reply, so the REPHELLO keyword). In the case of a new message this would be the name of the person who wrote (writes) this new message (but that, of course, is you yourself :-) %ffrom : As %from, but only the first name of that person. %thisfrom: name of person *this message* is from (your name) %thisffrom: first name of person *this message* is from (your first name) %subj : Subject of the message %orig : Address of the sender of the message (like 2:281/527) %dest : Address of the recipient of the message (like 2:281/527) %time : Time the message was written (like 01:25) %year : The year the message was written (like 1993) %mon : The month the message was written (like jan, feb etc) %day : The day of the month msg was written (a number) %dow : The 'day of week' msg was written (like mon, tue, wed etc) An example to clear up things: Let's say I'm writing a message to Scott Dudley, so that's a new message, and the 'HELLO' keyword would be of significance here. The header would look like this: -=- From: Gerard van.Essen To : Scott Dudley Subj: Your MSGAPI -=- In this case, %to == 'Scott Dudley' and %fto == 'Scott'. If my timEd.cfg has: hello "Hello %to!" My message would be started with: Hello Scott Dudley! Of course, because we treat everyone like our best friend in Fidonet, I have: timEd v1.10 manual - page 110 hello "Hello %fto!" As a result, my message will start with: Hello Scott! Right, that's the 'hellostring'. Now, let's say Scott receives my message, and decides to write something back. This will be a reply, so the 'rephello string' will be used. Looking at our message again (the same one, as this is the message Scott is answering..): -=- From: Gerard van.Essen To : Scott Dudley Subj: Your MSGAPI -=- In this case, %to == 'Scott Dudley' and %fto == 'Scott', %from == 'Gerard van.Essen" and %ffrom == 'Gerard' Now if Scott uses timEd, *and* he has this in his timed.cfg: rephello "%from wrote in a message to %to:" His reply would start with: Gerard van.Essen wrote in a message to Scott Dudley: And he can start typing.. HUDSON_OFFSET Multi-user support for lastread pointers in Hudson bases as well: use the Hudson_Offset keyword to specify offset in lastread file. First user (and default) is offset 0. If you use the same base with more than one user, give one user Hudson_Offset 0, someone else Offset 1 etc. Be aware, though, that BBS systems also use space in the lastread file. Make sure that your setting does not clash with the offset of some BBS user! Example: Hudson_Offset 2 timEd v1.10 manual - page 111 HUDSONPATH This will tell timEd where your Hudson base is located. If you don't have a Hudson base, this keyword is not needed (in fact, in that case it is even better if you leave it out!). In this directory, timEd will also create the ECHOMAIL/NETMAIL.BBS files, that will signal to the tosser which new messages were entered. With this file, the scanner can very quickly export new messages. Example: Hudsonpath c:\fd\msgbase INCLUDE With this keyword, you can include another file in the config. If you like to change between different coloursets, for example, you can easily switch between them by putting them into two files (like set1.col and set2.col) and putting 'Include c:\timed\set1.col' or 'Include c:\timed\set2.col' in your config. This feature comes in very handy when you use Dick Pluim's colour configuration program for timEd! Format: Include <path+filename> Example: Include c:\timed\myareas.lst INTERNET_EMPTY_LINE Syntax: Internet_Empty_line <Yes | No> This controls whether timEd will leave an empty line between the 'TO:' on the first line in the message body, and the rest of the body (for message addressed to an internet address). The default for this is "yes". In some (rare) cases the empty line is unwanted, in that case this should be set to 'No'. If you're not sure, make this 'Yes'! timEd v1.10 manual - page 112 INTLFORCE Format: INTLFORCE <Yes|No>. With this set to 'yes', *all* netmail messages generated by timEd will have an INTL kludge (instead of only inter-zone messages). In some environments this seems to be necessary. Do not use this unless you really need it! JAMLOG Where to put ECHOMAIL.JAM and NETMAIL.JAM files. If you have any JAM echomail/netmail areas, these files will signal to the tosser which new messages were entered. With this file, the scanner can very quickly export new messages. With the current version of RA (2.01) and Fastecho (1.30), this file should be put in the directory that also holds the Hudson base. If you leave out this keyword, but have JAM areas anyway, the JAM areas where new mail was entered will be added to your echotoss.log file. This is useful for tossers that do not support the special echomail/netmail.jam files (like Imail). Example: Jamlog c:\fastecho\msgbase\ JAMGETLAST Syntax: JamGetLast <Yes|No> Determines whether timEd will get the LAST read or HIGHEST read message from JAM lastread files. Useful for Proboard users (PB doesn't update the lastread pointer, only the highest read pointer, so set it to NO). JAM_ZONEGATE_BIT This controls whether or not timEd uses the 'MSG_GATE' bit in JAM netmail areas (for a zonegated