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Version 2.20 Technical Reference This document contains complementary technical reference regarding configuration options and functions of FrontDoor version 2.20. Update information for users of FrontDoor version 2.20 is found in the file README.FD. ===================================================================== Table of Contents: FDSetup and System Configuration System Macros Monochrome Mode MailExit Semaphore Extended Range of Baudrates BBS name Secure Inbound File Transfers File Requests External Request Processor Modem configuration Modem Messages Caller*ID Limited Answer Hours Hold File Attaches Requests Manager Modem Manager Nodelist Maximum Baudrates "Server" Keyword Flags in ROUTEn.FD DOBBSn.BAT Script Language LOG LINESPEED @systemnum Command-line Parameters Operational Characteristics AUTOVIDEO FOLDER FOLDERSCAN MSGSURVEY NODUPBCK SESSONDCD NORAWEXTD NOCANSES Software Environments FORCECOMMIT FORCEDPMI FORCEINT28 NOFCB Hardware Environments NOICA Communications Protocols EMSIDEBUG EMSIPKT FTS6PKT LOGINTRO NODOMAIN NORESYNC DOS Environment Variables FMUSERNAME FMUSERNUM FMUSEROFS FMUSERPOS TZUTC Semaphore Files FDALIVE.n FDFREEZE.ALL FDINTERM.n FDSCAN.n FDCANSES.n FMALIVE.n FMFREEZE.n and FMFREEZE.ALL FMNEWNET.n, FMNEWCNF.n, and FMNEWLOC.n Keyboard Macro Commands Inserting Characters Terminal Editor Commands Cursor Positioning Files Original Data Edit, Delete Text, and Save IBM OS/2 2.x Microsoft Windows Novell NetWare Avoid the use of NORES! EMSI System Names Domain Names SEAlink Replying to Gated Messages Notes for Developers of External Utilities FDDEV INFOREC Force PickUp ===================================================================== FDSetup and System Configuration Many additions and changes have gone into the FDSetup system configuration utility. The use of most options, and all of the new ones, are guided by context-sensitive help displayed at the bottom row of the screen. Outlined below is the most essential update information. Three new System Macros have been added. These macros can be placed in certain fields in FDSetup to simplify the use and configuration of the Mailer. The three macros are: $LOGFILE$, $TASK$, and $ROUTEFD$. They expand to the fully qualified name of the log file, the current TASK= environment setting (or zero if none), and the fully qualified name of the route file used by the Mailer. The fields supporting these new macros are: $TASK$ Global.Filenames.No BBS Global.Filenames.Log file Global.Filenames.Banner Global.Filenames.Packets Global.Filenames.MailExit Global.Address.SiteInfo.Name Global.Address.SiteInfo.Flags Mailer.Function keys.Action Mailer.Fax.RcvdFiles Editor.Keyboard macros $LOGFILE$ and $ROUTEFD$ Mailer.Function keys.Action In addition, the $TASK$ macro can be used when specifying data to the export function in the Mailer Mail History function, as well as in the export and import functions in FDNC. The Global.General.Monochrome mode setting was added to allow you to force FDSetup to behave as if you had specified the -M (Mono) parameter on the command-line. Global.Filenames.MailExit defines a file that the Mailer should create when it receives mail and would have triggered an exit if the "Exit when mail is received" was enabled. In a multi-line or multi-tasking environment, this allows you to configure all Mailers not to exit, but simply create the MailExit semaphore instead. An alternate process, scanning for the existence of the MailExit semaphore, could be started in another task or on another workstation; when the semaphore is created, the program looking for it would proceed to process the received mail/files. You are provided with an Extended Range of Baudrates. This is evident in places like Site info, Minimum file request speed, Errorlevels and Connect messages. The range of Maximum baudrates under the Modem.Hardware menu is bound by technical specifications of the FOSSIL. See Appendix B in the Administrator Guide for a description of the FOSSIL. The "BBS name" entry (used when telling callers to press Esc twice for...) has been moved to the Global.Site info menu. The Editor options for NetMail has been moved to a separate sub- menu. The Mailer can be enabled for Secure Inbound File Transfers in the Global.Filenames menu of FDSetup, where a new option called SecFiles is introduced. It allows you to specify a directory where inbound files will be stored if they have been received during a secure (password protected) mail session. An option for handling file requests is to force the Mailer to stop searching for requested files after a first Alias or match is found. If an Alias expands to more than one file, it is not affected by the setting of this option. It is called Stop after first match, and you will find it under the Mailer.File Requests.Request limits menu. The Mailer can invoke an External Request Processor (supplied separately by us or third party) to handle incoming