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1994-12-10
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This file documents Spot, a FidoNet tosser/editor for Amiga computers.
Copyright (C) 1993-1994 Nico François
______ __
/ ____/ _/ /_
/ /___ ______ ______ / __/
/___ // __ // __ / / /
___/ // /_/ // /_/ / / /_
/_____// ____//_____/ /___/
/ /
/_/
Spot 1.3a
A FidoNet tosser/editor for the Amiga
Preface
*******
Spot is offered to you under the concepts of ShareWare. You can use
it for an evaluation period of up to 30 days without paying any charge.
If you are going to use Spot after the evaluation period, you should
register.
See License and the `README' file for more information.
Introduction
************
This manual is a description of Spot, a FidoNet-compatible tosser,
scanner and editor for Amiga points.
To use Spot you will need a good mailer. TrapDoor is suggested.
Spot has been developed for use with TrapDoor and supports/uses many of
TrapDoor's unique features.
If you are new to FidoNet, please read the file `FidoNet.man' that is
included in the TrapDoor distribution.
Spot requires Workbench 2.0 or higher to run. It uses many 2.04
features and has been designed to be as user-friendly possible.
Spot requires `reqtools.library' version 38 or higher to run. When
message base crunching is used Spot also requires `powerpacker.library'
version 36 or higher. Both these libraries are also (C) Nico François
and are included in the distribution archive.
Spot supports `traplist.library' (C) Martin J. Laubach and
Maximilian Hantsch. `traplist.library' is not included but can be found
in the TrapDoor archive.
Although Spot is not really a cat, the following ode... :-)
Ode to Spot
by Lt. Cmdr. Data (`Schisms')
Felus Catus. Is your taxonomic nomenclature
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature?
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Control your hunting skills and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued by your sub vocal oscillations.
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents.
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotions.
Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I none the less consider you a true and valued friend.
Features
********
* Requires Kickstart 2.04 or higher.
* Supports new 3.0 features (newlook menus, memory pools,...).
* Fully localized (Workbench 2.1 or higher).
* Style Guide compliant.
* Supports all current and future monitor modes.
* Completely font-sensitive, user may select which fonts to use.
* Keyboard short-cuts for most menus and gadgets.
* All settings can be easily changed from within Spot.
* Fast importing/exporting.
* Automatically creates new areas for you, no tedious work.
* Special fast message base format with only a few files per area.
* Optional - fully transparent - message base crunching.
* Message list with powerful functions (e.g. search body text).
* Message thread linking based on subject and MSGID kludge.
* Excellent support for multiple character sets (LATIN-1, IBM,...).
* Built-in, fully asynchronous, Fido file request.
* Multi-bossing and multi-domain capable.
* Userlist editor. Every domain has its own userlist.
* ARexx port.
* Clock
Some of these features are only available in the registered version.
Installation
************
Use the appropriate installation icon in the `Install' drawer.
Installation uses Commodore's installer utility and should be a doddle.
Spot normally requires `MAIL:' to be assigned to some directory on
your harddisk. This directory will be used to store the configuration
files and the message base. `MAIL:' is also requires by most other
FidoNet software, so if you have already installed TrapDoor for example
this will already be assigned properly.
If you wish Spot to use another path for its config files than
`MAIL:' you can use the `CONFIGPATH' command line switch (from the
Shell) or the `CONFIGPATH' tooltype from the Workbench. Note that the
tooltype is also recognized in project icons.
When you start Spot for the first time it will ask you for your name
and FidoNet address and will create default preferences for you.
Spot normally uses ReqTools requesters. You can tell Spot to to use
the standard Asl requesters where possible with the `ASL' command line
switch or the `ASL' tooltype.
Menus
*****
Project Menu
============
Import...
---------
Keyboard short-cut: none (areas window: I for Import button)
Start import. Spot will look in your inbound directory (see
General) for mail packets and mail bundles. Spot will automatically
unpack the bundles and will toss all messages in the packets into the
appropriate echo or netmail area.
During import Spot will put reply links, mark messages for you, do
optional dupe checking,...
When you are multi-bossing Spot will examine TrapDoor's filenote to
find out what unpacker to use.
Note that it is possible to close the import console window with
Control \ or Esc as well as with the close gadget.
Export...
---------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga X (areas window: X for Export button)
Export all message you have written to your boss system. Spot will
create a bundle containing all the echo mail you've written in your
outbound directory (see General). Netmail will be put in a packet,
unless the `Pack netmail' switch is used (see System) in which case
netmail will be added to the echomail bundle (check with your boss to
see if his tosser supports this).
Maintenance...
--------------
Keyboard short-cut: none (areas window: M for Maintenance button)
Delete messages in areas according to you settings (see Areas).
Spot will report how many messages are deleted in each area. You
should do a maintenance regularly, otherwise your message base will
quickly fill up your disk.
Note that maintenance may delete unread mail. If you want to keep
unread mail use the `Keep unread' button in the requester that pops up.
Optimize...
-----------
Keyboard short-cut: none (areas window: O for Optimize button)
Optimizes the message base. This function may take some time. Spot
will reorganize each area, making sure the disk usage is minimal and
the message base is as efficiently organized as possible.
You should optimize your message base on a regular basis.
When your message base is optimized Spot will look at your current
message base crunching setting and will crunch or decrunch the entire
message base accordingly.
Poll...
-------
Keyboard short-cut: none (areas window: P for Poll button)
Call your boss node. Spot will execute the poll command (see
General). If there is unexported mail left in an area Spot will tell
you about this and offer you the possibility to export it before
polling.
If you are multi-bossing Spot will put up a requester asking you
which boss to poll.
File request...
---------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga = (areas window: F for File Request
button)
Brings up the Fido file requester (not AmigaDOS file requester).
Enter the node address from which you would like to request in the
`Node' gadget. Enter the file names in the string gadget below the
listview. To delete a file just edit it (click on it), clear the
string gadget and press enter.
Note that the file requester is completely asynchronous, you may
continue to use Spot. This is very useful for browsing some messages
listing new file arrivals at your BBS. A recommended utility to go
with the file requester is PowerSnap, this will allow you to 'snap'
files from the message display into the file requester.
Toggle Workbench
----------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Open or close the Workbench screen. This is only possible if no
other programs have windows open on the Workbench. Useful if you
haven't got much memory left.
Iconify
-------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga \ (areas window: C for Iconify button)
Iconify Spot on the Workbench as an AppIcon. Double-click Spot's
icon or use Spot's hotkey (see General) to uniconify it.
If you have changed the settings Spot will tell you about this and
give you the possibility to either abort the iconify, iconify or save
the settings before iconifying.
Spot allows you to iconify it on startup. Simple pass the `ICONIFY'
argument from the shell or put the `ICONIFY' tooltype in Spot's icon.
If you intend to drag Spot into your WbStartup you should also set the
`DONOTWAIT' tooltype.
Spot will recognize the following additional tooltypes: `ICONXPOS',
`ICONYPOS' and `ICONNAME'. You can use these to set the position and
the name of the iconified Spot's icon.
About...
--------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Show some general info about Spot.
Quit
----
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga Q (areas window: Q for Quit button)
Quit Spot. If you have changed the settings Spot will tell you
about this and give you the possiblity to either abort quitting, quit
anyway or save the settings first.
Move Menu
=========
Area list...
------------
Keyboard short-cut: F1
Go to the area list window (see Area List Window).
Message list...
---------------
Keyboard short-cut: F2
Go to the message list window (see Message List Window).
Messages...
-----------
Keyboard short-cut: F3
Go to the message window (see Message Window).
Next message
------------
Keyboard short-cut: Arrow Right
Go to the next message in the current area.
Previous message
----------------
Keyboard short-cut: Arrow Left
Go to the previous message in the current area.
Next reply
----------
Keyboard short-cut: Alt Arrow Right
Go to the next message in the reply thread the current message is
part of. Spot will link messages on subject or on ^aMSGID kludge.
Previous reply
--------------
Keyboard short-cut: Alt Arrow Left
Go to the previous message in the reply thread the current message
is part of.
Next marked
-----------
Keyboard short-cut: Ctrl Arrow Right
Go to the next marked message. Messages can be marked in the
message list (see Message List Window).
Previous marked
---------------
Keyboard short-cut: Ctrl Arrow Left
Go to the previous marked message. Messages can be marked in the
message list (see Message List Window).
Next unread
-----------
Keyboard short-cut: TAB
Go to the next unread message in the current area.
Previous unread
---------------
Keyboard short-cut: Shift TAB
Go to the previous unread message in the current area.
Next unreplied
--------------
Keyboard short-cut: Alt TAB
Go to the next unreplied message in the current area. An unreplied
message is a message directed to you and which you did not reply to
(yet).
Previous unreplied
------------------
Keyboard short-cut: Shift Alt TAB
Go to the previous unreplied message in the current area. An
unreplied message is a message directed to you and which you did not
reply to (yet).
Last message
------------
Keyboard short-cut: Shift Arrow Right
Go to the last message in the current area.
First message
-------------
Keyboard short-cut: Shift Arrow Left
Go to the first message in the current area.
Goto message...
---------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga G
Go to a specific message. You will be prompted for the message
number you would like to jump to.
Next area
---------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga N
Go to the next area in the area list.
Previous area
-------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga B
Go to the previous area in the area list.
Area with unread mail
---------------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga U
Go to the next area in the area list with unread mail left.
Area with imported mail
-----------------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga I
Go to the next area in the area list with unread mail from the last
import left.
Area with mail for you
----------------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga Y
Go to the next area in the area list with unread mail for you left.
Area with unreplied mail
------------------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga O
Go to the next area in the area list with unreplied mail left.
Message Menu
============
Write...
--------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga W (messages or message list window: W
for Write button or Shift-Ins on keypad)
Write a message in the current area. Spot will start your favorite
editor (see General) so you can type in your message. After saving your
message and quitting your editor Spot will put up the message header
window (see Message Header Window) to allow you to fill in the message
header (destination address, subject, flags,...).
Reply...
--------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga R (messages window: R for Reply button)
Reply to the current message. Spot will start your favorite editor
(see General) with the quoted message. The reply will be preceded with
the current area's reply header (see Reply headers...).
You may edit this quoted reply as you wish. After saving your reply
and quitting your editor Spot will put up the message header window
(see Message Header Window) with the addressee and the subject already
filled in (you may change these if you wish).
Matrix Reply...
---------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga M
Reply to the current message in netmail. The reply is sent as
private netmail to the writer of the original message. The reply will
be preceded with the current area's reply header (see Reply headers...).
Cross Reply...
--------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga C
Reply to the current message, but post the reply in another area.
Spot will put up a requester asking you which area you would like to
write the reply in. The reply will be preceded with your cross-reply
header (see Cross-reply header...).
Forward...
----------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga F
Forward, or re-post a message in another area. Spot will put up a
requester asking you which area you would like to forward this message
to. The message will be preceded with your forward header (see Forward
header...).
Edit...
-------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga E
Edit the current message. If you try to edit a message not written
by you or one that has already been exported Spot will warn you about
this. Editing exported mail is no use since the un-edited version is
already on its way around the world.
Edit Header...
--------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga H
Edit the header of the current message (see Message Header Window).
Flags...
--------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga '
Edit several flags of the current message (see Flags Window).
Delete...
---------
Keyboard short-cut: Shift Del (*no* confirmation requester)
Delete the current message or all selected messages. Using the menu
will put up a confirmation requester, the Shift Del keyboard short-cut
(also works on keypad) does an immediate delete without confirmation.
The Shift Del keyboard short-cut only works from the messages window.
If the current message has the keep flag set the confirmation requester
will always appear.
If used from the message list and if any of the selected messages
has the keep flag set, Spot will ask you if you want to keep these
messages or if you want to delete them with the rest of the selected
messages.
Save...
-------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga S
Save the current message or all selected messages to an ASCII file.
If the file you save to already exists you are given the option to
overwrite the file or append the message to it.
Print...
--------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga P
Print the current message or all selected messages using your system
printer preferences.
Add to Userlist...
------------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga +
Add the writer of the current message to your userlist. If the
writer is already in the list Spot will tell you so. If not you are
asked if you would like to enter an optional nickname for this user.
See Userlist... for more information.
If the current message contains a `REPLYADDR' kludge (gated aread)
Spot will automatically set the e-mail address of the user in the
userlist.
Add to userlist...
------------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga _
Add the writer of the current message to the twitlist. If the
writer is already in the list Spot will tell you so. If not you are
asked if you would like to enter an optional comment for this user.
See Twitlist... for more information.
Add subject to userlist...
--------------------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Add the subject of the current message to the twitlist. If the
subject is already in the list Spot will tell you so. If not you are
asked if you would like to enter an optional comment for this twit
entry. See Twitlist... for more information.
Info...
-------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga ?
Show some information about the current message, like message
length, message overhead,...
If you have a nodelist installed Spot will show some more
information, like the BBS name and phone number of the message writer.
Toggle keep flag
----------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga K
Toggle the keep flag of the current message.
Toggle unreplied flag
---------------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga -
Toggle the unreplied flag of the current message.
Settings Menu
=============
General...
----------
Keyboard short-cut: F6
Brings up the general settings editor (see General).
System...
---------
Keyboard short-cut: F7
Brings up the system settings editor (see System).
Areas...
--------
Keyboard short-cut: F8
Brings up the areas settings editor (see Areas).
GUI...
------
Keyboard short-cut: F9
Brings up the GUI settings editor (see GUI).
Userlist...
-----------
Keyboard short-cut: F10
Brings up the userlist editor (see Userlist).
ARexx...
--------
Keyboard short-cut: Shift F6
Brings up the ARexx commands editor (see ARexx).
Twitlist...
-----------
Keyboard short-cut: Shift F7
Brings up the twitlist editor (see Twitlist).
Events...
---------
Keyboard short-cut: Shift F8
Brings up the events settings editor (see Events).
Origins...
----------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Brings up the origins editor.
This editor allows you to enter several origins to be used in
echomail areas. Use the `Add...' button to add a new origin. The
`File...' button allows you to get the contents of a file into the
string gadget. The `Delete' button will delete the current origin.
The `Up' and `Down' buttons allow you to change the position of the
current origin.