message). If your tosser supports it (at the time of writing, it is known that GEcho 1.11 will support it), set this to yes. What happens is that timEd will just set this bit in the JAM message (and do nothing else with it), if you tell timEd to make an inter-zone message zonegated. The tosser will recognize this timEd v1.10 manual - page 113 bit, and do the re-addressing of the message to the zonegate etc. If you set this to 'No', timEd will use another method to make the message zonegated. Chances are, your tosser will work OK with this (at this time, Fastecho 1.40 is an example of such a tosser), but this is definitely not guaranteed, as this method is quite strange (due to the JAM structure and timEd's implementation of it). JUMPY_EDIT This keyword controls timEd's behaviour when you have to edit one field (i.e.: not the internal editor!). For example, when you want to write a message to file, you have to give the filename. You can do that in an entry field, where you can edit the filename to write to. This keyword controls timEd's behaviour in such fields. When editing a field with a default already filled in, timEd can now clear the string when the first key you press is a normal character (and not a movement key, for example). This is what Qedit does, as do many setup programs (FDsetup, Gsetup etc). I consider this to be 'jumpy' behaviour (where the h*ll is my default string?), so it is controlled by a this keyword: Jumpy_Edit <Yes|No>. If you set this to 'Yes', the field will be cleared if you press a non-edit key as the first key. Please note, that if you set this to 'No', you can always use CTRL-Y to clear the entire field in one stroke! Kill_Original. Format: Kill_Original < Yes | No | Ask > This controls whether you want timEd to delete a message, after you wrote a reply to it. (This is only functional in the netmail area). You can use this to keep your netmail area clean. LASTREAD TimEd supports multiple lastread pointers. This is necessary if you are not the only one using timEd on 1 machine (as the lastread pointers would have to be shared by 2 (or more) users then). timEd v1.10 manual - page 114 If you are the only one using the message base, or if you are the SysOp (and are consequently occupying the first position in the lastread file) you do not need this keyword. This is usually the case, so most people don't need this keyword at all. With this keyword, you can give the name of the lastread file for *.MSG areas. The default is "lastread". Example: LastRead lastrea1 LEVELONEOUTPUT Syntax: LevelOneOutput <charset> [<charset> [<charset>]] This indicates that a certain character translation map (as used for the 'charset support', FSC-0054) produces level 1 output. The LevelOneOutput keyword gives you the opportunity to use a level 2 character map with timEd, but to indicate that the output is actually a level 1 message. So if you add 'LevelOneOutput SWEDISH' to timEd.cfg, timEd will use the level 2 SWEDISH character map, but will add a 'CHRS: SWEDISH 1' kludge to the message. Make absolutely sure that output is indeed level 1 (and that level 1 maps, to remap your message back to what it should be, actually exist!). You may add more than one name on one line for this keyword, like this: LevelOneOutput Swedish AnotherCharset You may also add this keyword more than once in timEd.cfg. LOCALAREA See 'ECHOAREA'. LOWLEVELKB This keyword can switch on the 'low level' keyboard routines. With these routines, timEd will recognize the ASCII 224 character. In addition, timEd will ignore any keyboard redefinitions caused by ANSI-driver keyboard programming. The disadvantage is, that is may cause some TSR's to stop working (or even lock up the machine!). Some people also reported random lockups using these routines, and other weird timEd v1.10 manual - page 115 problems (timEd waiting for a keypress during a mass-move in the List mode, for example). On the author's machines, the routines never gave any problems, though. If you have strange problems, try to switch this off. Values can be 'Yes' (use Low Level routines, the default), or 'No' (don't use). MACRO Macros can save you typing names and addresses of people you regularly send mail to. It works like this: in a netmail message, you enter a (short) name, that was also listed in timed.cfg using a 'macro' statement. TimEd will recognize this statement and expand it for you, saving you a lot of typing. This may include the 'to:' field, the address the message is sent to, and the subject. Examples: macro am,areamgr,2:281/520,my_pass When you enter 'am' in the 'to:' field, timEd will replace it with 'areamgr', and fill in the address (2:281/520) and subject (my_pass) lines for you. So, a total of 3 items were listed after the macro name. macro et,Erik Troost,2:281/527.2 This will expand to 'Erik Troost' with the address filled in. That's 2 items after the macro name. macro rvdn,ROn van der Nagel This will only expand the macro (rvdn) to ROn van der Nagel. Only 1 item listed behind the macro name. Note that spaces are allowed in a macro statement. They are never stripped, so don't put them were you don't want them! Also note that timEd