file requests by searching in an indexed database for quick access to files in multiple directories, over LANs and on CD-ROMs. It works similar to a Service Request; a list of requested files is passed on to the External Request Processor, which is to be returning with a list of actual filenames for FD to send. More information is available from your dealer, publishers of FrontDoor utility programs, and the FDDEV package of information files. The Modem configuration screen has been slightly modified to improve the Mailer's operation in multi-line environments. Before you can modify any of the modem settings, you must choose whether you want to modify the default settings, or a specific task's settings. Alternate task's settings are stored in a file called MDCFG<TaskNum>.FD in the System directory. This, in conjunction with the added $TASK$ macro, allows you to run several Mailers using the same configuration; even if the hardware configuration differ. If the Mailer cannot locate MDCFG<TaskNum>.FD in the System directory or the TASK environment variable has been omitted (or set to zero), it uses the settings in SETUP.FD. Three sub-menus under the Modem section deal with messages given by your modem. Modem Messages for established carrier speeds are in a range from 300 to 115200 bits per second, in addition to a separate "CONNECT FAX" message. If your modem supports a data transfer rate which is not listed in the range, and provided X00 has been instructed (with the parameter B) to run at a locked rate, you can specify the modem message and the associated DCE- rate under the Custom option. The Answer sub-menu has been changed. A new toggle is the LDFRS to Log Data Following the first RING Signal, which is interesting if your PTT and modem provide so called Caller*ID service. You may have to increase the Answer delay setting for this to work. See also the section on DOBBSn.BAT below. Limited Answer Hours were previously settings in the Modem.Answer menu, and has been changed to an Event Behavior setting. This gives you event driven control over whether the Mailer is going to answer an incoming call or not, which provides for several periods of answering calls on a day-of-week basis. Another new Event behavior option is that of Hold File Attaches; messages with the File attribute will not be sent. It must be observed, when listing specifications for files and paths in the Requests Manager, that the order as listed is significant. When the Mailer receives a file request for internal processing (not using any External Request Processor), it will scan this list for the first match or partial match. If you need to use different passwords for files stored under the same tree of sub-directories, you must list the most specific entries above the more generic entries. In the following examples, we have a file located in the \FILES\SEC\SUPER directory; the file TO.ABS is protected by one password, all other files in/under the SUPER directory by another, and all other files in/under the SEC directory by a third: 1 \files\sec\super\to.abs password_1 2 \files\sec\super\ password_2 3 \files\sec\ password_3 Provided no other requestable paths and file names exist which would have partly the same name, the above can be simplified to: 1 to.abs password_1 2 super password_2 3 sec password_3 The Modem Manager supports all (current and future) nodelist flags, as well as the extended range of baudrates. ===================================================================== Nodelist The Mailer and the Editor are enabled for an extended range of Maximum Baudrates, as specified in the raw nodelist data (see page 5-3 in the Administrator Guide) and in FDSetup (see above). The range includes 300, 1200, 75/1200 (split speed, shown as 1275), 2400, 4800, 7200, 9600, 12000, 14400, 16800, 19200, 38400, 57600, 64000, 76800, and 115200 bps. The full-screen Node Editor (in FDNC) also supports the extended range. FDNC supports the "Server" Keyword in raw nodelist data, with identical treatment to the "Boss" keyword (see the section on POINTLIST, page 5-9 in the Administrator Guide). All nodelist flags found in the raw nodelist data can be used in the Modem Manager (see above) as well as in the route file command language. Flags in ROUTEn.FD are used to specify lists of systems to be subjected to a particular command. Each flag used MUST be preceded by a per cent (%) sign! In this example: UNHOLD %!CM EXCEPT %ZYX the UNHOLD command will affect all mail bundles for systems listed without CM-flag EXCEPT those listed with ZYX-flag. ===================================================================== DOBBSn.BAT If you, in FDSetup, set Mailer.Errorlevels.Create BAT.file to "Yes", a file is created whenever an inbound interactive caller (BBS-user) or fax transmission (in case you don't use the internal fax receiver, see also README.FD) is received. This file is named DOBBSn.BAT, where n is replaced by the value of the current TASK setting (the default being zero; DOBBS0.BAT). In case of an interactive caller, the file will contain the following: EXEBBS <DCE> <COMx> <time> <TASK> <extra> <DFRS> In case of a fax transmission, it will contain this: EXEFAX <DTE> <COMx> <COMz> <TASK> <msg> <DFRS> The variables (in <angle> brackets above) are: DCE The modem-to-modem speed, as defined by the connect message from your modem COMx One-based number for serial port (1=COM1) time Minutes left until next "No User"-event TASK Value of the current TASK-setting extra Extra modem messages; usually indication for reliable connection such as REL, ARQ, and LAPM. If the no extra data followed the connect message, this string will contain /NONE. DFRS Data Following RING Signal (Caller*ID), all data received is passed as one string, with suppression of CR/LF and spaces replaced by underscores (_); if DFRS is not available or enabled, this variable will contain "N/A" DTE The modem-to-PC speed COMz Zero-based number for serial port (0=COM1) msg The connect message from the modem To execute a program to handle the different calls, two batch files are required. EXEBBS.BAT may contain something like the following, to start RemoteAccess: CD \FD\RA RA -B%1%5 -C%2 -T%3 CD \FD During run-time, the %1%5, %2 and %3 will take the values of DCE, extra, COMx, and time respectively, written by FD in DOBBSn.BAT. Likewise, this is an example of EXEFAX.BAT: CD \FD\RCVFAX RCVFAX 2 /P:%3 CD \FD To complete the chain of batch files and programs, you need to trap the ERRORLEVEL returned by FD for one of these calls, GOTO a label and then issue CALL DOBBSn.BAT (or CALL DOBBS%TASK%.BAT if you wish). After a completed call, EXEBBS.BAT or EXEFAX.BAT terminates, which also terminates the one-line DOBBSn.BAT, and control is returned to FD's main batch file. See the Administrator Guide pages 4-9 through 4-14 for an in-depth explanation of RUNFD.BAT. Script Language A command to write text to the log file has the syntax of: LOG i text where i is a single character (any printable character with higher value than space is allowed) which will be placed to the left of logged time, and text is what you wish to insert in the log. LINESPEED <Baudrate> is used to set the actual baudrate of the call since this information is usually not known to the Mailer when using scripts to establish a connection. <Baudrate> can be any number higher or equal to 75. The @systemnum macro can be used in place of a string with any command for sending a string to the modem (e.g. SEND and DIAL). The macro will yield the telephone number of the called system, just as if the Mailer would have dialled it (i.e. with all the translations of international access code, area code, and such applied). ===================================================================== Command-line Parameters Several new parameters have been added to FrontDoor. Unless otherwise stated, each one can be used either on the command- line of the affected program, or specified in the FDOPT environment variable (in DOS by using the SET FDOPT= command). When using them on the command-line, each parameter must be preceded by either a forward slash (/) or a dash (-). Parameters for the Editor can be used on the command-line for the Mailer, and will be carried over to the Editor when it is invoked by <Alt-E> (unless otherwise noted). The following parameters are supported by FrontDoor program(s) as indicated, to alter their Operational Characteristics: AUTOVIDEO is used with the Mailer and the Editor to override the current video mode setting in FDSetup, and replace it with the Auto setting. This switch is not carried over to the Editor if you execute FD /AUTOVIDEO and press <Alt-E>. FOLDER will emulate the key press of <Alt-F> at the time when the Editor is loaded, causing the folder selection screen to be displayed initially. FOLDERSCAN works like FOLDER, but emulates the <Ctrl-F> key press. This causes the Editor to scan and show any presence of unread messages in the folder selection screen. MSGSURVEY will cause the Editor to begin in Survey mode, as if you press <Alt-F9> once the it has been loaded. NODUPBCK can only be used on the command-line of FDSetup. It will disable the duplicate board detection feature when configuring Folders (under the Manager menu). This is intended to be used when you are doing extensive re-organization of folders. NODUPBCK is not supported when specified in FDOPT. SESSONDCD causes the Mailer to assume an inbound call as soon as the CD (carrier detect) signal is present on the serial port. The speed for the connection is assumed to be the same speed the port is locked at. If the port is not locked, this option is ignored. NORAWEXTD forces the Terminal to send the normal (white) cursor key sequences when the gray cursor keys are used in raw keyboard mode (Scroll Lock is enabled). This may be required by some "doorway" programs that do not support extended keyboard codes. NOCANSES prevents the Mailer from honoring the FDCANSES.n semaphore described later in this document. The following parameters are implemented to give the FrontDoor program(s) better compatibility in special Software Environments: FORCECOMMIT is used if you want to have the DOS disk buffers flushed every time FD writes data to disk while receiving a file. The use for this is to increase the integrity of received data, in case of a power failure. You can use it independent of the NOCOMMIT parameter, because the two are not related. FORCEDPMI can be useful when running a FrontDoor-system with "DV-aware" third-party utilities under a multitasker other than DESQview. In such situations, it is often beneficiary to load a TSR to trick the third-party utility into slicing time as if DESQview was present. However, such a TSR will also fool the FrontDoor programs. The FORCEDPMI parameter will disable FrontDoor's autodetection of type of multitasker, and force time-slicing according to the DPMI-specification. OS/2 and Windows support DPMI. FORCEINT28 is used to force the FrontDoor programs to issue INT 28h calls when they are idle. This is useful in such multitasking environments which support this method for applications to give up time slices (most notably older TSR programs written to run in the background). NOFCB disables the use of the File Control Block (FCB) delete function when the Mailer shall remove files in the Packet directory. Its intended use is for dealing with special incompatibilities, such as with the "DELDIR" setting of OS/2 2.0. It is likely to impose a decrease in speed when the Mailer is processing NetMail packets. The following is a parameter for dealing with special Hardware Environments: NOICA disables both FD and FM from using the ICA (intra-application communications BIOS area). Some combinations of hardware and software (notably in the Gateway brand of PCs) have problems with the support of ICA-enabled applications. To give you specific control over the Mailer's Communications Protocols, the following parameters are included: EMSIDEBUG is used to give detailed information about EMSI- handshakes. EMSIPKT forces the Mailer to dump the whole handshake from the remote to disk, in a file named -EMSIPKT.n and placed in the System directory. FTS6PKT works just like EMSIPKT, but for FTS-6 (YooHoo) handshakes, and the file is named -FTS6PKT.n. LOGINTRO is a parameter used to give more information about the progress of an inbound call to the Mailer. It is to be used with caution, because your log will grow rapidly in size (especially in case of high level of line-noise). NODOMAIN prevents the Mailer from presenting domain names in the EMSI-handshake. This was implemented to allow FrontDoor 2.20 systems to be backwards compatible, because some software (e.g. FrontDoor 2.00) does not properly handle a domain name in an address passed in the EMSI-handshake. NORESYNC is a session protocol parameter, which inhibits FD from use of the RESYNC feature in SEAlink. Use it only when experiencing problems with FD recovering from CRC-errors while receiving files using the SEAlink Overdrive (SLO) protocol. ===================================================================== DOS Environment Variables FMUSERNAME can be used to set an FM-user's name without making any changes in FDSetup. Provided you have a password configured for (at least) the first user, and a name with "User" status is selected when loading FM, the actual name used by FM can be specified in the FMUSERNAME-variable. The access rights are either those of the selected name, or overriden by the use of FMUSERNUM (see next paragraph). Spaces in the name must be replaced by under-scores (_). FMUSERNUM contains a value of 1 through 10. The value is used when FM gives access to folders, and corresponds to the access rights as defined in FDSetup for the user's number. This variable is used to override the access rights defined to the selected (when loading FM) user's number. FMUSEROFS specifies a value to offset (from the default of zero) the user number. This variable can be used to allow the Editor to support more than ten users' lastread pointers in the Hudson Message Base. The value of FMUSEROFS is added to the current user's number to yield the "lastread slot" to be used. Par example: SET FMUSEROFS=10, and you're running as the first user, then your "lastread slot" is number eleven. FMUSERPOS specifies a user's number to be used by FM when selecting "lastread slot". The presence of this variable will override FMUSEROFS (see previous paragraph). Allowed values for FMUSERPOS are 1 through 65535. TZUTC is an environment variable used like this: SET TZUTC=[-|+]hhmm The plus-sign (+) is optional, meaning that the use of SET TZUTC=0100 and SET TZUTC=+0100 would both indicate that your time zone is Paris (Central European Time), which is one hour east of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). FM will insert the TZUTC "message-kludge" if the environment variable is present. FD will present the TZUTC-setting during EMSI-handshakes, and as a "message-kludge" when creating return receipts. If you periodically change your system clock according to "summer/winter time", you will need to adjust the setting of TZUTC as well. Here follows a list of some of the world's time zones: Zone Offset Name ---- ------ --------------------------- AHST -1000 Alaska-Hawaii Standard Time HDT -0900 Hawaii Daylight Time PST -0800 Pacific Standard Time PDT -0700 Pacific Daylight Time MST -0700 Mountain Standard Time MDT -0600 Mountain Daylight Time CST -0600 Central Standard Time CDT -0500 Central Daylight Time EST -0500 Eastern Standard Time EDT -0400 Eastern Daylight Time WAT -0100 West Africa Time GMT +0000 Greenwich Mean Time UTC +0000 Universal Time CET +0100 Central Europe Time BST +0100 British Summer Time CEST +0200 Central Europe Summer Time EET +0200 Eastern European Time WAST +0700 West Australian Time WADT +0800 West Australian Daylight Time CCT +0800 China Coast Time JST +0900 Japan Standard Time CAST +0930 Central Australian Standard Time EAST +1000 East Australian Standard Time CADT +1030 Central Australian Daylight Time EADT +1100 East Australian Daylight Time NZST +1200 New Zealand Standard Time NZDT +1300 New Zealand Daylight Time ===================================================================== Semaphore Files The following semaphore files (see appendix C in the Administrator Guide for further reference) are added in FrontDoor as follows, where: n is task number (SET TASK=n) touched means created, or updated in the directory field for time and date of creation (in DOS, files are touched with the REM>file command) FDALIVE.n is touched almost immediately upon loading of FD. It will be touched every few minutes, even when FD has been frozen with FDFREEZE.n or when the Terminal has been invoked. It provides a simple means to monitor the activity. When FD terminates or invokes a DOS shell, FDALIVE.n is removed. FDFREEZE.ALL will freeze any and all tasks running FD, as if an FDFREEZE.n was detected for each task. FDINTERM.n is created and present for the duration when the Terminal is running. FDSCAN.n is used to indicate that FD is engaged in processing the primary NetMail folder. While this semaphore is present, certain functions in the primary NetMail folder (such as renumber and change of destination) are disabled in any task running the Editor. FDCANSES.n is used to force the Mailer to terminate the currently active session. The semaphore is checked for between files being sent/received. If the Mailer finds the file, it removes the file and terminates the session. The Mailer can be told to ignore this file by using the NOCANSES option as described earlier. FMALIVE.n is touched almost immediately upon loading of FM. It will be touched every few minutes, even when FM has been frozen with FMFREEZE.n. It provides a simple means to monitor the activity. When FM terminates or invokes a DOS shell, FMALIVE.n is removed. FMFREEZE.n and FMFREEZE.ALL is used to freeze task(s) running the Editor. The Editor will search for this semaphore once a minute, when updating the on-screen clock. When found, the keyboard is frozen, the databases for nodelist and messages are closed, and the Editor will check every twenty seconds to see if the semaphore has disappeared. FMNEWNET.n, FMNEWCNF.n, and FMNEWLOC.n are semaphores touched by FM to indicate that new messages (including replies) have been entered as NetMail, conference mail, and local mail respectively. The classification of messages is defined by the settings under Manager.Folders in FDSetup, of the corresponding folder(s) where one or more new messages have been saved. You can control support of these semaphores in FDSetup, under the Editor.Miscellaneous menu. Messages saved with the Lock attribute are not considered as new. ===================================================================== Keyboard Macro Commands The keyboard macro fields in FDSetup's Editor and Terminal menus can be used with very capable command sets for providing users with simple and effective macro keys. Here follows a complete and updated list of macro commands. The keyboard macro command set for Inserting Characters and text contains the following, valid both for the Editor and the Terminal: | carriage return ~~ tilde ~| pipe ~B tab-character Only the Terminal supports the following commands: ~! one second pause ~P current password (as found in the currently selected IEMSI-profile or called entry in the Phone Directory) The remaining are all Editor Commands, starting with these for inserting characters: ~L new line ~U current user's name Use these commands for Cursor Positioning: ~> right ~< left ~^ up ~V down ~G top of message ~H end of message Files are handled by the following: ~! invoke DOS shell ~Xfile; export message to file ~Ifile; import file to message ~Rfile; import file to message and erase file ~Efile; shell to DOS and execute file, including any parameters; parameters may not contain semicolon When writing a reply, the following macro commands will insert values taken from the message being replied to. When editing an existing message, the values are taken from the message being edited. These values are undefined when creating a new message, as the Editor is then unable to supply any Original Data: ~D original recipient (To:) ~O original sender (From:) ~A original subject (Re:) ~C original date and time ~J original origin address ~K original destination address To Edit, Delete Text, and Save the message, use: ~F re-format paragraph ~} delete to end of line ~Y delete current line ~T delete to end of text ~S save message (and keep the original if writing a reply to a message in a folder where FM would ask if the user wants to delete it when saving a new reply) ~# save message (and delete the original if writing a reply to a message in a folder where FM would ask if the user wants to delete it when saving a new reply) ===================================================================== IBM OS/2 2.x At the time of this writing, two software solutions exist which will enhance the operation of FrontDoor when using OS/2 2.x. The software is used to handle the FOSSIL-calls made by FrontDoor to a serial device driver (see Appendix B in the Administrator Guide). One is called VX00 version 1.xx (the MS-DOS version of X00 supplied with FrontDoor is version 1.24), and the other is called Virtual FOSSIL Driver (VFD). Please, contact your dealer for the latest information on this and other enhancement specifically for using FrontDoor under OS/2 2.x. A FrontDoor Technical Note (FDTN-002) is available; it contains vast amounts of information and hints on how to configure and trim your OS/2- FD-system. Microsoft Windows The support for serial communications is improved in Windows 3.1 as compared to the previous version. To use FrontDoor under Windows 3.0, you had to perform some tricks to disable Windows' awareness for the serialport(s) being used. The following settings need to be made in the [386enh] section of SYSTEM.INI, using COM1 in this example: COM1FIFO=true ;default is true when using a FIFO- ;buffered port (16550 UART) COMBoostTime=1 ;default is 2 MinTimeslice=10 ;default is 20 As always when running high-speed serial communications in multitasking environments, a FIFO-buffered UART is essential hardware. Ask your hardware dealer for a 16550-equipped serial port if you don't have one. The FIFO-buffer size should be decreased, e.g. by using the F=4 parameter when loading X00 or running XU FIFO:4. This makes more buffer space available after an interrupt has occurred but before it gets serviced. You need to write a PIF for the Mailer, and enable 'Lock Application Memory' found in the Advanced settings screen. ===================================================================== DESQview While the settings and instructions for using FrontDoor under DESQview are correct as found in the printed documentation, installing a FrontDoor-system including third-party utilities may require modifications. You may need to increase the "Memory Size (in K)" allocated to the FrontDoor window, if the system also runs a BBS and/or a conference mail processor. The "Writes text directly to screen" option should be set to No when only running FrontDoor programs. Some third-party programs may require this option to be set to Yes to prevent bleed-through. ===================================================================== LANtastic When loading the FrontDoor programs under LANtastic, it is possible that you get a sharing violation error from the system. The simple remedy for this is to set a read-only attribute on the executable file which returns with the error. If you experience this problem when loading FD.EXE, change to the directory where FD.EXE is located and run this DOS command: ATTRIB +R FD.EXE It is also a good idea to use the above ATTRIB command on other FrontDoor executables and overlay files. Novell NetWare NOTE: It is never a good idea to make any changes to the DOS PATH environment variable, once you are logged into a NetWare server. The PATH statement in RUNFD.BAT, which the INSTALL program may create, MUST be moved to another batch file (AUTOEXEC.BAT) such that it is issued BEFORE logging into a NetWare server! Use of the SHELL.CFG file with the option "SHOW DOTS=ON" in a workstation installation is highly recommended. Refer to your NetWare documentation for additional information on workstation shell installation. A drive-mapping is used and maintained internally by the NetWare workstation shell, and is not necessarily resolved correctly by DOS function calls. For example; If you have something like the following, which would be a typical NetWare-mapping: F:\ = SERVER\SYS: and FrontDoor's system directory is: F:\COMMS\FD = SERVER\SYS:COMMS\FD\ you would then be able to use any of the following three syntaxes in FrontDoor to access the FrontDoor system directory: 