Tutorial 9: The Post Queue
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Contents: Posting Overview Creating New Posts Post Queue Cmds
Post Editor Cmds Displayable Info Summary
Posting Overview

 Posts in NewsRog are usually created by using commands available in the group reader window. However, they can also be directly created from within the post queue. The post queue holds a list of composed postings that you have created. These posts can be composed on or offline. Once one or more posts have been composed, they can all be sent to the network in a batch mode.

There are two specific post related windows; the Post Queue holds a list of all composed posts that have not yet been sent to the network:

The Post Editor allows you to edit one particular post.

NewsRog allows you to use any text editor that you chose to edit posts. As soon as the editor saves the file, NewsRog will update it's own display in the post editor window. AmigaOS file notifications are used, so the editor can be run asynchronously and you can save the file from the text editor as many times as you wish before closing the editor. The default editor is c:ed, but this can be changed in the global configuration options.

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Creating Posts There are several ways to create new posts:

  • Using the Group/Post New... or Viewer Article/Post Followup... menu items in the group window.

  • Dragging an article from the article list in a group window onto the post queue window. This will compose a followup to the article, quoting the original article text.

  • Dragging a group from the group list window onto the post queue window. This will compose a new post to that group.

  • Adding a post manually by using the Add button in the post queue window shown above. In this case you will need to enter both the subject and group information by hand.

Under normal operation using the group reader Followup or Post New commands, the post queue window does not appear. Instead, a post editor for that post appears directly.

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Post Queue Cmds The following commands are available from the post queue window:

  • Add - Adds a new post, with no subject, group, or file contents. This information will need to be supplied by hand.

  • Delete - Deletes the selected (highlighted) posts.

  • Edit - Calls up the post editor for the selected post.

  • Post - Sends the selected (highlighted) posts to the network. This is only available in online mode, and it is a batch operation - all selected posts will be sent. A status window will appear showing the current progress.

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Post Editor Cmds The post editor allows you to set basic information about the post, such as the subject, the group(s), the followup line, the distribution list, the sig file that should be appended (if any), and to edit the post's text. If this post was created by following up to another post, a quoted version of the original post will already be inserted.

These commands are available:

  • Post now - Sends the post in its current form to the network. This is only available in online mode.

  • Invoke Editor - Invokes an external editor to edit the post. Any time the editor saves the file, this view will be instantly updated.

  • To Queue - Closes this window and puts the post in its current form back into the post queue for later editing or batch posting. This can be done in either online or offline mode.

  • Cancel - Cancels all the edits to the post text that were performed since the post editor was opened, and reverts to the previous version.

  • Delete - Deletes this post from the post queue and closes the editor window. This removes the post entirely.

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Displayable Data The post queue can be set to display any desired information about the posts. (See this tutorial for more information). The following data may be displayed:

Column Description
Lines The number of text lines in the post.
Size The size of the post in Kb or Mb.
Subject The subject field for the post. This will be set automatically when following up to another posting.
Groups The list of groups to which this article should be posted. It is generally best to post to an absolute minimum of applicable groups.

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Summary By this point in the tutorial you should understand:

  • The difference between the post queue window and the post editor window.
  • How to select posts and invoke the post editor.
  • How to change a post's subject, group, body text, and other information.
  • How to followup to another post or create a new post from the group window.
  • How to followup to articles using drag and drop.
  • The difference between single and batch posting.
  • How to delete a posting you don't want.
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