doesn't default to anything when a macro is used, as far as addresses are concerned. So you should always give full 4D addresses in macros (so *not* "macro et,Erik Troost,281/527.2", because that will lead to the address 0:281/527.2!). MAILAREA See EchoArea. timEd v1.10 manual - page 116 Move_Notes Format: Move_Notes <Yes|No>. This controls whether timEd will put "Moved / Copied (from: xxx) by xxxxx using timEd" at the top of a message that was Moved or Copied using ALT-M. Please note that FORWARDED messages will _always_ have the message. Messages Copied or Moved using the L)ist mode will never have the message at the top. NAME Type your name (and optionally aliases, just put in more NAME keywords) here. The NAME will be used in the FROM: field of every message you write. The aliases will be used as extra names to look for in the personal mail scan (ALT-P from the area selection menu, {+}). While in a message area, you can also pick one of your names to write messages with. Press CTRL-N to change the username from within timEd. The default is to use the first NAME found in timEd.cfg. *Always* put the name between double quotes. Example: name "Gerard van.Essen" name "Gerard van Essen" NETAREA See 'ECHOAREA'. NETMAIL_SEMAPHORE Format: Netmail_Semaphore <path+filename> This can be used to configure a file to be created (or touched) when netmail is generated. For frontdoor this should be fdrescan.now in the frontdoor directory. You can use this file to give a signal to another program (usually your mailer) that your netmail area changed. That program can then rescan the netmail area. timEd v1.10 manual - page 117 Example: Netmail_Semaphore c:\fd\fdrescan.now Netmail_Tearline Format: Netmail_Tearline <Yes|no>. This controls whether netmail messages will have a tearline or not. Tearlines are not required in netmail messages, although some programs (usually areafix alike programs) use it to find the end of the message body. NEWSAREA See Echoarea. NODELIST This tells timEd where it can find a Version 7 nodelist (used by BinkleyTerm and Portal of Power, for example). The nodelist is very useful when entering netmail: timEd can look for addresses and SysOp names in the nodelist, to find the corresponding data of that node. (So, when entering a name, timEd will try to find the address, when entering an address, timEd will try to find the SysOp's name..). The Version 7 nodelist can be produced by several programs, like Xlaxnode, FastV7, Qnode and Fastlist. TimEd needs the files called SYSOP.NDX, NODEX.NDX and NODEX.DAT. When looking up a SysOp-name, timEd will try to locate *all* matches for the (part of the) name entered. So, if you enter 'Essen', it might find both 'Gerard van Essen' and 'Martin Essenburg'. If you use Qnode, and put 'Keep Allusers' in qnode.cfg, you can even get the same SysOp more than once, and pick one of their addresses (HUBs etc. often have more than one address). Recent versions of 'Fastlist' and FastV7 have the same capability. Example: nodelist C:\Binkley\Nodelist timEd v1.10 manual - page 118 NOSPACE_PASSWORD Syntax: NoSpace_Password <Yes|No> This controls whether timEd will add a space between the filename and the password in the subject line for file requests (not applicable for JAM style areas). Squishmail (the echomail processor) wants no space between the filename and the password, while most (all?) other implementations _do_. The subject line of a file request message for the file 'tim101.zip' with the password 'secret' will look like this: Subj: tim101.zip!secret with 'NoSpace_Password Yes', and like this: Subj: tim101.zip !secret with 'NoSpace_Password No' (this is the default). If you are not using the Squishmail echomail processor, and unsure what to use, simply leave the keyword out. The default ('No') will be applicable in most cases. If you use the Squishmail echomail processor, use 'NoSpace_Password Yes'. ORIGIN This tells timEd what the default origin is. This line will appear at the bottom of every echomail message you write. You can override this default on a per area basis (by pressing ALT-H in timEd, while you are in a message area). *Always* put the origin between double quotes. origin " Contrast BBS, 070-3234903 [V22..32bis] " Personal_Skip_Received. Format: Personal_Skip_Received <Yes | No> This is for the personal mailscan (ALT-P). When this is set to 'Yes', personal messages that have the 'received' status will be skipped by the personal mailscan (so you only see unread messages). When this is set to 'No', the personal mailscan will also show messages with the received status. timEd v1.10 manual - page 119 Please note that the personal mailscan always starts scanning at the lastread pointer, regardless of this setting. {+} The personal mailscan is only functional in registered versions. PRINTER Here you can tell timEd what port your printer is attached to. When using ALT-P from the message reading or list screen, timEd will send the message to what is listed here. The default (if you don't put this in timEd.cfg) is LPT1. Note for Novell Lite users: NWLite seems to be unable to catch timEd's printer output. However, if you specify 'stdprn' as the printerport, NWLite *will* catch it. Example: Printer LPT2 READLOCALAREAS This keyword can let timEd read areas marked as local areas from your tosser configuration files. If you set this to 'Yes', timEd will read those areas, if this is set to 'No', local areas will be ignored and will not show up in the arealist. READNETAREAS This keyword can let timEd read areas marked as netmail areas from your tosser configuration files. If you set this to 'Yes', timEd will read those areas, if this is set to 'No', netmail areas will be ignored and will not show up in the arealist. REPHELLO See 'HELLO'. Show_Edit_HCR This defines whether timEd will show the 'hard returns' in the internal editor. If this is set to 'Yes', timEd will show a special symbol at the end of every line that has a 'hard return'. This is only the startup value, when you are in the internal editor, you can toggle this setting with ALT-H! timEd v1.10 manual - page 120 Example: Show_Edit_HCR Yes SHOWKLUDGES This tells timEd if you want to see the control information in the messages by default (or not..). For this purpose, 'kludges' includes real kludges (like MSGID, REPLY, PID, PATH etc.) but also SEEN-BY lines. This is the setting at startup, you can toggle this setting from within timEd by pressing ALT-K or ALT-V when reading a message. Example: Showkludges Yes SIGNOFF This tells timEd what should be placed at the end of every message. Most people always use the same 'signoff', so why not let timEd do it for you.. *Always* put the 'signoff' message between double quotes. Signoff "Groetjes, ....... === Art ===" In addition, you can also use \n in a string, to indicate a newline. So: signoff "Greetings,\n Gerard" expands to something like: -=- Greetings, Gerard -=- Note, however, that strings longer than +/- 70 characters cannot be edited from within timEd (with ALT-H). SQOUP2SQCFG This option defined the location and name of the SOUP2SQ config file. Soup2SQ is a program written by Steven van Loef, that can convert SOUP packets (Usenet/Internet style mailbag, like QWK or Blue Wave) to Squish style message areas and v.v. Syntax: Soup2SQCFG <path+name of config file> timEd v1.10 manual - page 121 SPELLCHECK_DEFAULT Syntax: SpellCheck_Default <Yes|No> When this is set to 'yes', timEd will by default check the 'Run Spellchecker' box when editing the header of a new message. SQUISHCFG TimEd can read the Squish.cfg (current version: 1.10) for you, and get all EchoArea lines from that configuration. Note that that Netmail, bad_msgs and dupes are not read by default; add 'ReadNetAreas Yes' and/or 'ReadLocalAreas Yes' to your timEd.cfg file to let timEd read those areas as well. -P switches found in Squish.cfg will be recognized and used when creating a message. Give full path and name of the file. If it contains an AreasBBS statement, the areas.bbs file will be read as well. Squishcfg c:\squish\squish.cfg Squish_Offset This is the equivalent of 'LastRead', but for Squish style areas. You must give a number, that is the position of the lastread pointer in the *.SQL file (for Squish areas). For the first user this is 0 (which is the default). If you are the second user you should set this to 1, if you're the third user you should set it to 2, etc. Again: most people do *not* need this. Example: Squish_Offset 1 This would let timEd use the second lastread pointer in the .SQL files (Squish_Offset 0 would be the first, which is the default). Startup_Lines This controls the videomode, the number of rows on the screen. This mode will be set on startup of timEd. The values that are allowed depend on the timEd version and mode: timEd v1.10 manual - page 122 DOS: 25, 28, 50. OS/2 fullscreen: try it and you'll know (depends on videocard), in addition to the above, 30 and 40 or 45 may work. OS/2 window: anything from 25-60 AFAIK (different fonts). STARTUP_MODE This determines the default mode ('view') timEd will have for showing your areas (Area Selection Screen). The mode can always be changed from the Area Selection Screen by pressing ALT-M, but this keyword sets the default at startup. Use either 'All' (show all areas), 'New' (show only areas with new mail) or 'Tagged' (show only tagged areas) or 'NewTagged' (show only tagged areas that hold new mail). Example: Startup_Mode NewTagged STARTUP_SCAN This determines whether the message areas will be scanned for new mail at startup (value: Yes or No) or even for personal mail (value: Personal {+}). So, use either 'Yes', 'No' or 'Personal'. Example: Startup_Scan Yes SWAP_ON_EDIT, SWAP_ON_SHELL These two statements determine timEd's behaviour when it calls other programs. There are two options: Yes : Swap timEd out of main memory when calling the other program. This will only leave about 250 bytes of timEd in main memory, thus making available a lot of memory for the other program to run in. No : Don't swap timEd out, load the other program in the memory remaining, with timEd still in memory. timEd v1.10 manual - page 123 The second option takes up more memory, but is faster (no swapping has to take place). TimEd will be swapped to XMS, EMS or to Disk if no XMS/EMS is available. Swapping