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1990-08-16
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491KB
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10,694 lines
GEnie PC Aladdin(tm) User's Manual
Version 1.30
Copyright (c) 1990 by GE Information Services
All Rights Reserved
GEnie PC Aladdin(TM) is a trademark of GE Information Services
PC-DOS, IBM and IBM-PC are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation
GEnie(SM) is a service mark of GE Information Services
Smartmodem(TM) is a trademark of Hayes Communications Corp.
This manual was written by:
Juan E. Jimenez
Micro Consulting Associates
P.O. Box 9811
Santurce Station
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00908-0811
(809) 725-9470 Voice - 721-8470 FAX
GEmail : J.JIMENEZ
AppleLink : JIMENEZ.J
The following persons assisted in the writing and
technical audit of this manual, and their assistance is
greatly appreciated.
David B. Kozinn
Charles Strom
Paul Homchick
Dick Flanagan
Rae M. Barent
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: 2
Table of Contents
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. What is Aladdin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Purchasing and Registering Aladdin . . . . . . . . . 1
3. Minimum Hardware Requirements to Use Aladdin . . . . 1
4. Obtaining a GEnie Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
II. An Introduction to GEnie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1. What is GEnie? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. GEmail - Electronic Mail Services . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. The GEnie RoundTables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. The RoundTable Bulletin Board Areas . . . . . . . . . 7
5. The RoundTable Software Libraries . . . . . . . . . . 8
6. The RoundTable Real-Time Conference Area . . . . . . 8
7. Other Services On GEnie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
III. Setting Up Aladdin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1. Installation of the Aladdin Program Software . . . . 10
Hard Disk Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2. Starting Aladdin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3. Configuring the Aladdin Software . . . . . . . . . . 13
GEnie Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
[Esc] Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
[PgUp] and [PgDn] Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Configuration Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Phone number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
User ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
BBS Nickname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
GE Mail Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Prompt Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Break Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Prime-time rate/hr, Non-prime-time rate/hr . . 15
Modem Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
COM: port (1 or 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Reset command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Dial command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Command terminator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Connection message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
No connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Video Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Long screen EGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Supress "snow"? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
RoundTable Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Use usual marks? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Use Zmodem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Editor Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Default to insert? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: i
GE Mail Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Always pick up mail? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Automatic Xmodem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Input archive file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Output archive file . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Downloaded mail path . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Aladdin Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Script file name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Address list file name . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Billing filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Time-out (seconds) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4. Setting the Aladdin Display Colors . . . . . . . . . 19
[Esc] key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
[PgUp] and [PgDn] Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
[Up] and [Down] (on keypad) . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
[Left] and [Right] (on keypad) . . . . . . . . . . 19
[Ctrl-Left] and [Ctrl-Right] (on keypad) . . . . . 20
"I" Intensity Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5. Setting the RoundTable Configurations . . . . . . . . 20
[Esc] Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Editing a RoundTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Deleting a RoundTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Sorting the RoundTable List . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Moving Directly to the GEmail and Terminal Mode
Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The RoundTable Editing Screen . . . . . . . . . . . 22
[Esc] key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
[Ctrl]-"A" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
[Up] and [Down] (on keypad) . . . . . . . . . 22
RoundTable Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
GEnie page number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
RoundTable name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Auto pass 1 days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