Origins can be grouped together. The `Add group' and `Delete group'
buttons can be used to add and remove origin groups. The `Rename group'
button allows you to give another name to an already existing group.
Use cycle gadget at the top of the window to select the current group.
Press `Ok' to accept the changes you made, `Cancel' otherwise. Note
that if you delete an origin the area that was using this origin will
be left origin-less. You will have to reselect an origin for those
areas.
An origin may be up to 54 characters long. Spot will make sure the
origin line doesn't get longer than 80 characters and may truncate your
origin when writing a message.
Reply headers...
----------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Brings up the reply headers editor.
This editor allows you to enter several reply headers to be used
when you reply in netmail or echomail areas. Use the `Add...' button
to add a new origin. The `File...' button allows you to get the
contents of a file into the string gadget. The `Delete' button will
delete the current reply header. The `Up' and `Down' buttons allow you
to change the position of the current reply header.
Press `Ok' to accept the changes you made, `Cancel' otherwise. Note
that if you delete a reply header the area that was using this header
will be left reply header-less. You will have to reselect a reply
header for those areas.
Below the listview is a WYSIWYG display of the reply header you are
editing using the message font (see GUI).
A reply header may be up to 255 characters long. It can contain the
following control codes:
* %d - date of original message
* %D - localized date of original message
* %t - time original message was written
* %N - full name of message writer
* %n - first name of message writer
* %o - origin-address of message writer
* %g - gateway reply address of message writer (REPLYADDR kludge)
* %s - subject of original message
* %A - full name of addressee of original message
* %a - first name of addressee of original message
* \n - new line
If %a, %A, %n or %N are followed by some text enclosed in two `~'s
this text will be used if the message was directed to or written by
yourself. For example: "Look what %n~I~ wrote to %a~me~:"
%g will fall back to %o (origin-address of message writer) if no
`REPLYADDR' kludge was found. This is very useful for netmail areas
where you can receive messages with and without this kludge.
The localized date is for use on Workbench 2.1 or higher. It is
very useful to be used in reply headers for local areas. If
locale.library is not available %D will be identical to %d.
For the advanced Spot user there is a possibility to use a localized
date in your local areas without using Spot in your local language
(some people don't like this). Simply use the system Locale preference
editor to select your language and save this setting as
`MAIL:SpotDate.locale' (use `Save As...'). Spot will try to read this
file on startup and use this as your locale for the %D formatting code.
Signatures...
-------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Brings up the signatures editor.
This editor allows you to enter several signatures to be used in
your netmail or echomail areas. Use the `Add...' button to add a new
signature. The `File...' button allows you to get the contents of a
file into the string gadget. The `Delete' button will delete the
current signature. The `Up' and `Down' buttons allow you to change the
position of the current signature.
Press `Ok' to accept the changes you made, `Cancel' otherwise. Note
that if you delete a signature the area that was using this signature
will be left signature-less. You will have to reselect a signature for
those areas.
Below the listview is a WYSIWYG display of the signature you are
editing using the message font (see GUI).
A signature may be up to 511 characters long.
Tag lines...
------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Brings up the tag lines editor.
This editor allows you to enter tag lines origins to be used when
you write messages. Use the `Add...' button to add a new tag line.
The `File...' button allows you to get the contents of a file into the
string gadget. The `Delete' button will delete the current tag line.
The `Up' and `Down' buttons allow you to change the position of the
current tag line.
Tag lines can be grouped together. The `Add group' and `Delete
group' buttons can be used to add and remove origin tag line groups.
The `Rename group' button allows you to give another name to an already
existing group. Use cycle gadget at the top of the window to select
the current group.
When adding a new group you may make it a file group. This special
type of group will get its tag lines from a file, allowing you to build
a list of hundreds or even thousands of tag lines. To make a group a
file group simply press the `File...' gadget in the `Add group'
requester after typing in a name for the group. You will be presented
with a file requester. Use this to select a tag line file. This tag
line file must have the following format:
This is a tag line.
%%
This is another tag line.
%%
This is a multi
line tag line.
%%
This is the last tag line in this file.
So simply separate your tag lines with a `%%'. In a file group you
can't add any tag lines with the GUI. The `File...' button will act
differently, it will allow you to change the file this group gets its
tag lines from.
Press `Ok' to accept the changes you made, `Cancel' otherwise. Note
that if you delete a tag line the area that was using this tag line
will be left tagline-less. You will have to reselect a tag line for
those areas.
A tag line may be up to 255 characters long. Tag lines in a file
are of unlimited length.
Forward header...
-----------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Brings up the forward header editor.
This editor allows you to enter the forward header used when you
forward a message from one area to another. The file gadget next to
the string gadget allows you to get the contents of a file into the
string gadget.
Press `Ok' to accept the changes you made, `Cancel' otherwise.
Below the string gadget is a WYSIWYG display of the forward header
using the message font (see GUI).
The forward header may be up to 255 characters long. It can contain
the following control codes:
* %A - net name of area message is forwarded from
* %a - user name of area message is forwarded from
* %d - date of original message
* %D - localized date of original message
* %t - time original message was written
* %N - full name of message writer
* %n - first name of message writer
* %o - origin-address of message writer
* %g - gateway reply address of message writer (REPLYADDR kludge)
* %s - subject of original message
* %F - full name of addressee of original message
* %f - first name of addressee of original message
* \n - new line
%g will fall back to %o (origin-address of message writer) if no
`REPLYADDR' kludge was found. This is very useful for netmail areas
where you can receive messages with and without this kludge.
If %n, %N, %F or %f are immediately followed by some text enclosed
in two `~'s this text will be used if the message was written by
yourself or to you.
For example: "Message from %n~me~ in area %a:"
Cross-reply header...
---------------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Brings up the cross-reply header editor.
This editor allows you to enter the cross-reply header used when you
reply a message from one area into another area. The file gadget next
to the string gadget allows you to get the contents of a file into the
string gadget.
Press `Ok' to accept the changes you made, `Cancel' otherwise.
Below the string gadget is a WYSIWYG display of the cross-reply
header using the message font (see GUI).
The cross-reply header may be up to 255 characters long. It can
contain the same control codes as the forward header (see Forward
header...).
Reflow text
-----------
Keyboard short-cut: none
When this switch is on Spot will reflow the text you entered in your
editor (see General). This means that Spot will remove the newlines at
the end of every line and will reflow your text into paragraphs. This
will allow for much better displaying and quoting by Spot and other
mail editors.
It is strongly advised you leave this option switched on. In fact,
you should never switch this off unless you have a specific reason to
do so.
Spot tries to be smart when reflowing your message. It will not
reflow when certain non-common characters are used (to leave ascii
drawings as they are) and will recognize (and not reflow) uuencoded or
PGP encrypted data.
Spot allows you to disable reflow manually. Simply enclose the
section of your message you don't want to be reflowed between two
`\reflow' lines (a backslash followed by the word `reflow' on a single
line). The `\reflow' lines will be automatically removed by Spot.
Reflow reply
------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga >
When this switch is on Spot will always reflow the text (even if it
contains hard returns) when you do a reply.
Spot will try to be as smart as possible about this, trying not to
reflow ASCII art and tables. You should be able to leave this switch
on most of the time, but if you encounter messages that give problems
switch reply reflowing off.
Show kludges
------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga ^
Most fidonet messages contain kludges (control lines beginning with
^a). With this switch you can specify if you would like to see them or
if you would like Spot to hide them for you.
If you save or print a message (see Save... and Print...) this
switch will decide wether kludges lines are included.
Show SEEN-BYs
-------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga $
With this switch you tell Spot if it has to show or hide the SEEN-BY
lines in echo mail areas. You would normally leave this off so Spot
will not bother you with these lines.
If you save or print a message (see Save... and Print...) this
switch will decide wether SEEN-BY lines are included.
No Re:
------
Keyboard short-cut: none
When this switch is on Spot will filter out the `Re:'s that are
generated by most mail editors when replying to a message. It will not
show `Re:'s in the message header or message list. When replying to a
message the subject will be kept the same, so no `Re:' will be added.
Quote kludges
-------------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga
With this switch you specify wether kludges (and SEEN-BY lines)
should be included when you quote a message. You would normally leave
this switch off.
Show net names
--------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Spot normally shows the user names of areas in its main areas
window. With this switch you can tell Spot to show the net names.
This is useful if you need the net name of an area for de-areafixing
for example.
IBMPC codepage 865
------------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Use IBM PC font codepage 865 (Nordic) instead of the default
codepage 850 (International).
Text styles
-----------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga *
With `Text Styles' switched on Spot will show text surrounded by one
of the following characters in a different style: `*' for bold text,
`/' for italic text and `_' for underlined text.
For example: *this* will be shown in bold and _this_ will be
underlined. It is also possible to combine styles: */this/* will be
shown in italic and bold.
The nice thing about all this is that your message will still be
very readable by people who have a mail editor that doesn't support
text styles.
Save settings...
----------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Save the settings to `MAIL:Spot.prefs', `MAIL:Spot.areas' and
`MAIL:Userlist_<domainname>'. The current size of all list requesters
and the Fido file requester will also be saved.
ARexx Menu
==========
Execute script...
-----------------
Keyboard short-cut: none
Execute an ARexx script. Brings up a file requester in the directory
specified in the ARexx path (see General) and allows you to select an
ARexx script that should be executed.
User items
----------
Keyboard short-cut: Right-Amiga 1 through Right-Amiga 0
Up to 40 user-definable items can be added to the ARexx menu. The
first ten will have keyboard short-cuts. These items can be configured
from the ARexx settings editor (see ARexx).
Keyboard Shortcuts
******************
Some menu shortcuts will only show up on Workbench 3.0 or higher.
Here is a list of these shortcuts for Workbench 2.0 or 2.1 users:
F1 Area list...
F2 Message list...
F3 Messages...
F6 General...
F7 System...
F8 Areas...
F9 GUI...
F10 Userlist...
Shift F6 ARexx...
Shift F7 Twitlist...
Shift F8 Events...
Cursor right Next message
Cursor left Previous message
Alt cursor right Next reply
Alt cursor left Previous reply
Ctrl cursor right Next marked
Ctrl cursor left Previous marked
TAB Next unread
Shift TAB Previous unread
Alt TAB Next unreplied
Alt Shift TAB Previous unreplied
Shift cursor right Last message
Shift cursor left First message
Shift Delete Delete...
Space Follow unread messages, also in next area
Keypad 0 Follow threads (skip read messages)
Alt Keypad 0 Go back in thread
Ctrl Alt Keypad 0 Skip current thread (mark read)
`TAB' will always activate the first string gadget in a window.
`Esc' can be used to close the settings windows.
When a string gadget with popup gadget is active pressing `Shift
cursor down' has the same effect as clicking on the popup gadget. Use
Right Amiga and a shortcut key when a string gadget is active to access
the normal keyboard shortcuts.
Area List Window
****************
The area list window is the window Spot will show at startup. In the
listview on the right you'll be shown a list of all areas. Spot will
show the area user name, the import and export flags, the number of
messages in the area, the number of unread messages and the number of
unread messages to you.
The last two are of course optional and will only be shown when
there is actually unread mail left.
The import flag (I) will be shown if there is mail arrived in the
area from the last import. The export flag (E) will be shown if there
is unexported mail left in the area. If there is unreplied mail left
in an area Spot will also set the unreplied flag (U) for that area.
When Show net names is switched on Spot will show the net or tag
name of the area in brackets after the user name.
Double-click on an area to jump to the message window.
The buttons on the left normally perform the same action as the menu
items by the same name. Note that there is an override option for the
buttons and menu items via ARexx scripts.
If Spot finds a file called `_Import.spot' in the ARexx directory
(see General) it will execute this instead of performing the action
normally associated with the `Import' button or menu item. The same is
valid for `Export' (`_Export.spot'), `Maintenance'
(`_Maintenance.spot'), `Optimize' (`_Optimize.spot'), `Poll'
(`_Poll.spot'), `FileRequest' (`_FileRequest.spot'), `Iconify'
(`_Iconify.spot') and `Quit' (`_Quit.spot'). Remember to include the
command to perform the actual function (like e.g. `import') in your
ARexx script.
Note that these ARexx scripts will run asynchronously! So you might
want to use the `lockgui' and `unlockgui' commands to stop the user from
disturbing your script.
Message List Window
*******************
The message list shows you a list of all messages in the current
area. For each message the writer (from), the addressee (to) and the
subject is shown.
Before each message two flags are displayed, the export flag (E)
shows a message that needs to be exported and the keep flag (K) shows
that a message has the keep flag set.
Messages marked with an asterisk (*) are messages you haven't read
yet. Messages printed in inverse are messages to you, which you
haven't replied to yet (or switched off the unreplied flag manually,
see Toggle unreplied flag).
By clicking on a message you are able to mark it. All marked
messages can be saved, deleted and printed. You can also go to the
message window and move between all marked messages (see Next marked
and Previous marked. Use the space bar to mark (or unmark) the current
message.
The current message will be highlighted. The current message is the
message you either last read in the area or the first unread message in
the area. It is the message that will be shown when you go to the
message window. You can change the current message by using the up and
down arrow keys. Hold down the Alt key and use up and down to scroll
around in the message list.
The `Areas...' and `Messages...' buttons on the left can be used to
jump to the area list or message window respectively.
Pressing the `All' button will mark all messages in the area,
`Unread' will mark all unread messages (and will clear all other marked
messages) and `None' will simply clear all marked messages.
The `Include...' and `Exclude...' buttons bring up a window to allow
you to include or exclude messages by using a pattern filter (see
Include-Exclude Window).
The `Delete...', `Save...' and `Print...' buttons allow you to
delete, save or print several messages in one go.
The `Flags...' buttons brings up a window for you to set or clear
certain flags of all marked messages (see Flags Window).
Include/Exclude Window
======================
The include or exclude window offers you a very powerful means of
selecting specific messages.
With the `Search' cycle gadget you may select if you wish to search
all messages, all read messages or all unread messages.
The `Search string' is the string that will be searched for. This
string may contain any valid AmigaDOS pattern (like `#?'). When the
`Case sensitive' checkbox is ticked the string comparison will be case
sensitive.
The `To', `From', `Subject' and `Body text' checkboxes define which
fields should be searched. Don't put a `Re:' in the subject search
string, all leading `Re:'s are ignored.