1. F:\COMMS\FD 2. SERVER\SYS:COMMS\FD 3. \\SERVER\SYS\COMMS\FD These will work correctly with any of the newer NetWare shells, regardless of the use of NORES (see page C-3 in the Administrator Guide). Other software, which need to access FrontDoor system files and NetMail messages, may only understand the first (1.) syntax. Use of NORES and the "F:\FD" (normal DOS) syntax is recommended in installations using older NetWare shells and/or when FrontDoor is used in conjunction with other software which cannot resolve NetWare server path syntax. If you try to map a drive letter to a subdirectory; MAP G:=SERVER\SYS:MYAPPS\FD accessing the FrontDoor system directory via G:\ will FAIL in most situations. A NetWare MAP statement does not function like a DOS SUBST command! When the NetWare shell resolves a MAPped path for an internal DOS or BIOS function, it will invariably return the server's root directory, and not the directory as specified in the MAP statement. Therefore: make sure that your MAP statement points to a physical root directory. When starting any FrontDoor executable program in an installation on a NetWare LAN, the current drive should be a drive that is mapped (with a MAP statement, not MAP ROOT) to the same network volume as the FrontDoor System directory. Avoid the use of NORES! The NORES parameter (see page C-3 in the Administrator Guide) is seldom necessary in FrontDoor installations on local area networks; do not MAP subdirectories, use the newer NetWare shells, and, when a third party utility is required, select one that supports server path syntax. When the NORES parameter is used, it effectively requires each workstation to be configured with identical drive-mapping for users to be able to fully utilize the functions of FrontDoor (e.g. file attaches and update requests). ===================================================================== EMSI Starting with this version of FrontDoor, the Mailer encodes the information used in during the EMSI handshake somewhat differently. To allow international (often referred to as "high- bit ASCII) characters to be translated properly in international codepage environments, the Mailer now encodes data such as the System Name, etc. using the ISO 8859-1 standard. This means that if your system connects to another system running an older version of FrontDoor, and it is using international characters in its System Profile configuration, it is likely that it will appear as garbled data; it is not. The new encoding scheme carries no other side-effects. Domain Names, as configured in the Global.Address.Domains menu of FDSetup, are included in the EMSI handshake. They are not used, nor displayed by this version of FrontDoor, and can be disabled with the NODOMAIN parameter (see above). Future versions of Mailers may use the information, e.g. for routing. EMSI sessions can use the SEAlink file transfer protocol. ===================================================================== Replying to Gated Messages The Editor has support for FSC-35 (^aREPLYADDR and ^aREPLYTO kludge-lines). Provided your e-mail gate to UseNet, INTERNET, or UUCP uses FSC-35, replying to a gated message does not require the TO: line to be inserted manually. ===================================================================== Notes for Developers of External Utilities Make sure you get the latest FDDEV-kit (for FrontDoor 2.20). FD supports modem connect messages for rates up to 115200, in addition to a custom connect message. The INFOREC written to disk by FD, when invoking external programs for Service Requests and External Request Processors, now uses a DWORD (32-bit) to store the baudrate, as opposed to previous versions' use of a WORD (16-bit). Support has been added in FD (only) for a new entry in the ^aFLAGS-field of outbound NetMail messages. When found there, FPU (Force PickUp) tells FD to treat the message as if it has the Immediate attribute; all limitations and behavior of the active event are ignored and the destination is qualified for sending. In addition, such a message will be treated as unsent until the session has successfully turned around and FD receives a "No more files" signal from the remote; in effect creating a sticky POLL-lever. Please note that with an Event's Behavior option "Attempt to pickup waiting mail" set to "No", FD will ignore any FPU-message. Support for FPU-messages was implemented to increase the rate of successfully completed polls under those conditions when external factors make communications unstable and otherwise unreliable. ===================================================================== Thanks to Tomas Bremin and Advanced Engineering sarl for writing the major part of this file. Copyright 1993 Joaquim Homrighausen; All rights reserved. All information herein is provided "as is", and is subject to changes without any prior notice. All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Absolute Solutions // end of file "techref.fd"