RoundTable Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Aladdin work files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Input archive file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Output archive file . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Auto-save Messages? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Software Library Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Default path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Last file date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6. Script Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
IV. The Aladdin Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1. Help! - [F1] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2. The RoundTable Menu Keys - "A" through "U" . . . . . 28
3. The GEmail Menu Key - [F2] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4. Miscellaneous Operations - [F3] . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: ii
5. Terminal Mode - [F4] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6. Automated Operations - Pass 1/Pass 2 - Scripts . . . 29
7. Aladdin, RoundTable and Script Setup - [F5], [F6]
and [F7] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
List defined macros - [Alt-F5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Begin-Edit/End macro - [Alt-F6/Alt-F7] . . . . . . . . . 30
10. File Reader - [Alt-F8] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
11. Exiting Aladdin - [Alt-F9] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
12. "Dropping" to DOS Temporarily - [Alt-F10] . . . . . 30
V. The RoundTable Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1. Option "A" - Download all new messages . . . . . . . 33
2. Option "C" - Check for new messages . . . . . . . . . 34
3. Option "O" - Perform pending operations . . . . . . . 34
4. Option "G" - Log on to RoundTable BBS . . . . . . . . 35
5. Option "H" - Log on to RoundTable RTC . . . . . . . . 35
6. Options "1" and "2" - Perform Automatic Pass 1 or 2 . 35
7. Option "M" - Mark topics found by "C" . . . . . . . . 36
8. Option "J" - Reply to old topics . . . . . . . . . . 36
9. Option "T" - Start a new topic . . . . . . . . . . . 40
10. Option "U" - Update topic list . . . . . . . . . . . 42
11. Option "R" - Read and reply to messages . . . . . . 43
12. Option "E" - Edit or delete replies/new topics . . . 48
13. Option "B" - Viewing the Club Door Bulletin . . . . 49
14. Moving from RoundTable to RoundTable . . . . . . . . 49
15. Entering the Software Library Section of the
RoundTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
16. Quick Access Keys - [F2], [F3] and [F4] . . . . . . 50
17. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . 50
VI. The RoundTable Software Library Section . . . . . . . . . 51
1. Option "D" - Check Library for New Files . . . . . . 51
2. Option "O" - Perform Pending Operations . . . . . . . 52
3. Option "G" - Log on to the RoundTable Software
Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4. Option "H" - Log on to the RoundTable RTC . . . . . . 52
5. Options "1" and "2" - Perform Automatic Pass 1 or 2 . 52
6. Option "M" - Choose Files to Download or Browse . . . 52
7. Option "J" - Choose Files from the Main File List . . 55
8. Option "F" - Free-form Downloads . . . . . . . . . . 56
9. Option "U" - Add File to Upload . . . . . . . . . . . 56
10. Option "E" - Edit/Delete Uploads/Searches . . . . . 58
11. Option "B" - View Bulletin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
13. Entering the RoundTable Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
14. Quick Access Keys - [F2], [F3] and [F4] . . . . . . 59
15. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . 59
VII. GEmail Electronic Mail System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
1. Option "A" - Download All New Mail . . . . . . . . . 62
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: iii
2. Option "O" - Send Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3. Option "G" - Go Online at Page 200 . . . . . . . . . 63
4. Option "R" - Read and Reply to Mail . . . . . . . . . 63
5. Option "W" - Write Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6. Option "E" - Edit/Delete Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8. Quick Access Keys - [F3] and [F4] . . . . . . . . . . 70
9. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . 70
VIII. Aladdin Miscellaneous Options Menu . . . . . . . . . . 71
1. Option "I" - Accessing the GEnie Product Index . . . 71
2. Option "P" - Changing Your Password . . . . . . . . . 74
3. Option "B" - Reviewing Your GEnie Account's Billing
History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . 80
IX. Aladdin Terminal Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
1. Option "T" - Enter Terminal Mode . . . . . . . . . . 81
2. Option "G" - Log On to GEnie . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3. Option "L" - Log Off from GEnie . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4. Option "H" - Hang Up the Phone . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5. Option "N" - View Notifies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6. Option "F" - Flush Notifies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7. Option "B" - View GEnie banner . . . . . . . . . . . 88
8. Option "A" - Begin/End ASCII Capture . . . . . . . . 88
9. Option "S" - Send ASCII File . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
10. Options "D" and "U" - XMODEM File Download and
Upload (CRC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
11. Zmodem Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
12. Quick Access Keys - [F2] and [F3] . . . . . . . . . 94
11. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . 94
X. The Aladdin Script Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
1. Options "3" through "9" - Invoking an Aladdin
Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
2. Option [F7] - Invoke Aladdin's Script Menu . . . . . 95
3. Aladdin Script Language Syntax Guidelines . . . . . . 97
4. The SCRIPT Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5. The ENDSCRIPT Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
6. The GOTO Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
7. The CALL Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