Note that the search string is automatically surrounded by two `#?'
wildcards for the body text search.
Press the `Include' or `Exclude' button to start the search. When
body text is searched Spot will put up a progress requester, since this
may take a while. The `Cancel' button exits the window without
searching.
Flags Window
============
The flags window holds a cycle gadget for each message flag you can
change. These cycle gadgets have three states: `Don't change', `Set
flag' and `Clear flag'. The label should explain what these different
states do.
Press `Ok' to change the flags of the current message or of all
marked messages, `Cancel' to leave without changing any flags.
Message Window
**************
The message window shows the current message in the current area.
At the top of the screen the message header information is displayed.
Spot will show the writer (`From'), the addressee (`To') and the
subject (`Subj'). The address of the writer and in netmail of the
addressee is also shown, as well as the message date. The date below
the message date is the import or export date. If no date is shown
there this message hasn't been exported yet.
At the bottom of the screen there are several buttons to write and
reply messages, to move to the next/previous message/reply and to jump
to the other two main windows.
The space bar can be used for dog-easy reading. It will advance a
page in the current message until the bottom is reached. It will then
jump to the next unread message, or to the next area with unread mail.
So by pressing this single key you can read all your unread mail.
Pressing `0' on the keypad will do as the space bar, but will first
follow the current thread to its end instead of jumping to the next
unread message. It will skip messages in the current thread that are
already read, and when there are no more messages in the thread it will
jump back to the first unread message in this area (or to the next area
with unread mail). Press Alt `0' on the keypad to retrace your steps
(up to a maximum of 20 messages).
Message Header Window
*********************
The message header window is the window used to fill in all fields
of the message header. The `From', `To' and `Subject' string gadgets
are used to fill in the fields of the same name. When you type the
nickname of a user in your userlist Spot will automatically replace
this by his or her full name and will fill in the destination address
for you (in netmail). Next to the `To' gadget is a popup gadget to
bring up a list requester with all users from your userlist.
In netmail the `Normal', `Hold' and `Crash' radio buttons set the
type of the netmail.
The `Private' flag will default to on in netmail areas, and to off in
echomail areas. When the `Kill/Sent' flag is set a message will be
deleted just after exporting it. The `File Attach' gadget allows you to
attach a file to your netmail. If the attached file is placed in the
outbound directory it will be deleted after sending it.
`Receipt Req' and `Audit Req' can be used to set the two FidoNet
flags of the same name, but almost no software supports these.
The `Reflow' gadget can be used to switch reflow temporarily off,
useful if you just realized the message you have just written needs
reflow to be turned off. Spot will remember for each message if you
wrote it with reflow on or off, so when you edit it later this checkbox
will be set accordingly.
In echomail areas the message header window will also contain an
`Origin' string gadget (with a popup gadget). This gadget allows you
to type in or choose an origin that will be used in the message you are
writing.
In netmail areas a `BBS' text display will appear, but only if you
have a nodelist installed and configured. This gadget will show the
name of the destination BBS and of the sysop.
The `Edit...' button can be used to jump back to the editor to edit
your message further. Useful if you just realized you forgot something.
When your boss requires you to use a fakenet and you write a message
in a netmail area Spot will provide you with a cycle gadget to set your
originating address. The default is to use the full 4D address, but
you can select your fakenet address. This may be needed for areafixing
for example.
When a string gadget is active you can access the keyboard
short-cuts by pressing the Right-Amiga key together with the short-cut
key. The keyboard shortcut for a popup gadget next to a string gadget
(like the one next to the `To' gadget) is Shift-Down when the string
gadget is active.
If you are writing a netmail message and the current domain has a
gateway selected Spot will add an extra gadget to the message header
window: `E-mail'. In this gadget you can put the address for a gated
mail (in case of an Internet gateway you put the full internet address
here). The popup gadget next to the gadget will pop up a list of all
users in your userlist with an e-mail address. Note that nicknames are
also active in this gadget.
Settings Editors
****************
General
=======
Edit general settings.
The `Editor' string gadget allows you to set the editor command that
should be executed by Spot to edit a message. Put a `%s' in this
command string to specify where Spot should insert the name of the
temporary file. You may use the `Edit file' gadget to set the path and
name of the temporary file (default is `T:Spot.temp').
Tick the `WB to front' checkbox if you would like Spot to pop the
Workbench screen to the front before executing the editor command.
This is useful if your editor opens on the Workbench screen.
When the `Check date' checkbox is ticked Spot will check the date of
the temporary file to see if you have actually changed it. If not Spot
will automatically cancel whatever operation called up the editor.
Note that this feature can only be used if your editor does *not* run
asynchronously.
The `Dupe checking' cycle gadget tells Spot what to do with dupes
(duplicate messages). If your boss is dupe-free you can disable dupe
checking. If not you can select between killing any possible dupes or
importing them into the BAD area. Note that there is *no* dupe checking
in netmail areas.
The `Spot to front' hotkey string is a standard commodity.library
hotkey description. Using this hotkey will pop up the Spot screen
uniconifying Spot if needed. Default hotkey is Left-Amiga -
Right-Amiga - S.
Spot has the ability to do transparent message base crunching. This
means it can automatically crunch a message before storing it in the
message base. This will save quite a bit of room on your harddisk.
The only penalty is speed, importing will be somewhat slower since Spot
will have to crunch each message it imports. Message base crunching
can be configured with the `Crunch buffer' cycle gadget. The larger
the speedup buffer the faster the crunching will go. Efficiency is the
same for all buffer sizes.
The `Areas' path tells Spot where to store the message base files.
Each area will consist of 4 files. Normally this is set to a
subdirectory of the `MAIL:' directory.
The `Inbound' and `Outbound' path should be set to the same path as
in your mailer config.
The `Work' path is the drawer used to create temporary files and to
unpack mail bundles. Default path is `T:' which is normally in RAM.
If you have a nodelist installed and have compiled it with TrapList
you can set the `Nodelist' gadget to the nodelist directory. Spot will
use this when showing message info, when adding users to the userlist
and in the message header window. Leave the path empty to disable
nodelist support.
The `FAttach' path is the default path the file attach requester
will open in. Leave the path empty to disable this.
The `Save' path is the default path the save requester will open in.
Leave the path empty to use the current directory.
The `ARexx' path is the default path for Spot's ARexx commands. The
default is `REXX:Spot'.
The `Log file' is the file Spot will use to log certain actions.
Currently only importing is logged. Leave this gadget empty to disable
logging.
Spot normally optimizes areas in area path. To speed up
optimization you can switch the `Optimize' cycle gadget to `RAM:T'
telling Spot to optimize areas in the `RAM:T' directory. Spot will
fall back to optimizing in the areas directory if it thinks an area is
too big to optimize in RAM.
System
======
Edit your system configuration.
The easiest field to fill is probably `Name'. Don't use high ASCII
in your name, this is not allowed in FidoNet.
The `Address' listview shows a list of all your different addresses.
Use the `Add...' button to add an address (you will also be prompted
for the domain name). The `Delete...' will delete the currently
selected address. Note that adding and deleting an address corresponds
to adding and deleting a netmail area for this address.
The `Fakenet' integer gadget allows you to set the fakenet for the
currently selected address. This is only needed if your boss does not
support full 4D addressing. Ask your boss what value you should enter
here.
If you have problems with your fakenet address and your boss you may
try adding a `FAKEFTS1' line to your `MAIL:Spot.prefs' file (use any
ASCII editor). This will instruct Spot to use an FTS-0001 packet
header with your fakenet address instead of the FSC-0039 packet header
Spot normally uses.
The `Domain' string gadget display shows the domain name of the
currently selected address. The `Domain in MSGID' and `Domain in
origin' checkboxes allow you to switch the inclusion of the domain in
the ^aMSGID kludge and the origin line on or off.
The `BBS Name' gadget allows you to enter the name of the BBS of your
boss for the currently selected address.
The `Packer' and `Unpacker' gadgets are used to configure the
archiver used to pack and unpack your mail bundles. You must of course
use the same archiver as your boss. The packer and unpacker commands
are executed with a stack of 8000 bytes. If you need more stack space
use an AmigaDOS script.
The `Pack netmail' checkbox allows you to switch netmail packing on
or off. Note that this switch is global, it is either on for all your
bosses or off for all your bosses. Check with your boss if his tosser
supports this.
The `Poll' string gadget is used to set the command to be executed
when you want to poll the boss of the currently selected address. The
poll command is executed with a stack of 8000 bytes. If you need more
stack space use an AmigaDOS script. *Important*: only supply one (1)
poll command per boss. So if your boss supplies both FidoNet and
AmigaNet leave the poll command of the AmigaNet address empty.
Use the `Asynchronous' checkbox to switch asynchronous polling on or
off. Useful if you wish to continue to use Spot while waiting for your
boss to answer your call.
If your boss needs a password in the packet header of exported mail
fill in your packet password in the `Password' string gadget.
The `Export to' string gadget allows you to set the export address
for the currently selected address. This address will be used when Spot
automatically creates an area while importing.
The `Force INTL' switch tells Spot to always add an `INTL' kludge to
your netmail. When this switch is off Spot will only put an `INTL'
kludge in netmail to another zone. You may need to force the `INTL'
kludge for some AreaFix programs.
Areas
=====
Edit the settings of all areas.
The `Areas' listview shows a list of all your current netmail and
echo mail areas. The netmail areas are automatically added and deleted
from the System window. The `DEFAULT AREA' is the area used as a model
for all newly created areas, so configure this area to your favorite
settings.
The TAB key can be used to activate the string gadget beneath the
listview. Here you may give the area any name you want (username).
The `Add...' button is used to manually add an area to the list. You
will be asked after the net name (or tag name) of the area you wish to
add. This name should be the exact FidoNet name of the area. You may
rename the area to your liking later.
The `Delete...' button deletes an area. All mail in the area will be
lost!
Use the `Up' and `Down' buttons to move the current area up or down.
The `Sort by name' buttons will sort all areas alphabetically. Note
that the netmail areas, the BAD area and the DEFAULT area will always
stay at the top of the list.
The `Page' cycle gadget is used to cycle through several pages of
area settings. There are currently three pages: `General',
`Maintenance' and `Text'.
The `General' page:
Use the `Address' cycle gadget to set your address for this area.
The `Export to' gadget can be used to export this area to a different
address. This allows you to for example pack all FidoNet and AmigaNet
mail together in one mail bundle by setting all AmigaNet areas to
export to your FidoNet boss (your boss must support this of course).
Tick the `Read Only' checkbox for read only areas. You will not be
allowed to write in this area by Spot.
The `Inactive' checkbox allows you to make an area inactive.
Inactive areas are skipped by Spot when you use one of the 'Area with
...' menu items (for example `Area with unread mail').
`Usenet quotes' activates the recognition of special quote characters
normally only used in usenet messages (currently only the `:' is
recognized).
The `crunching' checkbox will only be available when message base
crunching is on (see General) and allows you to control the crunching
for each area separately.
The `Alias' string gadget can be used to choose an alias Spot should
use instead of your name in this area. This can also be useful to use
your name with high ASCII in areas that allow this.
The `Editor' string gadget is normally left empty (Spot will use the
editor command set in the General settings). It can however be useful
in some cases to select a specific editor command for an area (for spell
checking for example).
The `Maintenance' page:
The `Keep' cycle gadget is used to set the maintenance setting for
this area. You may select to keep all message in an area, delete mail
older than a certain amount of days or keep a certain absolute amount
of messages in an area.
The value in the `Min. messages' number gadget is the minumum size
(in number of messages) an area must have grown to before Spot will
start a maintenance on this area. Useful if you maintenance a lot and
are tired of seeing Spot perform a maintenance of just a few message on
some areas (the ones with a low mailflow).
When the `Keep to you' checkbox is ticked Spot will automatically
set the keep flag on all messages it imports in this area that are
addressed to you. With the `Keep from you' checkbox ticked Spot will
set the keep flag on messages you write in this area.
The `Text' page:
Spot has very extensive character set support. The `Read' gadget can
be used to select a default character set to be used when reading
messages. Use the `Write' gadget to select a charset to be used when
you write a message in the selected area. Spot will translate to this
character set from LATIN-1 (the Amiga's character set).
Spot currently supports the following character sets:
`LATIN-1'
Amiga character set (ISO 8859-1).
`IBMPC'
IBM PC character set.
`SWEDISH'
7-bit Swedish character set. When this character set is set as
default, Spot will try to intelligently switch between SWEDISH and
DEFAULT for messages without ^aCHARSET or ^aCHRS kludge.
`ASCII'
7-bit ASCII, all high ASCII will be converted to 7-bit ASCII by
Spot.
`DEFAULT'
Character set that tries to make the best of a message with high
ASCII and no ^aCHARSET or ^aCHRS kludge. It will translate most
LATIN-1 and most IBMPC high ascii characters correctly.
The `Origin', `Reply' and `Signature' text displays show the current
origin, reply and signature. The popup gadget next to the text
displays allows you to select these for each area. When selecting an
origin you are also given the possibility of picking the origin
randomly (from all groups or from a specific origin group).
The `Tag Lines' cycle gadget allows you to switch taglines on or off.
Choosing `All' will pick a tag line randomly from all groups. You may
also set this gadget to a specific group tag lines should be picked
from.
GUI
===
Edit interface settings.
The `Display mode' gadget allows you to pick a display mode for the
Spot screen from the list of all available monitor modes. Spot's
screen depth can be set to 4 or 8 colors. Scrolling will of course be
slower in 8 colors. Autoscrolling of Spot's screen can also be
switched on or off from the screenmode requester. If you would like
Spot's screen to have a different size than the standard text overscan
size you may change the width and the height in the screenmode
requester.
With the `Screen font', `Text font' and `Message font' gadgets you
can customize Spot to your liking with your favorite fonts. The screen
font is obviously used for the screen, the text font for places where a
fixed font is needed (like the import window), and the message font is
the font used to display the messages (and related things).
The `Palette...' button will bring up a palette requester that
allows you to change the screen colors, `Get Workbench palette...'
copies the Workbench color palette.
Kludge and quote color can be set using the `Kludge color' and
`Quote color' palette gadgets. When the `Bold quotes' checkbox is
ticked quotes will be printed in bold type.
The `Clock' cycle gadget allows you to switch the clock off or select
your favorite clock format.
People using a border-blank utility or graphic card users (which
always have black borders) will probably want to use Spot's
border-blank mode. The only way to activate this mode is by editing
`MAIL:Spot.prefs' and entering the `BBLANK' switch in it. After
restarting Spot you'll notice Spot has left a gap of a few pixels at
the left, right and bottom border. This way the gadgets don't "stick"
to the (black) screen border.
Userlist
========
Edit the userlist. Spot maintains a userlist for each domain.
Use the `Domain' gadget to select the domain to edit the userlist
from. The `Users' listview shows a list of all users in the list.
Use `Add' to add a new user to the userlist, `Delete...' to delete a
user. The `Up' and `Down' buttons allow you to move users up and down
in the list. `Sort by name' will sort all users in the current list
alphabetically.
Individual user settings can be set using the `Name', `Nickname',
`Address', `E-mail' and `Comment' gadgets. The `Nickname' is very
useful in the message header window (see Message Header Window).
The `Gateway' gadget allows you to select a gateway for each domain.
If a gateway is selected Spot will put an extra `E-mail' gadget in the
message header window when you write netmail (see Message Header
Window). When you select a gateway Spot will ask if it should force
the destination name of the mail to the gateway name. Some gateways
require this. Others ignore the `To' field, allowing you to use this
to show the name of the addressee as with normal Fido netmail.
ARexx
=====
Edit the ARexx menu items.
The `Items' listview shows the current menu items in the ARexx menu.
Use `Add' to add a new item to the menu, `Delete...' to delete an
item. The `Up' and `Down' buttons allow you to move items up and down
in the list. `Sort by name' will sort all items alphabetically.
Use the `Name' string gadget to set the text that will appear in the
menu. The `Script' string gadget is the actual script that is sent to
ARexx. With `Output' you may select an output console different from
the default one.
Twitlist
========
Edit the twitlist.
How many times haven't you wondered why you waste your time reading
a certain persons posts ? :-) Well, worry no more: enter Spot's
twitlist.
The twitlist in Spot allows you to filter out certain messages while
importing. You have the possibility to make Spot filter messages from a
certain person, to a person or both.
There's also the possibility to twit a subject. So if you are
really getting bored with a certain thread in an area you may enter the
subject of that thread in the twitlist and Spot will skip messages with
that subject. A twit subject supports wildcards for maximum
flexibility.
The `Import' gadget allows you to specify what Spot should do when it
encounters a twit message. You may select to `Kill' these messages, so
they won't be imported at all, or to `Mark as read'.
A list of twits is kept for each area and one for all areas. Use the
`Copy' gadget to copy twits to another area.
The `Sort' gadget will sort twits alphabetically, with the subjects
at the top of the list (as these require most maintenance).
An effectively used twitlist can save yourself buckets of time.
Events
======
Edit the event settings.
The event settings editor allows you to attach sounds and/or a
screen flash to specific events.
The current events you can edit are:
`Area list'
`Message list'
`Message window'
Event when Spot goes to one of the three main windows.
`No message'
Even for whenever you request a message action that is not
possible. For example: next reply on last reply, next message on
last message in area,...
`Job done'
Job is done: after importing, exporting,...
`Delete message'
Whenever you delete a message.
`Keep message'
Event for when you select to keep a message.
`Message to you'
When the current message is a message to you.
`Fail'
General failure event.
`Startup'
When Spot is first started.
`Iconify'
`Uniconify'
When Spot is iconified, or uniconified.
`Quit'
Even for when you quit Spot.
Sound support in Spot requires a player daemon like UPD (or
compatible). This means Spot will send its sound "commands" to the
`PLAY' ARexx port where the daemon should pick them up and play them.
At the time of this writing UPD 1.30 is the most current release.
ARexx Commands
**************
The ARexx port of Spot is called `SPOT'.
On startup Spot will check if `_Startup.spot' exists in the ARexx
directory (see General). If it does it will execute this ARexx script.
General commands
================
All these commands will return 10 when an error occurred, 5 for a
warning and 0 if all went ok.
Don't forget the `options results' command in your scripts if you
intend to use results passed in the RESULT variable.
`beep'
Flash the Spot screen.
`editareas'
Open the areas settings editor (see Areas).
`editarexx'
Open the ARexx commands editor (see ARexx).
`editforward'
Open the forward header window (see Forward header...).
`editgeneral'
Open the general settings editor (see General).
`editgui'
Open the GUI settings editor (see GUI).
`editorigin'
Open the origins editor (see Origins...).
`editreply'
Open the reply headers editor (see Reply headers...).
`editsignature'
Open the signatures editor (see Signatures...).
`editsystem'
Open the system settings editor (see System).
`edittaglines'
Open the tag lines editor (see Tag lines...).
`edituserlist'
Open the userlist settings editor (see Userlist).
`export QUIET/S,CLOSEWIN/S,ACTIVATE/S'
Export all unexported mail (see Export...). The `QUIET' switch
tells Spot to not open a console to report progress on the
exporting. With the `CLOSEWIN' switch the console window will be
closed immediately after exporting. Use the `ACTIVATE' switch to
force the export window active.
This command will return 10 if an error occured. Otherwise bit 0
of the return code will be set if echomail was exported, bit 1 if
netmail was exported. If nothing was exported `export' will
return 0.
`filerequest'
Open Fido file requester (see File request...).
`getareaname'
Returns the name of the current area in RESULT.
`getareausername'
Returns the username of the current area in RESULT.
`getdatearrived'
Return the date the current message arrived at your system (or was
exported from your system). Return code will be 5 if message has
not been exported yet. Date will be returned in the format
`dd.mm.yyyy'.
`getdatewritten'
Return the date the current message was written. Date will be
returned in the format `dd.mm.yyyy'.
`getfrom'
Returns the writer of the current message in RESULT.
`getfromaddress'
Returns the address of the writer of the current message in RESULT.
`getkludge KLUDGE'
Attempt to get a specific kludge from the current message. If the
kludge is not found rc will be set to 5. The entire kludge line
is returned in RESULT otherwise. Kludges are considered to be
case-sensitive.
Note that Spot will actually only look for kludges that start with
the string you specify. So 'getkludge CHRS' will also match a
^aCHRS: kludge or for that matter even a ^aCHRSETKLUDGE kludge :)
`getmessagenum'
Returns the number of the current message in RESULT. Useful in
conjunction with `gotomessage' to jump back to this message.
`getnumareas'
Returns the number of areas in RESULT.
`getnummsgs'
Returns the number of messages in the current area in RESULT.
`getnumselected'
Returns the number of selected messages in the message list window
in RESULT.
`getsubject'
Returns the subject of the current message in RESULT. If the
subject starts with `Re:' this will be included in the result,
even if `No Re:' is on.
`gettimearrived'
Return the time the current message arrived at your system (or was
exported from your system). Return code will be 5 if message has
not been exported yet. Time will be returned in the format
`hour:min:sec'.
`getttimewritten'
Return the time the current message was written. Time will be
returned in the format `hour:min:sec'.
`getto'
Returns the addressee of the current message in RESULT.
`gettoaddress'
Returns the address of the addressee of the current message in
RESULT (only in netmail areas, will return 5 otherwise).
`getusername'
Returns the name of this Spot's user (as set in the System...
window).
`iconify NOREQ/S,NOSAVE/S'
Iconify Spot (see Iconify).
Use the `NOREQ' switch to skip the possible confirmation requester
asking you to save the settings. The `NOSAVE' switch will, in
combination with the `NOREQ' switch skip the saving of the current
settings.
`import QUIET/S,CLOSEWIN/S,ACTIVATE/S'
Import mail from inbound directory (see Import...). The `QUIET'
switch tells Spot to not open a console to report progress on the
importing. With the `CLOSEWIN' switch the console window will be
closed immediately after importing. Use the `ACTIVATE' switch to
force the import window active.
This command will return 10 if an error occured. Otherwise bit 0
of the return code will be set if echomail was imported, bit 1 if
netmail was imported and bit 2 if echo mail for you was imported.
If nothing was imported at all `import' will return 0.
`isarealist'
`isiconified'
`ismessagelist'
`ismessages'
Test current state of Spot. Command will return 5 if Spot is
currently in a different state, 0 otherwise.
`lockgui'
Lock GUI. Disable all user input. Be sure to match this with an
`unlockgui' (use of ARexx `onerror' is strongly recommended)!
`maintenance QUIET/S,CLOSEWIN/S,NOREQ/S,KEEPUNREAD/S,ACTIVATE/S'
Perform a maintenance (see Maintenance...). Use the `NOREQ' switch
to skip the confirmation requester and `KEEPUNREAD' to keep unread
mail in that case. When the `QUIET' switch is used Spot will not
open a console to report progress on the maintenance. With the
`CLOSEWIN' switch the console window will be closed immediately
after the maintenance. Use the `ACTIVATE' switch to force the
maintenance window active.
`messageadvance ON/S,OFF/S'
Turn Spot's automatic message advancing on or off (in certain
cases Spot will automatically jump to the next unread message when
entering an area). If you turn message advancing off in your
ARexx script, remember to turn it back on afterwards!
`optimize QUIET/S,CLOSEWIN/S,NOREQ/S,ACTIVATE/S'
Optimize message base (see Optimize...). Use the `NOREQ' switch to
skip the confirmation requester. When the `QUIET' switch is used
Spot will not open a console to report progress on the optimizing.
With the `CLOSEWIN' switch the console window will be closed
immediately after optimizing. Use the `ACTIVATE' switch to force
the optimize window active.
`poll NODE/K,NOREQ/S,QUIET/S,WAIT/S'
Poll your boss node (see Poll...).
The `NOREQ' switch will supress the requester asking you if you
want to export (Spot will always export). Use the `QUIET' switch
to supress the export console window. Use `WAIT' to override
anynchronous polling and to only return when the polling command
has completed.
The `NODE' keyword allows you to specify a node to poll. You may
pass the bbs name or the fido address of your boss.
`purgebuffers'
Purge all possible buffers, so Spot will use as little memory as
possible.
`quitspot NOREQ/S,NOSAVE/S'
Quit Spot. Use the `NOREQ' switch to skip the possible
confirmation requester asking you to save the settings. The
`NOSAVE' switch will, in combination with the `NOREQ' switch skip
the saving of the current settings.
`savesettings NOREQ/S'
Save settings (see Save settings...). Use the `NOREQ' switch to
skip the confirmation requester.
`spot2front'
Bring Spot screen to the front.
`toggleworkbench'
Toggle the Workbench screen between open and closed state.
`uniconify'
Uniconify Spot.
`unlockgui'
Unlock GUI. Enable all user input again (see `lockgui').
`wb2front'
Bring Workbench screen to the front.
Move commands
=============
All these commands will return 10 when an error occurred, 5 for a
warning (not in the correct window for example) and 0 if all went
ok.
`arealist'
Go to the area list window (see Area List Window).
`firstarea'
Go to the first area.
`firstmessage KEEP/S,NOKEEP/S,UNREAD/S,READ/S,UNREPLIED/S,EXPORT/S,NOEXPORT/S'
Go to the first message in the current area, or to the first
message with a certain flag set. Returns 2 when you are already
on the first message with the flag you specify set.
`foryouarea'
Go to the next area in the area list with unread mail for you left.
This command will return 2 when there is no more unread mail for
you.
`gotoarea NAME/A'
Go to a specific area. You may pass the username or the net name
of the area. This command will return 2 when the area is not
found.
`gotomatrixarea'
Go to the netmail area associated with the current echo area.
`gotomessage TO/N'
Go to a specific message (see Goto message...). If no number is
passed the normal number requester will appear. This command will
return 5 if the message with the number you pass doesn't exists.
`importedarea'
Go to the next area in the area list with unread mail from the
last import left. This command will return 2 when there is no
more imported mail and will return 1 when the current area is the
last area containing imported mail.
`lastmessage'
Go to the last message in the current area. Returns 2 when you
are already on the last message.
`messages'
Go to the message window (see Message Window).
`messagelist'
Go to the message list window (see Message List Window).
`nextarea'
Go to the next area in the area list.
`nextmarked'
Go to the next marked message in the current area (see Next
marked).
`nextmessage'
Go to the next message in the current area.
`nextreply'
Go to the next message in the reply thread (see Next reply).
`nextunread'
Go to the next unread message in the current area.
`nextunreplied'
Go to the next unreplied message in the current area.
`prevarea'
Go to the previous area in the area list.
`prevmarked'
Go to the previous marked message in the current area (see Next
marked).
`prevmessage'
Go to the previous message in the current area.
`prevreply'
Go to the previous message in the reply thread (see Previous
reply).
`prevunread'
Go to the previous unread message in the current area.
`prevunreplied'
Go to the previous unreplied message in the current area.
`unreadarea'
Go to the next area in the area list with unread mail left. This
command will return 2 when there is no more unread mail and will
return 1 when the current area is the last area containing unread
mail.
`unrepliedarea'
Go to the next area in the area list with unreplied mail left.
This command will return 2 when there is no more unreplied mail
and will return 1 when the current area is the last area
containing unreplied mail.
Message commands
================
`addsubjecttwitlist NOREQ/S,ALL/S'
Add subject of current message to the twitlist (see Add to
twitlist...). When subject was already in the list the return
code will be 2. Use the `NOREQ' switch to supress the comment
requester or any other requester. If you use the `NOREQ' switch,
you might want to use the `ALL' switch to add the twit to all
areas (default is current area).
`addtwitlist NOREQ/S,ALL/S'
Add writer of current message to the twitlist (see Add to
twitlist...). When user was already in the list the return code
will be 2. Use the `NOREQ' switch to supress the comment
requester or any other requester. If you use the `NOREQ' switch,
you might want to use the `ALL' switch to add the twit to all
areas (default is current area).
`adduserlist NOREQ/S,UPDATE/S'
Add writer of current message to the userlist (see Add to
userlist...). When user was already in the list the return code
will be 2. Use the `NOREQ' switch to supress the nickname
requester or any other requester. Use the `UPDATE' switch to
update the user (Fido address and e-mail address) if he's already
in the userlist.
`clearflags KEEP/S,UNREAD/S,UNREPLIED/S,EXPORT/S,KILLSENT/S,FILEATTACH/S,CRASH/S,HOLD/S'
Clear flags of current message or all selected messages.