to disk is quite slow, of course.. Swap_on_Edit: Determines whether timEd is swapped out when the editor is called to edit a message. This is done often, of course (especially if you write a lot of mail :-), so if you have enough memory to hold both timEd and the editor in memory (and this is usually the case), I would set this to 'No'. Swap_on_Shell: Determines whether timEd is swapped out when shelling to DOS, and when executing an external program by using the ALT-U feature (message base maintenance). Usually speed is not really important here, while lots of available memory can be very useful, so it might be a nice idea to set this to 'Yes'. USENETMACRO There is also another type of macro's: USENETMACRO. This works very similar to a 'normal' macro, but you can also supply a 'usenet style' name, that will be placed in the body of the message (TO: art@beard.next.nl for example). The format is as follows: USENETMACRO macro,Usenet_address,toname,[toaddress],[subject] The last two items are optional. Note that spaces are allowed in a macro statement. They are never stripped, so don't put them were you don't want them! Usenet_address should be an address like art@beard.nest.nl. Toname should be the name to be filled in in the TO: field. Usually, this will be 'postmaster' or 'uucp'. Toaddress is the address to send the message to, usually the address of your Usenet <-> Fidonet gate. An example: My Usenet <-> Fidonet gate is 60:60/0, and I want to send a message to art@beard.nest.nl (why would I send a message to myself? :-). A macro could be: timEd v1.10 manual - page 124 Usenetmacro au,art@beard.next.nl,postmaster,60:60/0 When entering a message, I can now just type 'au' in the TO: field, and timEd will automatically fill in 'postmaster' in the TO: field, 60:60/0 in the to-address field, and leave me at the subject field. When I start to edit the body, 'TO: art@beard.nest.nl' will be placed at the top of the message. UUCPADDRESS Syntax: UucpAddress <address> This defines the address of your Internet gate. This is used by timEd to readdress messages that are entered, and have a '!' or '@' in the address and therefore seem to be destined for the internet. Example: UucpAddress 2:281/527.999 UUCPNAME Syntax: UucpName <name> This is the name used for the gate (usually 'UUCP' or 'Postmaster'), which will be combined with UucpAddress. V7MODEMTYPEBIT Syntax: V7ModemTypeBit <bit value> <flag> This keyword control translation of values of the ModemType field in a Version 7 nodelist to alfanumeric nodelist flags, that can be shown by timEd. Example: V7ModemTypeBit 64 V34 The 'bit value' must be a power of 2 (i.e.: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128). The above example indicates that if the bit representing the value 64 is set, the 'V34' flag is present. See the special section about the V7 nodelist support for more information. timEd v1.10 manual - page 125 V7MODEMTYPEVALUE Syntax: V7ModemTypeValue <byte value> <flag> This keyword control translation of values of the ModemType field in a Version 7 nodelist to alfanumeric nodelist flags, that can be shown by timEd. Example: V7ModemTypeValue 13 V34 This would indicate, that if the 'ModemType' field is set to 13, the node has the 'V34' flag in the nodelist. See the special section about the V7 nodelist support for more information. V7NODEFLAGBIT Syntax: V7NodeFlagBit <bit value> <flag> This keyword control translation of values of the ModemFlag field in a Version 7 nodelist to alfanumeric nodelist flags, that can be shown by timEd. Example: V7NodeFlagBit 16 CM This indicates, that if the bit that represents the value 16 is present, the CM flag is present for that node. See the special section about the V7 nodelist support for more information. WRITENAME Here you can give the default filename the ALT-W (write message to file) function will write to. When actually writing to a file, you can of course edit this to be anything you want (this is just the default). You can also put PRN (or similar) in here, to write to a printer. Example: WriteName c:\timed\timout.txt You can enter this statement more than once in timEd.cfg. TimEd will remember all of them. When prompted to enter a filename to write the message to, you can press <TAB> to get a list of all names that were defined here, scroll through the list with the cursor keys and pick the appropriate one. The 'variables' that can be used for external programs (like [areatag], [msgno] etc) can also be used when entering the name timEd v1.10 manual - page 126 of a file to write a message to. This allows you to write messages to files called 'artware.msg', or 'artware.100' and so on. WTRGATECFG TimEd can read the Watergate area file for you, and get all echomail areas from that configuration. Note that Netmail, bad_msgs and dupes are not read by default; add 'ReadNetAreas Yes' and/or 'ReadLocalAreas Yes' to your timEd.cfg file to let timEd read those areas as well. Different AKA's used for message areas in your WaterGate setup will be recognized and used when creating a message. Give full path and name of the main config file. XMAILCFG TimEd can read the xMail area file for you (current version: 1.00), and get all echomail areas from that configuration. Note that Netmail, bad_msgs and dupes are not read by default; add 'ReadNetAreas Yes' and/or 'ReadLocalAreas Yes' to your timEd.cfg file to let timEd read those areas as well. Different AKA's used for message areas in your xMail setup will be recognized and used when creating a message. Give full path and name of the file AREAS.XM xMailCFG c:\xmail\areas.xm ZoneGate Format: ZoneGate <Yes | No | Ask> It works as one would expect: when this is set to 'No' timEd won't do any zonegating, if it is set to 'Yes' it will zonegate all inter-zone messages, and if it is set to 'Ask', timEd will ask whether it should zonegate or not.. If you use Binkley with Squish, you can also let Squish handle it (that's what I do). Whether or not you need zone-gating depends on the software used by the node that actually sends the messages from one zone to another. Check with your Boss, HUB, Host or who-ever knows. timEd v1.10 manual - page 127 13. Miscellaneous notes. 13.1 Multitasking considerations. Screen handling. ---------------- DOS version: TimEd uses direct screen writes (either to the physical screen, or to the DESQview virtual screen). There is no special code to prevent 'snow' on older CGA displays. OS/2 version: timEd uses the VIO subsystem for screen writes. Performance. ------------ DOS: TimEd will give up timeslices to DESQview, Windows and the OS/2 DOS box (although it would be much better to use the OS/2 version), if applicable. This means timEd will have no noticeable impact on system performance when it is idle (which is most of the time). OS/2: What? This is an OS/2 app! Of course it doesn't suck time from other tasks!! File locking/sharing. --------------------- DOS: File locking is only active if timEd successfully locked a file in the timEd directory (either the current dir or the one specified by the -c command-line switch). OS/2: File locking/sharing is always active. 13.2 Some things to remember. ■ With the OS/2 version, spawning E.EXE or EPM.EXE directly from timEd/2 doesn't work. Using a batchfile (with "E.EXE %1" as the only contents) works OK... timEd v1.10 manual - page 128 13.3 Technical notes. TimEd is written Watcom C/C++ v10.0a (for all versions), and makes extensive use of Scott Dudley's MSGAPI (thanks Scott!). It also uses small parts of the JAM message base API (made by Mats Wallin, Joaquim Homrighausen, Andrew Milner and Mats Birch). It was developed on a 10 Mhz 286 (most of the time, during the early stages of development), and for a while on a 386-40 running OS/2 (also running my BBS) but even OS/2 couldn't protect the BBS from my programming skills (...), causing lockups and even reboots, so I went back to the 286.. After that, development has taken place on a 386-40 again (running OS/2) and recently on a Pentium 100 with 32 MB running either OS/2 or WIN95 (depending on my mood). The PC also runs Linux occasionally, but I don't do any programming under Linux. 13.4 TimEd source code Not available. timEd v1.10 manual - page 129 14. A list of all available commands Commands available from the Area Selection Screen: AStag - Tag currently highlighted area ASsetview - Choose 'view' on areas (all, tagged etc) ASup - Move highlighted bar one area up ASdown - Move highlighted bar one area down AShome - Move highlighted bar to first area ASend - Move highlighted bar to last area ASpageup - Move highlighted bar one page up ASpagedown - Move highlighted bar one page down ASshell - Shell to the operating system ASscanthorough - Reccan all areas, even if scanned before ASscan - Scan all areas that were not scanned before ASscanpersonal - Do a personal mailscan {+} AStagsetwrite - Write current selection of areas (tagset) to disk AStagsetread - Read a previously saved selection of areas from disk ASexit - Exit timEd ASlist - Enter currently highlighted area in List mode ASenter - Enter currently highlighted area ASquit - Quit current screen (Area Selection during a forward or move for example) AShelp - Show helpscreen Commands available from the message reading screen: READup - Scroll text one line up READdown - Scroll text one line down READbegtext - Scroll to start of text READendtext - Scroll to bottom of text READpageup - Scroll message one page up READpagedown - Scroll message on page down READnext - Go to next message READprevious - Go to previous message READfirstmsg - Go to first message in area READlastmsg - Go to last message in area READfind - Go to the search manager screen READlist - Go to list mode READbroadlist - Go to list mode, broad list of headers READedithello - Edit 'hello strings'. READexit - Exit timEd READdelete - Delete current message READwrite - Write current message to a file READprint - Print current message READmove - Show move/forward/copy menu READmarkchain - Mark all messages in current reply chain READreply - Reply to current message READfollowup - Do a reply to the recipient of current message READturboreply - Do a fast reply (without header editing) READshell - Shell to operating system READgoback - Go back to area selection screen timEd v1.10 manual - page 130 