8. The RETURN Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
9. The PERFORM Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
10. The IF, ELSE and ENDIF Commands . . . . . . . . . . 101
11. The SUCCESS Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
12. The ONLINE Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
13. The CURRENTLINEHAS Condition . . . . . . . . . 103
14. The STRING Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
15. The DATAWAITING Condition . . . . . . . . . . . 105
16. The KEYWAITING Condition . . . . . . . . . . . 105
17. The EXIST Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: iv
18. The DAYOFWEEK Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
19. The MAILFOUND Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
20. The SUCCESS Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
21. The ECHO Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
22. The CLEAR Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
23. The NOTE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
24. The BEEP Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
25. The ALARM Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
26. The HIDE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
27. The MONITOR Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
28. The PAUSE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
29. The WAITUNTIL Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
30. The ERASEFILE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
31. The CAPTURE and ENDCAPTURE Command . . . . . . . . . 111
32. The SNAPSHOT Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
33. The XMODEM and ZMODEM Commands . . . . . . . . . . . 113
34. The LOG ON/LOG OFF/LOG ONTO Commands . . . . . . . . 113
35. The COMMANDMODE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
36. The QUOTES Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
37. The HANGUP Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
38. The SEND Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
39. The SENDLINE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
40. The SENDCOMMAND Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
41. The SENDSPECIALCOMMAND Command . . . . . . . . . . . 116
42. The WAITFOR Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
43. The WAITFORPROMPT Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
44. The WAITFORDATA Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
45. The WAITFORKEYPRESS Command . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
46. The KEYWAITING Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
47. The GETKEY Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
48. The GETSTRING Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Appendix A - GEnie Access Number Listing . . . . . . . . . . 122
Appendix B - The Aladdin Keyboard Macro Facilities . . . . . 141
1. Loading and saving the macro definitions . . . . . . 141
2. Defining a keyboard macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
3. Overwriting a macro definition . . . . . . . . . . . 142
4. Editing a macro definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5. Deleting a macro definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6. Finding out which macro keystrokes are active . . . . 143
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: v
Table of Figures
Figure III-1 - Aladdin GEnie/Modem/Options Configuration
Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure III-3 - Aladdin RoundTable Configuration Menu . . . . 21
Figure III-4 - Aladdin RoundTable Editing Screen . . . . . . 24
Figure IV-1 - Aladdin Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Figure V-1 - The RoundTable Menu for the IBM PC RoundTable . 32
Figure V-2 - Mark/Reply to Old Topics Screen . . . . . . . . 37
Figure V-3 - Topic Selection by Date . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure V-4 - Start New Topic / Category Selection . . . . . . 41
Figure V-5 - New Topic Editing Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure V-6 - Pending message display screen . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure V-7 - Message Reply Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure V-8 - Private Message Reply Screen . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure V-9 - Message Reply/Edit Selection Screen . . . . . . 49
Figure VI-1 - The RoundTable Software Library Section Menu . 51
Figure VI-2 - Software Library Download/Browse Screen . . . . 54
Figure VI-3 - RoundTable Software Library File Upload
Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Figure VII-1 - Aladdin GEmail Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Figure VII-2 - Aladdin GEmail View/Reply/Store Screen . . . . 64
Figure VII-3 - Aladdin GEmail Reply Screen . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure VII-4 - Aladdin GEmail Message Compose Screen . . . . 68
Figure VII-5 - Aladdin GEmail Address List Window . . . . . . 69
Figure VIII-1 - Aladdin Miscellaneous Options Menu . . . . . 71
Figure VIII-2 - GEnie Product Index Screen . . . . . . . . . 72
Figure VIII-3 - GEnie Product Index Search Window . . . . . . 73
Figure VIII-4 - Aladdin Password Change Screen . . . . . . . 74
Figure VIII-5 - Account Billing History Selection Window . . 77
Figure VIII-6 - Billing History Sample Screen - All Months
Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure VIII-7 - Billing History Sample Screen - Monthly
Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Figure IX-1 - Aladdin's Terminal Mode Menu . . . . . . . . . 81
Figure IX-2 - Aladdin Terminal Mode Screen - Upper Section . 82
Figure IX-3 - Aladdin Terminal Mode Screen - Upper Section,
in Automated Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Figure IX-4 - Aladdin Terminal Mode Screen - Look Back Mode
Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Figure IX-5 - Aladdin Terminal Mode Screen - Bottom Section
- Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Figure IX-6 - Aladdin XMODEM Download Transfer Progress
Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Figure X-1 - Aladdin Script Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: vi
I. Introduction
1. What is Aladdin?
GEnie PC Aladdin is an automatic communications tool
designed to provide you with the most efficient use of the
features and services of the GEnie information service. GEnie is
an acronym for General Electric Network for Information Exchange,
a product of General Electric Information Services, the largest
information network in the world. In this manual, from this point
in, we will refer to GEnie PC Aladdin as "Aladdin".
Given a GEnie account and access to the GEnie network,
Aladdin can automate the vast majority of the normal functions of
accessing and drawing information from GEnie and the various
services within it. By handling most of the repetitive tasks
within GEnie, Aladdin can save you a considerable amount of time
and money in the form of reduced access and online charges.
The concept behind Aladdin is to take the tasks which are
associated with using the RoundTable and GEmail services on GEnie
and concentrate them in one software package which acts as a
"buffer" between the user and the GEnie system. You tell Aladdin
what actions you want to take and prepare messages "off-line" at
no cost to you in the form of access and connect charges. Aladdin
then executes all the tasks you ask it to do in a minimum of
time, greatly reducing the monthly charges on your GEnie account.
2. Purchasing and Registering Aladdin
As of version 1.20, this program is free! The latest version
of Aladdin can always be downloaded from the Aladdin Support
RoundTable on GEnie. The only cost to you, the user, is the
connect time to GEnie while downloading the file with the latest
and greatest version. At this time, the average cost of
downloading the Aladdin program file from GEnie is approximately
four dollars.
3. Minimum Hardware Requirements to Use Aladdin
Aladdin is designed to be used on IBM-PC or compatible
personal computers. The computer must have 640k of memory
available, out of which about 400k should be available when
Aladdin is invoked. Aladdin can make use of EMS Expanded Memory,
if available. For Aladdin to be able to use this type of memory,
approximately 150k of expanded memory must be available at the
time Aladdin is invoked. This applies to multi-tasking
environments such as Software Carousel and Desqview. Aladdin also
requires the PC-DOS or MS-DOS operating system, version 2.1 or
higher (version 3.0 or higher is highly recommended). A hard disk
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: 1
is strongly recommended for operation with Aladdin, due to the
disk-intensive nature of the program. It is possible to use
Aladdin with two floppy disk drives, but we do not support this
configuration due to the restrictive nature of it. Obviously, a
modem and a serial RS-232 communication port is required to
access GEnie.
Aladdin is designed to use a Hayes Smartmodem or any other
modem which is compatible with the Smartmodem command set. You
can use other modems with Aladdin, but you must tell Aladdin how
to reset the modem and originate a phone call with the type of
modem that you own.
Additionally, the modem must be capable of accurately
reflecting the state of a connection through the use of the DCD
(Data Carrier Detect) signal line and must respond to the DTR
(Data Terminal Ready) signal line from the computer. Refer to the
section entitled "Setting Up Aladdin" for more information on
modem setups. Most of the modems in the market today support the
features which Aladdin needs to be able to do its job in an
efficient and accurate manner. However, there are some modems
which we have found to be deficient in some areas. For more
information on this refer to the Aladdin Support RoundTable on
GEnie.
You should already have a GEnie account. If you do not,
refer to the section entitled "Obtaining a GEnie Account" for
more information on how to obtain an account.
Additionally, since Aladdin responds to commands and prompts
from the GEnie service, your phone line must be relatively noise-
free. If your phone line is "noisy" Aladdin will not be able to
recognize the commands and prompts it needs to see and will be
unable to function properly. If your line is noisy, please
contact your telephone company to correct the situation before
using Aladdin. Aladdin will tolerate occasional line noise and
has a function key which can be used while online in automated
mode to handle a "garbled prompt" situation. You may also want to
consider obtaining a modem which uses the "MNP" error-correcting
protocol to "filter out" line noise in your phone connection.
Aladdin will operate on any monochrome or color display
supported by the IBM Personal Computer. In general, if it works
with the operating system without any special modifications or
drivers, Aladdin will be able to use that display.
Aladdin can also take advantage of the additional number of
lines that can be displayed on the screen with some video cards
such as the EGA and VGA, if so desired. See the section entitled
"Setting Up Aladdin" for more information.
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4. Obtaining a GEnie Account
Before you begin to use Aladdin, you must obtain a GEnie
user account. To obtain information on getting a GEnie account,
call 1-800-638-9636 to speak with a GEnie representative. GEnie
is available in over 600 locations in the United States, Canada
and Puerto Rico, and in many foreign countries through
international network services. The account creation process can
also be performed using a traditional communications program. To
electronically apply for an account, follow these steps. Have
your credit card or checkbook handy, as you will need one of the
two to obtain an account. The steps are:
a) Set your communications program to 1200 baud, local echo
(also known as half duplex), 7 data bits, 1 stop bit and
even parity. If you are using Aladdin's Terminal Mode, it
will automatically set the data bits, stop bit and parity
for you. All you need to do is set the baud rate and
communications port (see the sections entitled "Configuring
the Aladdin Software" and "Aladdin Terminal Mode"). If you
are indeed using Aladdin's Terminal Mode, make sure you
"capture" the information that is displayed on your screen
while you are requesting an account (see the section on
"Aladdin Terminal Mode/Capturing Text to a File").
b) Instruct your communications or terminal program or modem
to dial 1-800-638-8369. If you are using Aladdin's terminal
mode with a Hayes or compatible modem, you can enter
terminal mode, type the modem command "ATDT1-800-638-8369"
and then press the [Enter] key.
c) When your modem achieves a connection, type the letter
"H" three times, pausing for just a moment between each "H"
(no more than one second and no less than one-tenth of a
second).
d) GEnie will respond with a "U#=" prompt. At this time type
"XJM11718,ALADDIN" and press the [Enter] key.
e) Follow the instructions on the screen to apply for an
account.
f) At the end of the account creation process you will be
issued a user identification number and a temporary
password. Please make a note of these and keep them in a
safe place, as you will need them for the Aladdin setup
process. Also, make a note of your local GEnie access
numbers which are displayed during the signup process, as
you will also need these during the Aladdin setup process.
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A GEnie representative will call you during the course of
the next business day to verify the information that you provided
during the signup process. Once the information has been
verified, your account will be activated and you may begin using
your GEnie account with Aladdin.
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II. An Introduction to GEnie
1. What is GEnie?
GEnie, as we mentioned before, stands for General Electric
Network for Information Exchange, and is a service of General
Electric Information Services (GEIS), the largest commercial
communications network in the world.
There are several different types of services on GEnie,
ranging from bulletin-board style message systems to complex
role-playing games to a full service shopping mall with over two
dozen merchants selling everything from coffee and chocolates to
around-the-world vacation trips. GEnie is also constantly adding
new services, and occasionally you will see a "banner" when you
log on to GEnie which tells you about any new services GEnie is
offering.
GEnie gives you a variety of choices in entertainment,
information and software exchange, communications, shopping - all
from your computer. You can talk to a friend across the country,
go on an electronic shopping trip, try your luck in games ranging
from multi-player Blackjack to Stellar Emperor (a multi-player
simulation system) and finish the day by attending one of the
many electronic conferences scheduled each day of the week, with
subjects ranging from programming to genealogy.
There are two services on GEnie for which Aladdin is
designed to provide automated access and processing: GEmail and
the RoundTables. All other services are accessible through
Aladdin's communication facilities, terminal emulation functions
and the Aladdin Script Language. Let's cover GEmail first; we'll
get into the RoundTables in a moment.
2. GEmail - Electronic Mail Services
GEmail is an electronic mail system which lets you send and
receive letters using the speed and convenience of your computer.
You can send letters, notes, information or any text you want to
anyone you choose within the GEnie system, without regard to
where they are in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and some
foreign countries, or what time of the day it happens to be when
you send the message.
When you requested your GEnie account, you were given a
GEmail address. This address can be up to 12 characters long, and
is used to identify yourself to anyone on GEnie, throughout the
entire system. In some cases you may choose to use an "alias" or
"nickname" (such as in the CB area, see your GEnie User Manual)
but your GEmail address will remain with you as long as you have
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a GEnie account. Every other user on GEnie also has their own
personal GEmail address. These addresses are the key to using the
electronic mail system. To send a message of any kind to someone
else, all you need is their GEmail address.
Sending mail messages and data through the GEmail portion of
GEnie is one of the services which Aladdin automates for you. You
compose your message off-line at your leisure with Aladdin, and
then ask Aladdin to send it for you by logging into GEnie,
sending the message and logging off, all as fast as Aladdin can
communicate with GEnie. Again, the idea is to save time on
connect and access charges, and Aladdin is designed specifically
to save you money and time. For more information on the mail
system and how to access it with Aladdin, see the section
entitled "Sending/Receiving Mail".
- IMPORTANT NOTE! -
You should never give your user ID (which looks like
"XYZ12345") or password to anyone (not even while
logged on to GEnie) or use it in any message on any
part of the service. It is not required for anything
other than logging on to the system. Your user ID is
personal and private, and should be safeguarded for
your account's protection. GEnie will never ask you for
your user ID while you are on-line. If you receive any
type of on-line message from anyone requesting your
user ID, ignore it and call GEnie Client Services at 1-
800-638-9636 to report this occurrence. GEnie Client
Services personnel may ask you for your user ID, but
only when you physically call a GEnie representative on
the toll-free customer service telephone number.
3. The GEnie RoundTables
One of the most popular features of GEnie are the
RoundTables. If you are using GEnie, you most likely have a
computer; and if you have a computer, then the RoundTables can be
a very valuable source of information for you. For whatever type
of computer you happen to be using (an IBM-PC or compatible, in
the case of Aladdin), the RoundTables offer games, software of
all types from small utilities to full-featured word processors
and database programs and technical advice, information and
discussions on every possible subject related to your computer.
The RoundTables are also an excellent way to interact and stay in
regular touch with people who share the same interests as you do,
as well as meet new people in your field and make valuable
contacts.
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4. The RoundTable Bulletin Board Areas
Each RoundTable has something called a Bulletin Board. In
effect, that is exactly what it is, a giant electronic bulletin
board where users exchange open messages and information with
each other. The Bulletin Board is divided into categories and
topics. Each category deals with a broad subject area within the
scope of the RoundTable. For example, a RoundTable oriented
towards a specific computer might have categories for hardware,
software, programming, utilities, news about that computer and
maybe a general soapbox area for the users to place messages
loosely related to issues about that computer. A product support
RoundTable, on the other hand, would have categories for each
product that the RoundTable is meant to support. Some RoundTables
have very few categories, some have up to three dozen or more,
depending on the level of complexity and number of subjects that
the RoundTable deals with. All categories are numbered (starting
with the number 1 and going up to 99) and have brief titles to
explain the subject of the category. Aladdin will display the
category name for each message it retrieves and displays for you.
Each category is further subdivided into topics, which
contain discussions of specific subjects within the scope of the
category. For example, in a word processing category you might
encounter topics discussing several types of word processors and
text editing tools. In a programming category you might find
topics discussing programming products and techniques.
Each topic can contain any number of messages, which
accumulate over time and are never deleted unless the System
Operator (SysOp) of that RoundTable decides to delete them
because they have served their purposes and will not be of use to
anyone in the future, or if the authors of one or more messages
delete their messages from the topic. In yet other cases the
SysOp captures the messages and archives them into a file to be
placed in the RoundTable's Software Library. All other messages
are stored indefinitely, which is a tremendous advantage for you!
For example, in the IBM-PC RoundTable you can find messages
on important subjects that go as far back as 1985. This means
that if you have a specific question or problem you want to ask
about, you can use Aladdin to search for an existing topic that
matches your interest and have it bring the messages into your
computer for browsing at your leisure. If the subject of your
inquiry has been discussed, it will in all probability still be
there, and you may resolve your problem much faster than you ever
expected with a minimum expense.
If in fact you cannot find a topic which covers your area of
interest, you can instruct Aladdin to start a new topic within a
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category to post your query. You then enter your message, have
Aladdin post it for you on the Bulletin Board area of the
RoundTable, and wait for a response, which will usually be
available within 24 hours or less.
5. The RoundTable Software Libraries
Every RoundTable has a section called the Software Library.
In this area you can upload software or files with information
that you want to share, or download software and information that
you are interested in or want to try out.
The software library is divided into individual libraries
where files of similar type and/or subject matter are stored.
Each library contains a directory with short and long
descriptions of each file. Aladdin also acts as a useful
interface here. Aladdin can, among other things, send and receive
files into the software libraries and compile a list of all new
files uploaded into each library automatically, allowing you to
select the files you want at your leisure for retrieval during a
subsequent GEnie session.
One particular feature of the software libraries stands out
from any other information service. Files on GEnie are retained
indefinitely. There is no "roll-over" or file limit that the
library can grow to.
6. The RoundTable Real-Time Conference Area
Each RoundTable has a small meeting area, or RTC for Real
Time Conference area, usually consisting of three or more
"rooms", in which the RoundTable operators schedule general get-
togethers or presentations by special invited guests. These
"rooms" are just that, electronic rooms in which users can talk
to each other in real-time. For example, the Borland Language
Products RoundTable schedules real-time conferences every Sunday
at 8:00 PM Eastern time. Users who are interested in discussing
subjects related to the Borland Language Products log on to the
RoundTable RTC area and chat with each other or the system
operators, asking questions, discussing subjects or just
socializing. The IBM-PC RoundTable also schedules a weekly RTC on
Sunday's at 9:30 PM. Aladdin specifically supports the RTC
functions of the RoundTables with a special terminal mode, called
RTC Mode (or "chat" mode, see the section entitled "Aladdin
Terminal Mode"). See the section entitled "RoundTable RTC's" for
more information.
7. Other Services On GEnie
Although Aladdin does not at this time support automated
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access to the other services on GEnie, you can access a large
number of other GEnie features using Aladdin's "terminal mode" or
the Aladdin Script Language. In Terminal mode you log on to GEnie
and issue manual commands to access and use the services.
For example, a game like Blackjack must be played on-line, and
therefore Aladdin cannot be used to generate plays off line for
automated access. Aladdin does, however, provide you with a
complete listing of all the services on GEnie and will, at the
very least, log you on automatically and issue the commands to
access that service. Once you are there, it is up to you to do
whatever is necessary to use that service on GEnie.
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Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
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III. Setting Up Aladdin
1. Installation of the Aladdin Program Software
Aladdin is extremely easy to install. All you need to do is
execute the following easy steps:
Hard Disk Installation
a) Turn on your computer and log on to the hard disk where
you will be installing Aladdin. If you will installing
Aladdin on your C: hard disk, type,
C: [Enter]
b) Log on to the root directory of the hard disk by typing
the command,
CD \ [Enter]
c) Create the directory where Aladdin will be stored by
typing the command,
MKDIR ALADDIN [Enter]
d) Log in to the Aladdin directory by typing,
CD ALADDIN [Enter]
e) If you downloaded the program from the Aladdin Support
RoundTable on GEnie, the program files will be contained in
an "LHARC" self-extracting archive with the name
"ALAD###.EXE", where the ### is a three-digit number
representing the version of Aladdin contained within the
archive, i.e. ALAD130.EXE for Aladdin Version 1.30. You will
need a copy of the ZOO program to unpack the ZOO archive and
extract the individual files. To extract the files, copy the
program to the ALADDIN directory with the COPY command and
run the program. If the file is called ALAD130.EXE, you
would type,
ALAD130 [Enter]
g) At this point the Aladdin program and data files will be
extracted from the archive, and you should see the
extraction process progress as each file is extracted. Once
the extraction process is complete, you have finished the
initial installation of the Aladdin program files. Make a
copy of the Aladdin compressed archive file and keep it in a
safe place, then delete the ALAD###.EXE from the directory
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by typing,
DEL ALAD###.EXE
substituting the ### for the three digits in the file that
you have.
2. Starting Aladdin
Starting the Aladdin program is very simple. From the DOS
command line,
a) Type "CD \ALADDIN" and press the [Enter] key.
b) Type "ALADDIN" and press the [Enter] key.
Alternatively, you can substitute the word "ALAD" for
"ALADDIN" in step two to skip the opening screen display. Aladdin
also has a number of command line arguments that you can use:
/MR Tells Aladdin to send the modem reset string once to the
modem instead of each time it logs on.
/7 Suppresses the special EGA/VGA mode option on the Video 7
VEGA VGA video card.
/V Forces Aladdin to use the BIOS video support rather than
write directly to video memory. If your machine is not 100%
IBM-PC video compatible, use this option.
/X Resets Aladdin's internal download/upload efficiency
counters.
/D###
Sets a delay in milliseconds, from 1 to 200, that Aladdin
will wait for after sending one of the control characters
used during Xmodem or Xmodem-1k downloads and uploads.
/K Tells Aladdin to wait before erasing the opening screen; it
will ask you to press a key before continuing so you can
read the opening screen.
/LS Tells Aladdin to use script number 3 to call GEnie instead
of using the internal commands that Aladdin normally issues.
This option lets you customize how Aladdin uses the modem to
call GEnie and is useful for those users who are using a
modem which is not Hayes compatible. Note that the script
should only issue the commands necessary to establish the
call and go no further. For more information on scripts, see
the section entitled "The Aladdin Script Language."
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/NC Tells Aladdin to disable the internal clock and billing
system. No clock will be shown on the upper-right hand
corner of the screen, and Aladdin will not update the
billing records. If you have a "slow" IBM-PC or compatible
and Aladdin seems to be having trouble keeping up with GEnie
at 2400 baud, use this command-line option to clear the
problem.
/1 Instructs Aladdin to immediately begin an automatic pass 1
and exit to DOS when finished.
/2 Instructs Aladdin to immediately begin an automatic pass 2
and exit to DOS when finished.
/NOEMS
Instructs Aladdin not to use EMS expanded memory for overlay
management.
/NODMA
Lets Aladdin know that you have a computer with no DMA
(Direct Memory Access) capability, such as the IBM PCjr.
Aladdin takes note of this and modifies how the Zmodem
download protocol works to compensate for the lack of DMA
capability on your computer.
/NOMACROS
Disables the keyboard macro facilities. This is particularly
useful on semi-compatible computers which don't like to have
the keyboard interrupt taken away from the operating system.
/DV Instructs Aladdin to cooperate with multitasking operating
system tools like DesqView and OmniView by directing all
video output to the video area supplied by the program.
/SAVEMAIL
This option instructs Aladdin to save all incoming GEmail
messages to the INPUT ARCHIVE specified in Aladdin's
Configuration Screen, GEmail section.
/NOSOUNDS
Supresses all sounds that Aladdin normally generates except
those generated by the "BEEP" and "ALARM" script language
commands.
The modem reset and Video 7 options are available when you
start Aladdin by typing "ALADDIN" or "ALAD" from the DOS command
prompt. The opening screen wait option only works when you type
"ALADDIN" from the DOS command prompt, as there is no opening
screen when you start Aladdin by typing "ALAD" from the DOS
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command prompt.
3. