Shareware Grab Bag/Shareware Grab Bag.iso/081/sirius50.arc/SIR050D.ARC/SIR_041.DOC

Text File | 1986-12-08 | 7KB | 119 lines

Date: Mon  8 Dec 86 18:39
From: Bob Klahn
To:   All
Subj: Sirius test version 0.41

Here at last is the next "test release" of Sirius, version 0.41.
Documentation is still almost non-existent, but not that necessary
for most operations.  NEW IN THIS RELEASE ARE:
  * View (Headers) - gives you one message header per line, somewhat
    the way SEAdog's "select" functionality does.  It continues in the
    current direction of travel until either the end of the message
    area is reached, or you hit the space bar, the enter key, or the
    escape key.  Headers displayed are only those in the current
    group, so that, for example, you can look at only those messages
    which have files attached, and probably see them all on one screen.
  * Tag and Back command implementation, phase one:  now you can hit "T"
    from the main menu to "mark your place", and subsequently hit "B"
    (Back) to return to that message, whether or not it is in the same
    message area.  These commands will be extended later on to allow
    tagging To A Group, and to allow more than one message at a time
    to be marked for subsequent return-to via the Back command.  Let
    me know how you like this functionality, and the planned development
    path.
  * The space bar, enter key, and escape key now abort several more
    displays than they used to:  the area display, and the
    "Doctor (Body (Show" display being the most notable.
  * Three new commands in the message body editor:
    Doctor (Body (Copy  - copies a block of lines from the current
                          message
    Doctor (Body (Get   - imports any flat ASCII file (as long as it's
                          not too big!) into the current message body;
                          this importing can also be aborted via the
                          above-mentioned keys
    Doctor (Body (Wrap  - gets rid of hard returns in undesirable
                          places, e.g., in TBBS and Fido v12 messages
                          chopped up by EchoMail
    NOTE: HOW YOU CAN TELL if a line is terminated by a hard or soft
          return (not a new feature):  look at the symbol affixed to
          the line number ... if it is a COLON, then that line is
          terminated by a HARD return, but if it is a SEMICOLON, then
          that line is terminated by a SOFT return.  Note that you do
          not see this distinction during message entry, but only
          during message doctoring (which is also the only time you
          need it).
  * Doctor (Body (Delete   now handles a block of lines, not just a
                           single line
  * Doctor (Body (Insert   now inserts AFTER, not BEFORE, the given
    line number; thus to prefix lines to a message, insert "after 0".
  * The space bar is now basically ignored during COMMAND entry, so
    that "ANH" and "A N H" and "AN H", and countless other variations,
    will all display the highest message in the netmail area (assuming
    you were keying from the main menu).
  * The space bar will also abort displays at what used to be the
    "More" prompts, so that split-second differences do not materially
    affect Sirius actions.
  * IF and WHILE expression ENTRY has been generalized to include
    Boolean (TRUE/FALSE) and string functions.  Note this this is
    only the expression ENTRY!  The only expressions which will
    be accepted for EXECUTION are still just the integer-based ones.
    But please try out the parser for "feel", and let me know what
    additional functions you'd like to see implemented.  The current
    ones (again, PARSED only, not executable) are:
    Boolean:  @AuditReq - SEAdog audit request flag set
              @FileAttach - file attach flag set
              @FileReq - SEAdog file request flag set
              @FromMe - "From:" field matches Sirius "You" string
              @Hold - SEAdog hold flag set
              @InTransit - in transit flag set
              @KillSent - kill/sent flag set
              @Linked - message has a + or - link
              @Local - local flag (message entered on this system) set
              @NoBody - "null" message, i.e., message has no body
              @Orphan - orphan flag set
              @Private - private flag set
              @ReceiptReq - SEAdog receipt request flag set
              @Received - received flag set
              @Sent - sent flag set
              @ToMe - "To:" field matches Sirius "You" string
              @UpdateReq - SEAdog file update request flag set
              @Xpress - "express mail" (SEAdog "crash") flag set
    String:   @FromUser - the "From:" string
              @Subject - the "Subject:" string
              @ToUser - the "To:" string
    Integer:  @FromNet - origin net number
              @FromNode - origin node number
              @HighMsg# - number of highest message in current area
              @LowMsg# - number of lowest message in current area
              @Msg# - current message number
              @MsgCount - total number of messages in current area
              @ToNet - destination net number
              @ToNode - destination node number
    SYNTAX: Anything which would normally NOT be parenthesized, e.g.
            @NoBody AND @Received, but not
            "@Private AND @FromMe OR @ToMe", and not
            "@Received AND @ToNode = 0", etc.
  * Copy (Flat file   now handles driveless filespecs correctly when
                      the current drive is not the drive holding the
                      Sirius programs (Who besides me knew that this
                      "chirpy" bug existed?)
  * Quit (Doghouse)   has been changed to   Quit (BBS), because Opus
                      AIN'T NO DOG!!!  (One could argue that SEAdog
                      is not a BBS in any sense; anyone have a better
                      word than BBS to suggest here??)
  * Various format (cosmetic) changes to Sirius menus
  * Inclusion of non-operative "Zenith" ("last message read", or
    "highest point reached") command on main menu
  * Inclusion of non-operative "Memory" command on "!" submenu;
    when implemented, ! (Memory)  will allow you to trade off Sirius
    speed for memory savings (as observed via View (Memory)) ...
    when the slower memory-saving option is selected, Sirius will not
    save message headers on the heap, and will always have to reload
    them from disk when messages are revisited during the same session.
  * Doctor (Date)   can now handle both "Fido" and "SEAdog" date formats;
    erasing this field causes Sirius to fill it with the current date/time.

 * Origin: Micro Solutions *Opus*, Wilmington DE [phone] (150/1)