READfreqfiles - Generate a file request out of files found in current message READenter - Enter a new message READreplyother - Write reply to current message, in another area READchange - Change current message READchangeheader - Change header of current message READchangeattributes - Change attributes of current message READunreceive - Set received bit for current message off READbouncereply - Write a 'bouncereply' with full kludges READmark - Mark current message READinfo - Show information about current message and area READchangeaddress - Change current default address to use for new messages READchangename - Change current default username to use for new messages READtogglekludges - Toggle display of kludges. READmaintenance - Show user defined maintenance menu READnextareanewmail - Go to next area that has new mail READprevareanewmail - Go to previous area that has new mail READnextmarked - Go to next marked message READprevmarked - Go to previous marked message READnextmsgorpage - Show next page of message, or show next message if the current message has no next page READgotoreply - Go to reply to current message READgotooriginal - Go to original message, that current message is a reply to. READgotonextreply - Go to next reply (JAM areas only) READsetbookmark - Set a bookmark on current message READreturnbookmark - Go back to an earlier generated bookmark READlookuporiginaddress Nodelist lookup of origination address READlookuptoname - Do a nodelist lookup on the 'to' name of current message READlookupfromname - Do a nodelist lookup on 'from' name of current message READhelp - Show help screen READchangecharset - Change default charset to use for messages without a CHRS: kludge READrunexternal - Run an external program from within timEd READsearchcurmsg - Highlight keywords in current messages READwritebody - Write the body (so no header) out to file READwriterealbody - Write the real body (without tearline/origin) to file READwriteheader - Write only the header to a file READsqundelete - Undelete messages in a Squish area READsdmrenumber - Renumber a *.MSG area READchangecharset - Choose a character set to use when reading a message READfiledelete - Delete a file, from message reading screen. READfiltermsg - Zap the entire message body and replace with a file READfilterrealbody - Zap the real body of a message (so this saves the tearline / origin) and replace with text from a file timEd v1.10 manual - page 131 READfiltermemory - This functions like 'READfilterrealbody' but it will only replace the message body in memory Commands available from the internal editor: EDITbegline - Goto beginning of current line EDITendline - Goto end of current line EDITbegtext - Goto beginning of text EDITendtext - Goto end of text EDITbegpage - Goto beginning of currently visible page EDITendpage - Goto end of currently visible page EDITup - Move one line up EDITdown - Move one line down EDITright - Move one character to the right EDITleft - Move one character to the left EDITenter - Goto new line, one line down EDITdel - Delete character under the cursor EDITback - Backspace, delete character left of cursor EDITtab - TAB, move 3 positions to the right EDITbacktab - BackTAB, move 3 positions to the left EDITpageup - Move one page up EDITpagedown - Move one page down EDITtoggleinsert - Toggle insert mode EDITabort - Quit editing session EDITsave - Save current text EDITshell - Shell to operating system EDITimportfile - Import a file from disk EDITdeltoeol - Delete everything to end of current line EDITmarkblock - Set border of a block EDITunmarkblock - Unmark a previously defined block EDITdelblock - Delete a marked block of text EDITcopyblock - Copy a marked block of text EDITmoveblock - Move a marked block of text EDITzapquotes - Delete all quoted lines till end of text EDITdupline - Duplicate current line to line below EDITeditheader - Edit header of currently edited message EDITdelwordright - Delete word right to cursor EDITdelwordleft - Delete word left to cursor EDITunerase - Undelete lines from undelete buffer EDITjumpwordright - Jump one word right EDITjumpwordleft - Jump one word left EDITdelline - Delete current line EDIThelp - Show helpscreen EDITtogglehcr - Toggle display of 'hard returns' in editor EDITfiledelete - Delete a file, from internal editor EDITrunexternal - Run an external program from the internal editor EDITsavemenu - Save the text that is edited to a message, but go through the 'EditSaveMenu' first EDITwriteraw - Write all text to a file in 'raw' format EDITwriterawblock - Write the currently marked block to a file in raw format timEd v1.10 manual - page 132 EDITwritefmt - Write all text (formatted, wrapped at column 78) EDITwritefmtblock - Write a block (formatted) Commands available from the List mode: LISTup - Move highlighted bar one message up LISTdown - Move highlighted bar one message down LISTpageup - Move highlighted bar one page up LISTpagedown - Move highlighted bar one page down LISThome - Move highlighted bar to top of list LISTend - Move highlighted bar to bottom of list LISTcopy - Copy tagged messages to another area LISTmove - Move tagged messages to another area LISTdelete - Delete tagged messages LISTprint - Print tagged messages LISTwrite - Write tagged messages to file LISTtagrange - Tag a range of messages LISTuntagrange - Untag a range of messages LISTtagall - Tag all messages LISTuntagall - Untag all messages LISTexit - Exit timEd from list mode LISTswitch - Switch between 'normal' and 'broad' list LISThelp - Show help screen LISTabort - Quit list mode LISTdetails - Show details of currently highlighted message LISTshell - Shell to operating system LISTREADmsg - Read currently highlighted message LISTtag - Tag currently highlighted message timEd v1.10 manual - page 133 15. Frequently asked questions Q1. I wrote a nicely formatted message with my external editor. However, after timEd read the message in, the message looked quite different and the nice format was gone. A. In order to stay within the Fidonet specifications, timEd has to 'intelligently' strip 'hard returns' from your messages, before writing them to the message base. Usually, this works quite well and you won't notice it. Sometimes it goes wrong, and for these cases you can instruct timEd to temporarily NOT strip these 'hard returns'. Look in timEd.prn ('Entering messages with timEd') for more details. -=- Q2. In timEd.cfg I can define 'hellostrings' and an Origin. But for different areas, I want to use different origins. Is that possible? A. Yes, that's possible! When you press ALT-H while you are in a message area, you can define custom 'hellostrings' etc. for use in that area only! Using this, you can have different 'hellostrings' and origins for every area! See timEd.prn for more info. Please note that permanently SAVING these strings is only available in registered versions. -=- Q3. In timEd.cfg, I changed the 'Hellostring'. However, in ONE area, the old 'hellostring' is still being used! How come? A. You probably used ALT-H to edit the 'Hellostring' for that area. After using ALT-H, you can save {+} this information (in that area). That custom hellostring will then be used for messages in that area. If you change the hellostring in timEd.cfg, that will not affect the custom 'hellostring' for that area. See timEd.prn for more info about the ALT-H function. timEd v1.10 manual - page 134 Q4. Will you implement support for 'Taglines' and 'Cookies' in timEd? A. No, I don't like to support automatically generated echomail pollution. -=- Q5. I do a nodelist lookup on a SysOp that has several addresses (AKA's). However, timEd only shows me one of those addresses, and I *know* he has many of them. A. You are most likely using a Version 7 nodelist, and the compiler you used to generate it either doesn't support 'duplicate sysop names' in the nodelist indexes, or it was configured to strip duplicate names. Currently, I know that Qnode and Fastlist (go for Fastlist!) can put duplicate sysop names in the index. Xlax does not have this ability. This is not a bug in timEd, but a shortcoming in the nodelist compiler, or in your configuration of that tosser. timEd v1.10 manual - page 135 16. Thanks to.. TimEd is the result of enthusiastic efforts by many, many people. I know it sounds boring, but there are too many people to thank. The whole thing was started by Scott Dudley, who released the MSGAPI code I wanted to play with, and the Squish message base format that I wanted to write a reader for.. Jelle Boot was the first one to actually use timEd apart from myself. He encouraged me to go on with the program. Even though he couldn't change any colours! But he had a nice program (a TSR that changed screen colours 'on-the-fly') to do just that :-) Since that time, many people joined in. The current beta team consists of more than 30 people. I owe them. Apart from that there are very helpful registration, distribution and support sites. I owe _them_, too. This section, however, would not be complete without mentioning Evin Mulron, whose enthusiasm often inspired me to put in an extra hour of programming. Thanks! He is also the one who convinced me that asking money for a program isn't such a bad thing to do. Everyone owes him for that, because without that income all development would have been stopped early 1994 when studying gobbled up lots of money, that I wouldn't have had without income from my shareware. I won't try to put the names of all people that helped me in here. There are too many, and I would forget several of them. Everyone who helped me out, *knows* I am thankful to them. But, just to be sure: T H A N K S ! "I couldn't have done it without you guys!" timEd v1.10 manual - page 136 17. Contacting the author. You can reach me in several ways: The best way: Try to get the international ARTWARE conference. You will find me there, and several other experts :-) Please, do _not_ try to call me at home. I unfortunately have no time to give voice support. It places too much strain on me and my family. My BBS: Contrast BBS +31-70-3234903 US Robotics V34+, V.FC, HST 16k8, V32 terbo. FidoNet: 2:281/527 Internet: art@cnh.wlink.nl Or just send me a letter, or postcard: Gerard van Essen Leharstraat 67 2551 LB Den Haag The Netherlands, Europe timEd v1.10 manual - page 137