`crossreply'
Cross-reply to the current message (see Cross reply...).
Returns 10 when an error occured, 5 when the message was cancelled
by the user or 0 for success.
`deletemessage NOREQ/S,DELKEEP/S,NODELKEEP/S'
Delete the current message or all selected messages (see
Delete...). Use the `NOREQ' switch to skip the confirmation
requester.
When this command is used from the message list an additional
requester may pop up if you don't use the `NOREQ' switch. This
requester will ask you if you wish to delete messages with the
keep flag set. Use the `DELKEEP' or `NODELKEEP' switch to supress
this requester.
`edit TO/K,TOADDR/K,EMAILADDR/K,FROM/K,FROMADDR/K,SUBJECT/K,FILE/K,REFLOW/K,NOSIG/S,NOEDIT/S,NOGUI/S,NOREQ/S,KEEPDATE/S'
Edit the current message (see Edit...). See `write' below for an
explanation of the options. The `NOREQ' option will supress the
confirmation requester that will appear when the message has been
imported or exported already. Use the `KEEPDATE' switch if you'd
like Spot not to change the date of the edited message.
Returns 10 when an error occured, 5 when the message was cancelled
by the user or 0 for success.
`editheader'
Edit the current message header (see Edit header...).
Returns 10 when an error occured, 5 when the editing was cancelled
by the user or 0 for success.
`exclude STRING/A,CASE/S,FROM/S,TO/S,SUBJECT/S,TEXT/S,UNREAD/S,READ/S,NOGUI/S,NOREQ/S'
Exclude specific messages from the message list (see
Include-Exclude Window). Use the `NOREQ' switch to supress the
requester telling you how many messages have been excluded and the
`NOGUI' switch to start excluding without first opening the GUI
window.
`excludeflag KEEP/S,NOKEEP/S,UNREAD/S,READ/S,UNREPLIED/S,EXPORT/S,NOEXPORT/S,ALL/S'
Exclude messages from the message list with specific flags set or
not set. When the `ALL' switch is used all messages will be
excluded.
`forward'
Forward the current message to another area (see Forward...).
Returns 10 when an error occured, 5 when the message was cancelled
by the user or 0 for success.
`getmessageflags'
Get flags of current message (also works from message list).
Result will contain a longword with one or several of the
following bits set:
Private 1 (0x1, bit 0)
Crash 2 (0x2, bit 1)
Unread 4 (0x4, bit 2)
Export 8 (0x8, bit 3)
File Attach 16 (0x10, bit 4)
Kill/Sent 128 (0x80, bit 7)
Hold 512 (0x200, bit 9)
Receipt Req 4096 (0x1000, bit 12)
Audit Req 16384 (0x4000, bit 14)
Unreplied 65536 (0x10000, bit 16)
Keep 131072 (0x20000, bit 17)
For You 524288 (0x80000, bit 19)
Marked 2097152 (0x200000, bit 21)
`include STRING/A,CASE/S,FROM/S,TO/S,SUBJECT/S,TEXT/S,UNREAD/S,READ/S,NOGUI/S,NOREQ/S'
Include messages in the message list (see Include-Exclude Window).
Use the `NOREQ' switch to supress the requester telling you how
many messages have been included and the `NOGUI' switch to start
including without first opening the GUI window.
`includeflag KEEP/S,NOKEEP/S,UNREAD/S,READ/S,UNREPLIED/S,EXPORT/S,NOEXPORT/S,ALL/S'
Include messages in the message list with specific flags set or
not set. When the `ALL' switch is used all messages will be
marked.
`markmessage CLEAR/S,TOGGLE/S'
Mark the current message. Use the CLEAR switch to unmark the
message, the TOGGLE switch to toggle the message between marked
and unmarked state.
Note that if you use this command from the message window it will
have no effect unless the message list has already been loaded for
this area (by going to the message list).
`matrixreply TO/K,TOADDR/K,EMAILADDR/K,FROM/K,FROMADDR/K,SUBJECT/K,ORIGIN/K,FILE/K,REFLOW/K,NOSIG/S,NOEDIT/S,NOGUI/S'
Reply to the current message in netmail (see Matrix reply...). See
`write' below for an explanation of the options.
Returns 10 when an error occured, 5 when the message was cancelled
by the user or 0 for success.
`messageinfo'
Show information about current message (see Info...).
`printmessage'
Print current message or all selected messages (see Print...).
`reply TO/K,TOADDR/K,EMAILADDR/K,FROM/K,FROMADDR/K,SUBJECT/K,ORIGIN/K,FILE/K,REFLOW/K,NOSIG/S,NOEDIT/S,NOGUI/S'
Reply to the current message (see Reply...). See `write' below for
an explanation of the options.
Returns 10 when an error occured, 5 when the message was cancelled
by the user or 0 for success.
`saveascii TO,OVERWRITE/S,NOHEADER/S,NOTEARLINE/S,NOORIGIN/S,NOKLUDGES/S,KLUDGES/S,NOREFLOW/S'
Save current message or all selected messages as ASCII (see
Save...). If you don't specify a filename the file requester will
appear. The `OVERWRITE' switch will tell Spot to overwrite the
file if it already exists, otherwise the message (or messages)
will be appended to the file.
The `NOHEADER' switch tells Spot not to put the normal header in
front of the saved body text. With the `NOTEARLINE' switch Spot
will stop saving just before the tearline, with the `NOORIGIN'
just before the origin line.
The `NOKLUDGES' and `KLUDGES' allow you to specify wether kludges
should be included in the saved message. If you don't use either
of these switched Spot will look at the current `Show Kludges'
setting.
Normally the message is reflowed to a width of 78 characters. To
turn off reflowing completely use the `NOREFLOW' switch.
`setflags KEEP/S,UNREAD/S,UNREPLIED/S,EXPORT/S,KILLSENT/S,FILEATTACH/S,CRASH/S,HOLD/S'
Set flags of current message or all selected messages. If you set
the `FILEATTACH' flag make you must make sure the subject of the
message contains the full path of the file to attach.
`togglekeep'
Toggle keep flag of current message (see Toggle keep flag).
`toggleunreply'
Toggle unreplied flag of current message (see Toggle unreplied
flag).
`write TO/K,TOADDR/K,EMAILADDR/K,FROM/K,FROMADDR/K,SUBJECT/K,ORIGIN/K,FILE/K,REFLOW/K,NOSIG/S,NOEDIT/S,NOGUI/S'
Write a new message in the current area (see Write...).
The `TO' and `TOADDR' (netmail only) arguments allow you to specify
the addressee. `FROM', `SUBJECT' and `ORIGIN' can be used to use
an alias, set a subject and an origin. If really needed you may
use the `FROMADDR' switch to set a different address.
Use `FILE' to select a file for the body text. Use `REFLOW=ON' or
`REFLOW=OFF' to force reflow on or off, otherwise the default
reflow setting will be used. `NOSIG' will skip the adding of your
signature to the end of the file. `NOEDIT' will skip the editor
and `NOGUI' the message header window.
If you write a message in a netmail area and there is a gateway
selected for the current domain you can use `EMAILADDR' to set the
destination address.
Returns 10 when an error occured, 5 when the message was cancelled
by the user or 0 for success.
Requester commands
==================
Note that a string passed to `PROMPT' may contain carriage returns
(ASCII 13, '0d'x in ARexx). These will be converted to newlines (ASCII
10) by Spot, so you can use multi-line prompt text.
`progressopen TITLE/K/A,PROMPT/K'
`progressupdate REQ/N/A,CURRENT/N/A,TOTAL/N/A,PROMPT/K'
`progressclose REQ/N/A'
These three commands allow you to put up a progress requester.
Very useful for scripts which will take a while to execute.
`progressopen' will return a number in result. Pass this number to
`progressupdate' and `progressclose' (`REQ' argument). `TITLE' is
the window title of the progress requester, `PROMPT' is the
optional text that will appear below the progress indicator box.
This text can be updated with the `progressupdate' command. The
`CURRENT' and `TOTAL' arguments must hold the current number of
processed items and the total we are working towards.
`progressupdate' will return 5 if the user pressed `Stop'. It is
your responsability to check this and stop your ARexx script.
Note that currently only one progress requester at a time is
supported. If you try to put up a second one Spot will silently
ignore your request. Your script will continue, but without a
progress requester.
`requestarea TITLE/K,ALL/S,USERNAME/S'
Get an area name from the user. Puts up a list requester with all
areas the user can write in (so no BAD area and no read-only
areas). If you want all areas to be included use the `ALL'
switch. The name of the selected area will be returned in result.
If the user cancelled the requester the return code will be 5.
To make Spot return the username of the selected area specify the
`USERNAME' switch.
`requestfile TITLE/K,PATH/K,FILE/K,PATTERN/K'
Get a file and path from the user. This command will bring up a
file requester on the Spot screen (or on the Workbench screen if
Spot is iconified). Using the `PATH' and/or `FILE' keywords it is
possible to specify an initial path and/or filename. The
`PATTERN' keyword can be used to set a match pattern for files
that will appear in the file requester. Use `TITLE' to set the
window title of the file requester.
`requestnotify PROMPT/A,CENTER/S'
Notify the user with a requester. Put up a requester with a
single `Ok' response to notify the user of something. The prompt
text may contain newlines (ASCII code 10), it will be split over
several lines in that case. Use the `CENTER' switch to center the
prompt text in the requester.
`requestnumber TITLE/K,PROMPT/K,DEFAULT/K/N,INVISIBLE/S,CENTER/S'
Get a number from the user. Put up a requester to get an integer
number from the user. Use `TITLE' to set the window title of the
number requester and `PROMPT' to set a prompt text (may contain
newlines, `CENTER' switch to center text). A default number to
appear in the requester can be set with the `DEFAULT' keyword.
The `INVISIBLE' keyword is very useful for asking passwords as the
user will not see what he types.
`requestpath TITLE/K,PATH/K'
Get a path from the user. This command will bring up a directory
requester on the Spot screen (or on the Workbench screen if Spot
is iconified). Using the `PATH' keyword it is possible to specify
an initial path. Use `TITLE' to set the window title of the file
requester. The returned path will always end in either `:' or `/'.
`requestresponse TITLE/K,PROMPT/A,GADGETS,CENTER/S'
Let the user choose between two options (Ok and Cancel). Put up a
requester with an `Ok' and a `Cancel' response. The prompt text
may contain newlines, it will be split over several lines in that
case. The `CENTER' switch allows you to center the prompt text in
the requester. ARexx return code will be 0 in case the user
pressed `Ok', 5 if he or she pressed `Cancel'.
The `GADGETS' switch allows you to offer the user several choices.
Separate all possible choices by a `|', for example "Accept|Forget
it". The return code from `requestresponse' will be different when
`GADGETS' is used! When the requester is cancelled (rightmost
gadget) 0 is returned, the leftmost response will return 1, the
next one 2, and so on.... Keyboard shortcuts can be placed by
preceding the shortcut key with a `_' (for example:
"_Accept|_Forget it").
`requeststring TITLE/K,PROMPT/K,DEFAULT/K,INVISIBLE/S,CENTER/S'
Get some text from the user. Put up a requester to get a text
string from the user. Use `TITLE' to set the window title of the
string requester and `PROMPT' to set a prompt text (may contain
newlines, `CENTER' switch to center text). A default string to
appear in the requester can be set with the `DEFAULT' keyword.
The `INVISIBLE' keyword is very useful for asking passwords as the
user will not see what he types.
Legal Stuff
***********
License
=======
This license applies to the product called "Spot", a program for the
Amiga computer, published by Nico François under the concepts of
ShareWare, and the accompanying documentation, example files and
anything else that comes with the original distribution. The terms
"Program" and "Spot" below, refer to this product. The licensee is
addressed as "you".
* You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the program's
executable code and documentation as you receive it, in any
medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish
only the original, unmodified program, with all copyright notices
and disclaimers of warranty intact and including all the
accompanying documentation, example files and anything else that
came with the original.
* You may not copy and/or distribute this program without the
accompanying documentation and other additional files that came
with the original. You may not copy and/or distribute modified
versions of this program.
* You may not copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or transfer the
program except as expressly provided under this license. Any
attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or
transfer the program is void, and will automatically terminate
your rights to use the program under this license. However,
parties who have received copies, or rights to use copies, from
you under this license will not have their licenses terminated so
long as such parties remain in full compliance.
* By copying, distributing and/or using the program you indicate
your acceptance of this license to do so, and all its terms and
conditions.
* Each time you redistribute the program, the recipient
automatically receives a license from the original licensor to
copy, distribute and/or use the program subject to these terms and
conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the
recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
* You may not disassemble, decompile, re-source or otherwise
reverse engineer the program.
* You may use the programs for a period of up to 30 days for
evaluation. After that, you have to register.
* If you wish to incorporate parts of the programs into other
programs, write to the author to ask for permission.
* You agree to cease distributing the program and data involved if
requested to do so by the author.
* You may charge a fee to recover distribution costs. The fee for
diskette distribution may not be more than the cost to obtain a
public domain diskette from Fred Fish.
No Warranty
===========
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAMS, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY
APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAMS "AS IS" WITHOUT
WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE
OF THE PROGRAMS IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAMS PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU
ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY
REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAMS AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR
DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAMS
(INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED
INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF
THE PROGRAMS TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER
OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Disclaimer
==========
No warranty, either express or implied, is made with respect to the
fitness or merchantability of Spot.
Nico François (referred to as "the author"), reserves the right to
not develop any future versions of Spot.
The author will try to make a good faith attempt at correcting any
problems if any are discovered, but is in no way required, nor bound to
correct them.
The author neither assumes nor accepts any responsibility for the
use or misuse of these programs. He will also not be held liable for
damages or any compensation beyond the original registration fee due to
loss of profit or any other damages arising out of the use, or
inability to use this program.
The author will not be liable for any damage arising from the
failure of this program to perform as described, or any destruction of
other programs or data residing on a system attempting to run the
programs. The user of this program uses it at his or her own risk.
How To Register
***************
1. Print out the "Spot Software Registration Form". The registration
form can be found in the Spot distribution archive as
`Register/World'). You can use the `Print.World' icon to print it
out easily.
There is an Australian and a North American registration site for
Spot. If you wish to use one of these sites for registering take
a look at `Register/Australia' or `Register/Norht_America'.
2. Please print or write LEGIBLY...
a. Fill in your name and mailing address.
b. Your fidonet address (not required, if present you will be
automatically notified when your copy is shipping).
c. Your private voice telephone number (not compulsory). If
possible, use the form "+32-(16)-123456", where 32 is the
country code and 16 is the area code.
3. Tick...
a. Decide how to transfer the money. Cash (at your own risk), a
postal money order, a wire bank transfer or a EuroCheck (only
in BEF!) are suggested. Foreign checks are *NOT* accepted!
b. Decide what way you would like to get keyfile.
4. Send the registration form to a Spot registration site, currently
to Herman Stevens (World) or Jonathan Gapen (North America).
Herman Stevens
Laukensstraat 16
B-3210 Lubbeek - Belgium
Bank account: 739-0022107-89
Bank: CERA, Minderbroedersstraat 8, 3000 Leuven - Belgium
5. Wait for your key to be delivered. Thank you for registering!
You should receive your key within 8 days after the arrival of
your registration fee. But please allow up to eight weeks for
delivery, due to unforseen circumstances.
6. A keyfile is proof of the personal license you have to use Spot.
You are not allowed to sell or give away the keyfile.
Acknowledgements
****************
The following names are either trademarks or the efforts of the
person and/or company listed:
* Amiga and AmigaDOS are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
* ARexx by William S. Hawes, Wishful Thinking Development Corp.
* Fido and FidoNet are trademarks of Tom Jennings, Fido Software.
* TrapDoor is a registered trademark of Maximilian Hantsch and Martin
Laubach.
* TrapList and traplist.library by Maximilian Hantsch and Martin
Laubach.
A special thank you to the following people for alpha and beta
testing (in random order):
Marc Duponcheel, Alex Van Boxel, Lieven Lema, Peter Stuer, Wim
Peeters, Wim Van Goethem, Johan Van Houtven, François Helsen, Tom De
Mulder, Bart Van Assche, Rudi Bracke, Olivier Toebosch, Marc Van
Heucke, David Nouls, Herman Stevens, Jan Stevens, Christophe De Vocht,
Tom Maes, Roger Nordin, Stefan Johannesdal, Per-Anders Josefsson, Johan
Billing, Pontus Hagland, Nikolai Waldman, Roger Andersson, Mathias
Korsbäck, Magnus Holmgren, Stefan Zeiger and Maurizio Fabiani.
Spot was translated by the following people:
Peter Stuer (Dutch translation), Lieven Lema/Etienne
Schneider/Benoit Mortier (French translation), Roger Nordin (Swedish
translation), Stefan Zeiger (German translation), Maurizio
Fabiani/Michele Giorato (Italian translation), Michael Berg (Danish
translation), Javier Frias (Spanish translation) and Pedro Aguiar
(Portugues translation).
Spot's previous icon (pre-1.3a) was created by Johan De Roover, and
its current icon by Tom Toutenel.
License agreement and legal mumbo jumbo largely stolen from TrapDoor
manual.
Program History
***************
Version 1.0
===========
First release.
Version 1.1
===========
Bug fix: excluding messages from the message list did not update
number of selected messages in title bar correctly.
Bug fix: jumping to another area from the message list did not
mark the current message in the new area.
Current message number in message window is now enclosed in square
brackets.
When pressing HELP the guide file is now shown asynchronously.
This allows you to continue to use Spot while browsing through the
guide file.
When creating a new address in the System window the packer and
unpacker string of the current address are automatically copied to
the new address.
The `Show Kludges' menu item now has a keyboard short-cut
(Right-Amiga ^).
No longer opens and closes the backdrop window when switching
between area list, message list and message window. This improves
performance.
When forwarding a message it will no longer be reflowed to 76
characters. The reflowing will only occur if you actually use the
`Edit...' button, otherwise the message is forwarded exactly as it
is.
Danish catalog and install script included. Thanks to Michael
Berg for the translation.
Added automatic reflow-disabling for PGP messages. Spot will no
longer attempt to reflow the text between `----BEGIN PGP' and
`----END PGP'.
Nifty new feature: manual reflow disabling. Spot will switch
reflowing off (or back on) when it encounters a `\reflow'
followed by a newline. Simply surround the text you do not want
to reflow with `\reflow'. The `\reflow' lines will be
automatically removed from the message.
Bug fix: changing the resolution or the message font from the area
list could cause some enforcer hits and a corrupt display.
Bug fix: empty packets (zero length) could cause Spot to crash.
Spot now ignores all empty packets and bundles.
All file requesters should now properly fall back to the text font
when a proportional screen font is used.
Writing a message to yourself will now properly set the `for you'
flag. Can be useful when writing messages from ARexx scripts.
Spot no longer uses `ExamineFH()', but uses `Examine()' instead.
At least one person was having problems with `Couldn't examine
packet!' errors. This should fix that.
Fixed double short-cut in `Userlist...' window.
Including from the message list will now only search items that
are not included yet. Exclude will only look at selected items.
Note that the count that is reported now corresponds to the actual
number of items that were included or excluded.
Tweaked dupe checking to handle mail that may bounce back from
your boss.
Bug fix: `include', `exclude', `setflags', `clearflags',
`includeflag' and `excludeflag' could cause problems when used in
empty areas.
Quirk fix: memory usage for userlist was much too high.
Eliminated more than 400 bytes of overhead per user.
Deleting the last message (not the final) in an area will cause
Spot's screen to flash. Useful when deleting several messages
with Shift Delete.
When returning to the area list Spot will now make sure the
current area is visible.
Bug fix: editing a imported or exported message no longer
incorrectly sets the export flag for the current area.
Bug fix: if after using `Exclude...' no messages were selected,
the buttons that needed to be ghosted were not always immediately
ghosted.
Bug fix: when writing a message from ARexx with the NOGUI option
Spot would not pick a random origin if needed.
Bug fix: exporting from the message list window failed to update
the message list.
New `FROMADDR' switch for `write', `edit', `reply' and
`matrixreply' ARexx commands.
Enhanced the PGP ARexx scripts. The subject will now also be
hidden when a message is encrypted. Decrypted messages will be
put in the message base in place of the encrypted message. The
from address is now also correct.
ARexx commands `firstmessage' and `lastmessage' now return 2 when
you already are on the first or last message.
Alt with the up and down cursor keys in the message list can now
be used to move the current message around. Use Shift to page,
Control to jump to the start or end.
ARexx commands `firstmessage', `lastmessage', `nextmessage',
`prevmessage', `gotomessage' and `getmessagenum' now also work
from the message list.
When `lockgui' is used the scroller gadget will now be ghosted.
New ARexx command: `getmessageflags'.
After using `Include...' Spot will now make sure the first marked
message is visible.
Bug fix: initials for names with trailing spaces were incorrect.
Screen mode requester in GUI window will now allow you to open
Spot's screen in 4 or in 8 colors. Autoscrolling for the screen
can be switched on or off.
`requestresponse' now has an additional `GADGETS' switch. This
allows you to offer the user several choices. Note that the
return code from `requestresponse' will be totally different when
`GADGETS' is used! This had to be done for backwards
compatibility.
Fixed small problem of 'Ö' not being recognized as an alphabetic
character.
You may now change the domain name of an address (in the system
window).
Added support for fakenets. Quite a few people complained about
this. Silly me thinking fakenets where so stoneage Spot should
not support them :-)
Minor bug fix: when no log file was used Spot failed to report in
the import window how many messages were received for you.
Layout engine improved to handle expanding listviews. This
improves the look of the areas editor window with certain font
settings.
Made list requester fully resizable. When you save the settings
the size of the list requester will also be saved. Spot will
remember the size for the areas list requester, the user list
requester, the poll list requester and all text list requesters
separately.
Made Fido file requester window fully resizeable as well. Last
size will be saved as default when you save the settings.
Fido file requester will now automatically set the node to the
boss of the current message writer if called from the message
window. In the message list the node will be set to your boss
node for the current area.
Added text gadget to Fido file requester to show the current
node's name and sysop. Only available if you have a nodelist
installed of course.
During import the size in kilobytes of a packet is now printed to
the import console.
When multi-bossing Spot will add a popup gadget next to the node
gadget in the Fido file requester. This gadget will pop up a list
of your bosses, so you can easily select one of these to freq from.
Added safety requester to the message header window `Cancel'
button. Some people seemed to hit 'the wrong key' a bit too often
;)
Portugues catalog included. Thanks to Pedro Aguiar for the
translation.
Spot will flash the screen when you use `Unread' in the message
list window and there are no unread messages in the current area.
Three new ARexx commands: `progressopen', `progressupdate' and
`progressclose'. Allow you to put up a progress requester with
optional text.
Had some reports of Spot giving automatically created areas
incorrect an incorrect address (0:292/603.10 instead of
2:292/603.10 for example). This problem is most probably caused
by a buggy tosser. I changed Spot anyway to sniff this problem
out and to fix this on the fly.
Bug fix: the `edit' ARexx command with the FILE switch caused the
message's kludges and origin/tear line to disappear.
Bug fix: Spot will no longer allow you to enter area names with a
`*' or `"' in them. This would lead to an invalid areas file
otherwise.
Added new switch in `Settings' menu: `IBMPC CodePage 865'.
Checking this item will cause Spot to use the IBM PC codepage 865
font instead of codepage 850. Requested by several Danish Spot
users.
Changed format of `.spf' file. Spot will still read the old
format but will only write the new format. This is done to
eliminate the need to re-open the file when messages are deleted
or added. Should also fix the `Fatal Error In Area' error some
people were occasionally getting.
Bug fix: a changed signature, reply text or origin of an area
would not be saved correctly when you used the `Save' button in
the quit requester. Only happened if you only changed area
settings and no other ones (phew... :-).
New ARexx command: `getnumselected'. Returns the number of
selected messages in the message list window.
Bug fix: writing in the 'ASCII' charset could cause problems with
corrupt packets when you used high ascii.
When you are reading messages the screen title will now show the
number of unread messages next to the number of total messages in
the current area.
Bug fix: Spot would sometimes open its screen with the wrong
screen font after being iconified.
Bug fix: if Spot could not find its icon it would give an error
when you tried to iconify it. Spot will use the default tool icon
in iconified state now in this case.
ARexx command `saveascii' has three new switches: `NOHEADER',
`NOTEARLINE' and `NOORIGIN'.
ARexx command `poll' now accepts the following arguments: `NODE',
`NOREQ', `QUIET' and `WAIT'.
Keyboard shortcut for popup gadgets next to string gadgets added:
Shift Down when string gadget is active.
New ARexx commands: `getdatewritten' and `getdatearrived'.
Maintenance now has the possibility to keep unread mail, instead
of deleting it. The `maintenance' ARexx command has a new
`KEEPUNREAD' switch to make it possible to use this feature from
ARexx.
Release 26.7.93
Bug fix: after putting Spot in 8 colors, changing the palette and
saving the settings Spot would fail to start up again (`Couldn't
open screen!' error).
Three new tooltypes: `ICONXPOS', `ICONYPOS' and `ICONNAME'.
Spot's palette handling is now fully AGA aware. Note that the
current ReqTools palette requester does not support AGA yet (but
that will change :-). Getting the palette from your Workbench
works in full 24-bit resolution now.
Version 1.2
===========
Quirk fix: main window's listview missed mouse clicks in the
bottom 2 pixels of the clickable area.
Spanish catalog included. Thanks to Javier Frías for the
translation.
Norwegian catalog and install script included. Thanks to Mario
Gonzalez for the translation.
Bug fix: Spot would "forget" a new address's domain when you saved
the settings.
Bug fix: when adding a new address in the system window Spot would
sometimes put some garbage in the `Packer' and `Unpacker' string
gadgets.
Bug fix: Spot no longer allows you to change an origin in the
system window to an empty origin string.
Bug fix: in the message list the `gotomessage' ARexx command did
not work for the first message in the area and allowed you to jump
one message after the last one.
Bug fix: ARexx command `messages' didn't always return 0 when
called from the message list.
Fixed problem with `\reflow' not showing correctly in guide file,
but now there is a double backslash in the doc :-( Sigh...
Bug fix: backslashes in the reply or forward header did not work
correctly.
Quirk fix: Spot now handles SEEN-BY lines and quotes that
word-wrap perfectly. It will also no longer consider a wrapped
line with a `>' in the beginning as a quote.
The height of the scroller gadget's arrows is now the same as the
height of the message font. This should improve the look in
high-resolution modes.
Bug fix: deleting all file requests to a node different from the
default node did not delete the `.REQ' file.
The confirmation requester that appears after you press `Cancel'
in the message header window has been removed when you only edit a
message's header.
Changed `Ok' and `Cancel' in message header confirmation requester
to `Yes' and `No' to avoid unnecessary confusion.
Quirk fix: on non-interlaced screens the `0%' and `100%' of the
progress requester were printed 2 pixels too low.
Distribution archive now also contains the ReqTools catalog files.
The install script will copy the ReqTools catalogs to `LOCALE:'.
Added `ISO-11' charset as an alias for the `SWEDISH' charset.
Spot will now remove trailing kludges when you forward or edit
netmail messages (these are mostly `Via' kludges).
Spot will now allow you to specify the size of its screen.
Minimum size is 640 by 200.
Made reply header window, taglines window, etc... a bit wider so
they can show more text.
Quirk fix: writing a message from the message list window in an
empty area did not mark the new message as the current message.
Bug fix: `getmessageflags' did not return marked flag when used
from message window.
Bug fix: fixed memory loss that occured when origin, reply or
signature window failed to open.
Bug fix: `getnumareas' returned one area too many.
Added the possibility to add separator bars to the area list.
When you add a new area you are now given the option to add a bar.
Sorting the areas has been improved so it will only sort between
the area separators.
Changed order of nodes in SEEN-BY line when a fakenet is used.
Spot now lists your boss node first. Listing the fakenet address
first reportedly caused problems with some (braindead ;) IBM
tossers.
Spot will no longer remove `\reflow' lines when you write a
message. It will instead hide them on screen and only really
remove them when it exports the message. This allows you to edit
the message without having to worry about putting these lines back
each time.
Bug fix: `progressupdate' with `TOTAL' set to 0 caused a system
failure.
ARexx commands `nextmarked', `prevmarked', `nextunread',
`prevunread', `nextunreplied' and `prevunreplied' now also work in
the message list.
Added `KILLSENT' and `FILEATTACH' switched to `setflags' and
`clearflags' ARexx commands. Allow you to set or clear the flags
of the same name.
ARexx command `saveascii' now has a `NOKLUDGES' and a `KLUDGES'
switch to force or override the saving of kludges.
Bug fix: ARexx commands with a `"' character in them caused Spot to
generate an invalid settings file.
Quirk fix: `Sort by name' is no longer ghosted in the ARexx
settings editor when no ARexx command is currently selected.
Two new gadgets in General window: `Edit file' and `ARexx'. Allow
you to set the filename of the temporary file Spot uses to write
messages and the default path for Spot's ARexx commands.
Quirk fix: Spot will now also remember the state of the `Search'
cycle gadget in the `Include' and `Exclude' windows.
Added extra flag to area list: `U'. Shows if there is unreplied
mail left in the area.
Bug fix: a message from a person with the same name as yourself
will no longer be considered as coming from you.
Imported netmail will from now on always be marked as mail to you,
so even if someone misspells your name.
Quirk fix: when `No Re:' is switched on Spot will now also strip
the `Re:' from the subject when forwarding or saving a message.
Bug fix: when a fakenet was used the with of the cycle gadget in
the message header window was sometimes calculated incorrectly.
Added the point number to the default name of a netmail area to
avoid problems.
Bug fix: some memory loss would occur when Spot could not read the
message list completely.
Bug fix: editing the message header of a message that was written
in `IBMPC' or `SWEDISH' messed up any high ASCII in the header
strings.
Spot will now also recognize lines beginning with `->' as quotes.
Bug fix: ASCII charset did not translate `Ä' to `Ae'.
Bug fix: editing a message in an area with the ASCII charset for
writing did not translate any additional high ascii characters
that were added.
Increased maximum signature size from 255 to 511 characters.
Spot will no longer DisplayBeep() when you delete the last message
in an area or when a message is directed to you when it is
controlled from ARexx.
If you use a fakenet address Spot will put your fakenet address in
the `INTL' kludge and the `MSGID kludge' in netmail messages sent
with your fakenet address (normally messages to AreaFix).
Bug fix: if you use a fakenet address Spot will now correctly set
your origin and export addresses for automatically created areas.
New item in `Settings' menu: `Text Styles'. When switched on Spot
will show text surrounded by a `*' in bold, a `/' in italic and a
`_' underlined.
Spot will now report the number of dupes it encountered (if any)
after importing.
Spot will now always create FSC-0039 packet headers, even when you
use a fakenet address. If this change causes you problems and you
need Spot to create an FTS-0001 packet header use any ASCII editor
to add a `FAKEFTS1' line to the `MAIL:Spot.prefs' file.
Bug fix: Spot allowed you to execute some ARexx commands that were
normally not available in iconified state. Spot now properly
returns 5 when you try to execute such a command when Spot is
iconified.
Renaming a domain will now rename the domain "globally", so for
all addresses in that domain.
Spot will now show a user's comment (if there is one) in the user
requester.
It is now possible to add two different users with the same name
to the userlist (useful for adding two or more AreaFix addresses).
Nicknames must still be unique of course.
System window has a new layout. Added one gadget: `Export to'.
This allows you to enter an export address for each of your
addresses (will be used when automatically creating areas).
Bug fix: userlist parsing no longer chokes on compuserve addresses.
Spot no longer has a 64K size limit on imported messages. This
makes all message handling (reading, writing, exporting,
importing...) only limited to the available memory.
Added FSC-0035 support. When you do a matrix reply from a gated
usenet group which contains a `REPLYADDR' kludge Spot will put the
destination address prefixed by a `To:' on the first line of the
quoted message. If a `REPLYTO' kludge is found this is used to
get the destination address and name of the netmail (e-mail)
message.
New ARexx command: `requestarea'. Puts up a list requester with
all areas.
Added `Password' gadget to system window. Allows you to specify a
password Spot should put in the packet header of exported mail.
In case of an invalid config file, areas file or userlist file
Spot will now report the line number of the line which caused the
error (Note: Spot will only report this if you use an updated
catalog!).
Added new gadget to General window: `Optimize'. This allows you to
make Spot optimize areas in RAM: (much quicker).
When deleting messages from the message list an additional
requester will pop up if any of the selected messages has the keep
flag set. With this requester you may select to keep these
messages or delete them with the rest. Also added `DELKEEP' and
`NODELKEEP' switched to the `deletemessage' ARexx command.
Much better error checking during optimizing. Spot would do some
really unwanted and desastrous things if your disk got full in the
process.
New menu item: `Area With Unreplied Mail'. Jumps to the next area
with unreplied mail left. New ARexx command: `unrepliedarea'.
Gave some more menu items keyboard shortcuts.
Using the Shift Delete shortcut on a message with the keep flag
will now put up a safety requester.
Optimize routine has been improved to try to handle corrupted
areas. If successful a corrupted area will be optimized into a
fully working area, with the bad messages shown as `FAIL'.
Files attached to netmail messages that are located in the
outbound directory are now deleted after sending them.
Fixed some bugs in `Get Workbench palette...' in GUI window (could
crash under some conditions, didn't unlock Workbench screen). On
Kickstart 3.0 and higher Spot will now copy the multi-color
setting from Workbench instead of copying the first 8 colors.
A message written to nobody (`To' gadget left empty) will be
automatically written to `All'.
New ARexx command: `gotomatrixarea'. Goes to the netmail area
associated with the current area (also works from the area list).
Changed random function. Hopefully this one is more random :-)
Bug fix: Spot didn't handle the creation of multiple directories
in one go (for example: `MAIL:Spot/Areas').
Quirk fix: ARexx commands `getareaname' and `getareausername' now
also work from the area list.
When you do a matrix reply Spot will now use the reply header of
the originating area instead of the one of the netmail area.
It is now possible to toggle the unreplied flag on all messages,
not just messages to you.
Moved `Keep to you' switch from General window to Areas window.
This flag can now be set for each area separately.
Reflow routine improved. Spot will now reflow text that has
already been quoted.
Added `Reflow Reply' switch to the `Settings' menu. When this is
switched on (default) Spot will also reflow text with hard returns
at the end of each line when you reply. Spot will try to do this
smartly and will usually get it right. If your reply text gets
messes up switch this setting off :)
New switch in System window: `Force INTL'. When this switch is on
Spot will always add an `INTL' kludge to your messages (same
behaviour as Spot 1.0 and 1.1). When the switch is off an `INTL'
kludge will only be put in messages to another zone.
Some small problems fixed in IBM character translation tables to
and from LATIN-1.
Gateway support, a gateway can be selected for each domain. Added
an `E-mail' gadget to the message header window and to the
userlist window.
When no packer is entered for an address Spot will export messages
to `<zone>.<net>.<node>.0.OUT' in the outbound directory.
New `EMAILADDR' switch for `write', `edit', `reply' and
`matrixreply' ARexx commands.
Bug fix: `<none>' setting for origins got lost after saving the
areas.
Added some extra validation to the user name and email address in
the userlist editor to avoid the creation of invalid userlists.
New command line switch and icon tooltype: `CONFIGPATH'. Allows
you to specify the path Spot should use for its config files
(default is `MAIL:').
SWEDISH character translation now recognizes and skips uuencoded
files.
It is now possible to set the text style of the screen font. Some
fonts look nicer in bold :)
Added `CENTER' switch to `requestnotify', `requestnumber',
`requestresponse' and `requeststring'. Allows you to center the
prompt text in the requesters.
ARexx commands `nextarea' and `prevarea' now also work from the
area list.
Changed `Startup.spot' to `_Startup.spot'. Spot will now look for
this script in the Spot ARexx directory (General setting).
Added ARexx scripts override to allmost all buttons in the area
list window.
Version 1.2a
============
Bug fix: unregistered version crashed. Oops :)
Bug fix: pressing but not releasing a keyboard shortcut in the
area list and at the same time jumping to the message list or
message window caused unpredictable results.
Quirk fix: changing the filename of a tagline file no longer
requires you to press enter in the string gadget under the
listview.
Bug fix: too long menu names in the ARexx editor window caused
some minor problems.
Some updated catalogs included.
Version 1.2b
============
Fixed enforcer hits when adding a duplicate user in the userlist
editor.
Bug fix: when a tagline file was larger than a few hundred K Spot
would sometimes go into an infinite loop trying to find a tag.
This was traced back to a bug in the new random routine I used.
`SWEDISH' charset was broken. Fixed.
Area requester (used when forwarding a message for example) will
come up with the current area selected.
Bug fix: a message's header written from the message list in the
IBMPC or SWEDISH charset did not get shown/translated correctly in
the list.
Bug fix: messages with kill/sent flag weren't properly removed
from the screen after an export from the message list.
Spot now uses asynchronous I/O to read/write packets during
import/export and to copy files. This should improve performance
especially on systems with DMA harddisks.
Bug fix: if the last area was a separator bar Shift Down in the
area list did not work.
Quirk fix: Spot will now refuse to start when there already is a
public screen called `SPOT'.
Some updated catalogs and install texts included.
Improved crunching performance, especially for large messages.
Spot now requires powerpacker.library V36 to enable message base
crunching!
Spot now also recognizes quotes marked with `=>'.
Quirk fix: it is no longer possible to activate a ghosted `To'
gadget in the message header window using the keyboard shortcut.
Spot will no longer attempt to crunch messages with uuencoded
files/sections during import. These messages wouldn't crunch
anyway.
Bug fix: fixed enforcer hit that occured when opening the system
window when no fido address was entered before (almost impossible
to get in this situation, but... ;-)
Bug fix: `edittaglines' and `editforward' called up the wrong
config window.
Spot will no longer delete a message with the `Kill/Sent' and the
`Keep' flag set when exporting.
Bug fix: hard space (ASCII 160) wasn't translated correctly from
IBMPC to LATIN-1. Some other tiny problems fixed.
Added `%g' formatting code to the reply header. Puts the gateway
reply address of the message writer in the reply header (found in
the REPLYADDR kludge). Only useful in gated areas of course.
Added `CRASH' and `HOLD' switches to `setflags' and `clearflags'
ARexx commands.
New command line switch and tooltype added: `ASL'. Makes Spot use
standard Asl requesters where possible.
Bug fix: when editing a message written in the ASCII charset Spot
did not convert high ascii to low ascii when writing the message
back.
Pressing the space bar in the message window will advance a page
(equivalent to Shift Down) or jump to the next unread message
(also if the next unread message is located in another area).
Pressing 0 on the keypad will follow the current thread and will
then jump to the next unread message etc...
No longer filters out 0x8A during import (`è' in the IBMPC
character set).
Separator bars may now be given a name. Spot will show this name
enclosed in the separator bar line. This allows you to group your
areas together and give a descriptive name to your groups.
Bug fix: e-mail gadget will no longer show up when editing a
message's header.
Included powerpacker.library 36.10.
Included ReqTools 2.1f (38.1095) release.
Release 37.3855
Bug fix: replying mail with a `REPLYADDR' kludge (gated areas) did
not work properly. Spot would add some rubbish characters and fail
to add a proper origin line, seen-by line and path kludge.
Version 1.2c
============
Bug fix: Exporting without a packer setting to
`<zone>.<net>.<node>.0.OUT' was broken.
Bug fix: Now really no longer filters out 0x8A during import (`è'
in the IBMPC character set).
Bug fix: High ascii in origin line wasn't correctly remapped when
editing a message.
Bug fix: Spot would crash if you entered the maximum number of
characters allowed as separator bar name.
Bug fix: if you saved a signature of the maximum allowed 511
characters Spot thought its config file was invalid.
Bug fix: when the ASL switch was used the file-attach file
requester did not work properly.
Spot will handle illegal area names better.
`Add to Userlist...' will now fill in the e-mail address of the
person that is added to the userlist when a `REPLYADDR' kludge is
found.
Quirk fix: Spot now properly fills in the version and revision in
the FSC-0039 packet header.
Changed order of menu items in the `Move' menu slightly.
Bug fix: nickname expansion did not work in the `E-mail' gadget if
you already typed something in the gadget before.
Bug fix: some area flags were not saved properly. It was almost
impossible to switch off the `Keep to you' or `Read only' switches
for example.
Bug fix: entering the first user for a domain in the userlist did
not enable the gateway gadget.
Spot will now handle packets with an corrupt date string. It will
date the message 1 Jan 1993 00:00:00 and will continue importing.
Spot will now also accept `AREA:' lines that are kludges. Some
buggy PC tossers seem to generate these. Sigh...
Bug fix: Spot always picked the address of the default area for
newly created areas. It should now automatically pick the correct
address for new areas.
Using the Shift Delete shortcut on a message with the unreplied
flag will now put up a safety requester.
Bug fix: putting a file-attach on hold for a point didn't work.
The file was put on hold for the boss of that point.
Bug fix: deleting the first address of a domain would also delete
the userlist for that domain.
The ARexx override scripts are now also executed from the menu
items, and not only from the buttons.
Spot now allows you to move the netmail areas and the BAD area up
and down the area list.
Separator names can now be centered or flushed right on the
display. If the first character of a separator name is a `=' the
name will be centered. A name starting with `>' will be flushed
right.
Text paragraph reflowing is now intelligent enough to take text
styles into account. Characters that will be translated into a
text style are no longer counted.
Added progress requesters to import, maintenance and optimize.
These progress requesters also allow you to abort the current
operation.
Swapped meaning of Alt Up/Down and Up/Down arrows in the message
list window.
Bug fix: Spot would sometimes lose track of the current message
when deleting multiple messages from the message list.
Alt `0' on the keypad will now retrace the steps taken by keypad
`0' (up to a maximum of 20 steps).
New ARexx command: `markmessage'. Allows you to control the
marked state of the current message.
Improved rendering speed of area list and message list. This is
especially noticable on most graphic cards.
New keyboard shortcut in message list window: Space to toggle the
current message between marked and unmarked state.
Added `NOREFLOW' switch to `saveascii' ARexx command.
When optimizing to `RAM:T' Spot will create the `RAM:T' directory
if it doesn't already exist.
Bug fix: no longer saves SEEN-BY lines when using `Save...' in BAD
area.
Bug fix: entering and invalid address in the `Node' gadget of the
file requester could crash Spot.
Spot will now also recognize a ':' and a '|' at the beginning of a
line as a quote introducer (frequently used by internet mail
programs to mark quotes).
Bug fix: message reflowing was not 100% correct when writing in a
charset other than LATIN-1 or ASCII.
Spot will now calculate the crc for messages you write yourself.
This is done to help message base recovery programs.
If no `REPLYADDR' kludge is found in a netmail message Spot will
check if there is a `From:' line at the beginning of current
message and will take the e-mail address from that line.
Spot will now first ask you to pick a node to poll (when
multi-bossing) and then if any unexported mail should be exported
before polling.
Bug fix: keyboard shortcut for optimize cycle gadget in General
settings window worked if the gadget was ghosted (unregistered
version).
Version 1.2d
============
Bug fix: import routine would abort completely if an error occured
(for example a bad packet). It will now only abort if the user
aborts the progress requester. Warning: small catalog change!
Import routine will write an extra line (containing the offset) to
the log file if an error occurs reading a packet.
Improved handling of bad packets and ability to try and find a new
message header after a bad message was encountered. It is now
less likely Spot will skip the message right after a bad message
(in a bad packet).
Made Spot a bit smarter when it tries to find quotes starting with
a ':'. It will no longer consider a smiley ':-)' as a quote for
example ;-)
Lines starting with '|' are no longer recognized as a quote unless
there is a '>' character following it.
Changed maximum origin line limit from 80 characters to 79
characters.
Spot will no longer place your 3D address in the `PATH:' kludge.
If your boss has a problem with this change use any ASCII editor
and add a `PATH3D' line to the `MAIL:Spot.prefs' file just after
the ADDRESS line of the boss in question.
Spot will set the protection bits of saved files to `RW-D'.
Spot will now automatically update the file requester buffer when
saving message from the message list. Previously it only did so
from the message window. Note: this is a ReqTools only feature.
I had a report of Spot sometimes changing the gateway name and
address when editing a message. I could not reproduce this, but
have changed some code to prevent this happening. I hope this is
now fixed :)
Spot will no longer quote `\reflow' lines if you reply to a
message written by yourself.
ARexx command `quitspot' no longer returns 100 causing ARexx
scripts to abort.
Bug fix: matrix reply to a message written by yourself now works
properly (silly thing to do in the first place ;).
ARexx commands `importedarea', `unreadarea' and `unrepliedarea'
will now return 1 if the current area is the last area matching the
appropriate condition.
New ARexx commands: `gettimewritten' and `gettimearrived'.
Separators can now be highlighted. Use a `!' as the first (or
only) character of the name of a separator bar. If this feature
is used in combination with `>' and `=' (for positioning the name)
the `!' must be positioned as the very first charachter, before
the justification indicator.
When exporting Spot will now always set the originating address of
messages in a packet to the same net/node as in the packet header.
In combination with `FAKEFTS1' this should help some people
having trouble with fakenets.
Improved error checking of export routine. If the packer fails
Spot will export the current messages to
`<zone>.<net>.<node>.0.OUT' in the outbound directory.
Removed unnecessary saving of all area settings after every export.
Fixed enforcer hits that occured when importing mail in iconified
state.
When editing a message and using `Cancel...' Spot will now ask if
you want to cancel the changes (instead of canceling the message).
This is more accurate. Warning: catalog change!
Bug fix: keypad `0' and Space did not work in empty areas.
Bug fix: Shift-Ins on keypad no longer works in read only areas.
Changed subject linking algorithm (used if MSGID/REPLY kludges are
missing). The old algorithm would sometimes link messages
together with a completely different subject.
Bug fix: Spot will no longer generate an invalid config file if an
area name or alias contains a `*' or `"'.
New keyboard shortcuts: Control Space and Control keypad `0' will
proceed immediately to the next message (without scrolling).
ARexx commands `import', `export', `maintenance' and `optimize'
have a new `ACTIVATE' switch.
Crashing a message to a point who is in your nodelist (and has a
phone number different from his boss) will create a proper `.CUT'
file for that point in your outbound.
Spot will now make sure the packet header password is padded with
0x00.
Spot will now accept numeric digits in quote indicators.
Text after some uuencoded data would not be reflowed if the
uuencoded data ended with a 'size' line.
Included ReqTools 2.2 (38.1194) release.
Release 37.4046
Bug fix: PATH3D switch did not function properly. Spot got
confused when PATH3D and FORCEINTL were used together.
Fixed small but stupid bug in preferences save routine. Spot
would sometimes append characters from an old (longer) config
string to a new one.
Bug fix: when exporting without a packer the .OUT file was not
always deleted from T: after copying it to the outbound.
Made text styles more intelligent. As a result the underscores
around __AMIGADATE__ are no longer swallowed :)
Fixed some small errors in IBMPC translation table.
Bug fix: no longer crashes when you pass arguments that are too
long to the `write', `reply', `matrixreply' or `edit' ARexx
commands.
Changed console windows to immediately disable the cursor and to
use `WINDOWaddr' instead of `WINDOW0xaddr' (workaround for KingCON
incompatibility).
Added a WYSISYG display to the signature and reply text requesters.
On Kickstart 3.0 or higher Spot will now set the busy pointer when
reading and reflowing a message. The busy pointer will only
appear after a small delay to avoid flashes of the pointer.
Busy pointer is now also set when saving the preferences.
Optimizing to `RAM:T' will now fall back to optimizing in the areas
directory when not enough *fast* RAM is available (used to be any
RAM).
Keypad `0' after one or more Alt keypad `0's will now properly go
back to the point you started using the Alt keypad `0'.
Relinked with fixed memory pool code for pre-V39 systems.
Version 1.3
===========
GadTools and BOOPSI gadget handling code almost completely
reworked.
Bug fix: Alt keypad `0' no longer stops working after 20 messages
or more are read.
Added `NOSAVE' switch to `quitspot' and `iconify' ARexx commands.
`%s' (subject) in forward or reply headers will now respect the
`No Re:' switch.
Message info requester will now show the name from the nodelist
(if the actual node/point was found) rather than the name in the
current message header.
Spot will now only recognize a line as a quote if it has a maximum
of four "normal" characters before the `>'.
Using the Shift Delete shortcut on an unexported message will now
put up a safety requester.
When `Quote Kludges' is on Spot will now also quote the PATH and
SEEN-BY lines (very popular request :).
Spot will try to be smart when importing in gated (FSC-0035)
areas. It will first look in the userlist to see if it can find
your e-mail address. Spot will then scan each imported message
for this address and for your name. If either is found the
message is marked as being written to you. This is not perfect,
but it works fine most of time. Note that for this to work you
should enter yourself in the userlist. If you enter
`FORCEEMAILSCAN' just after the `ADDRESS' line of a specific Fido
address in Spot.prefs the areas for this address will always be
scanned (use this for gates that don't support FSC-0035).
Users with an e-mail address and their Fido address equal to the
gateway address are now hidden in the Fido user requester. When
entering new users Spot will now automatically set their Fido
address to the gateway address if you leave it empty and only
enter an e-mail address.
ARexx commands that write a message (`write', `reply',
`forward',...) will now return 10 when an error occured, 5 when the
message was cancelled by the user or 0 when all went well.
ARexx command `quitspot' now also works when Spot is iconified.
Bug fix: ARexx command `export QUIET' no longer hangs when Spot is
iconified.
The destination Fido address (and e-mail address) can now be
changed after writing a message by editing the message header.
This was a _much_ requested feature :)
Bug fix: now properly recognizes quotes with 7-bit characters in
them (as in the SWEDISH character set).
Fixed some bugs in the progress requester: should now work
perfectly when Spot is iconified.
`Add to Userlist...' will now ask you if you want to update a user
that's already in the userlist. ARexx command `adduserlist' now
has an `UPDATE' switch.
New feature: a twitlist. You may enter names and subjects you'd
rather not read anything about in a twitlist. You can then make
Spot either skip messages that are regarded twit messages when
importing or make it mark them as read. Every area has its own
twitlist, plus there's a global twitlist.
Keypad `0' will skip all read messages in the current thread, so it
will no longer show any messages that have already been read (or
have been marked as read).
Improved memory usage of several internal structures, including the
userlist, reply headers, taglines, etc...
Bug fix: when an origin string was found in netmail Spot
incorrectly cut off the message text at that point. Spot will now
ignore origin lines in netmail.
Spot will no longer flash the screen when re-displaying the
message you just replied to (if it was a message to you).
When reading with Keypad `0' Spot will now set the lastread
message of an area to the very last message before jumping to the
next area. So if you re-enter the area after importing you will
automatically see the first newly imported message.
Because there seems to be a small problem with some mouse
blankers, Spot will not set the busy pointer while
reading/reflowing the next message if you enter `NOMSGBUSYPTR' in
`MAIL:Spot.prefs'.
Added `KEEPDATE' switch to `edit' ARexx command.
Maintenance will no longer delete unreplied messages.
Bug fix: after deleting an area from the message list or message
window and going back to the areas list Spot would in certain
circumstances show some rubbish below the last area in the area
list. Fixed.
Sound support added (through use of a player deamon like UPD).
Sound samples can be attached to several events now. The
screen-flash is configurable for each of these events as well.
Added '2nd quote col' gadget to GUI settings window. Allows you
to pick a color to use for quotes that are more than 1 level deep.
If you are running Workbench 3.0 or higher Spot will ask you if
you would like to copy the Workbench pen settings after you decide
if you want to copy the Workbench palette (`Get Workbench
palette...').
New ARexx command: `messageadvance'. Allows you to turn Spot's
automatic message advancing on or off.
Area settings window redesigned, settings are now "paged". Added
a few new settings: `Keep from you', `Min. messages' before
maintenance, `Usenet quotes', `Inactive' to skip an area when
scanning for new or imported mail, `Crunching' to turn crunching
on/off for each area, and `Editor' to override the default editor
command for this area.
If `Usenet quotes' is on Spot will now quote them correctly as
well as mark them. Special quote characters (currently only `:')
will be replaced by the standard `>' character in this case.
Revamped some of the settings windows with cool looking group
labels :-)
Now uses scalable get-file, get-drawer and get-misc BOOPSI images.
These images were written by Michael Berg, so a big thank you to
Michael for allowing me to use them in Spot! :)
`Domain in MSGID' and `Domain in origin' are now configurable for
each address (instead of being a global setting).
`%g' formatting code will now fall back to `%o' (origin-address of
message writer) if no `REPLYADDR' kludge was found in the original
message.
Added a summary of keyboard shortcuts to the documentation.
Spot no longer had problems with messages dated in the future.
Previously it would show an incorrect `Travelled' value, or it
would delete all your messages in your message base if your clock
was accidently turned back.
New command line switch and tooltype added: `CX_PRIORITY'. Allows
you to set the priority of Spot's commodity (the hotkey broker).
Default is 0.
Removed 512 byte limit for ARexx commands. The length of an ARexx
command is only limited by available memory now.
Return code of `import' and `export' ARexx commands now gives more
information about what happened during import or export.
Added a `Skip thread' function. Press Ctrl Alt keypad `0' to skip
the current thread and go to the next unread message. Messages
written specifically to you will not be skipped.
Added `%g', `%f' and `%F' formatting codes to the forward header.
Resizable windows are now "compatible" with sysihack.
ARexx command: `getnummsgs' now also works when Spot is in the
area list.
Special border-blank mode implemented: enter `BBLANK' in
`MAIL:Spot.prefs' to activate. In border-blank mode Spot will
leave a gap of a few pixels at the left, right and bottom borders
of the screen and the gadgets (so the gadgets don't "stick" to the
edge).
It is now possible to edit, reply and forward a message when Spot
is showing the message list (same goes for the corresponding ARexx
commands).
Will no longer report "Out of memory" on corrupt areas, but will
instead properly report a fatal file error.
New ARexx command: `getkludge'. Attempts to get a specific kludge
from the current message.
New ARexx command to get the user's name: `getusername'.
New menu item: `Flags...'. Allows you to edit several message
flags from the message window.
Relinked with version 2 of asynchronous I/O code.
Fixed several other miscellaneous bugs and quirks.
Included ReqTools 2.2c (38.1266) release.
Release 37.4515
Bug fix: Spot 1.3 crashed on Amigas running Workbench 2.0 or 2.1
(Kickstart 2.04). Discovered and replaced the accidental use of
an AmigaDOS 3.0 function in the new BOOPSI button code.
Version 1.3a
============
Bug fix: now properly clears an area's export flag when you mark
all unexported messages as exported.
When going back to the area settings window the last gadget page
you were in will now be shown (instead of always opening with the
first gadget page).
Bug fix: `Previous area' on the first area failed if there were
only netmail areas defined.
Quirk fix: the `Keep from you' checkbox in the area settings
window is no longer ghosted for the default area.
Fixed some missing sound-events.
Bug fix: scroller gadget wasn't unghosted after `unlockgui' on
machines running 3.0 or lower.
The screen title (in the message window) now also shows the number
of unread messages for you. The screen title in the message list
will now also show this information.
Using `Add' in the area settings window, the userlist window, the
twitlist window and the ARexx settings window will now insert a
new entry after the currently selected one.
Shift and Control up/down in the area list handle separator bars
better. When the first or last area is a separator Spot will show
that area when you page up or down through the area list. Spot
will now also select the first non-separator area when starting up.
For netmail areas, the `Twit to you' gadget in the twitlist is now
ghosted and is always considered to be on.
When creating a new area `Min. messages' is now properly copied
from the default area settings.
Bug fix: high ASCII hotkeys didn't work properly.
Bug fix: re-addressing an email message when using a named gateway
incorrectly changed the destination name.
Bug fix: Spot no longer crashes when the initial setup procedure is
cancelled (the very first time you start Spot).
Fixed some minor documentation errors.
Updated catalogs included.
Great new icon included, beautifully done by Tom Toutenel. Thanks
Tom!
Author Info
***********
Nico François
Corbielaan 13
B-3060 Bertem
Belgium
Internet: <nico@augfl.be>
<nico.francois@scala.com>
FidoNet : 2:292/603.10
AmigaNet: 39:120/102.10
"And the lake sings,
And the dogs don't,
They are quiet for Adda Lee" - Frank Black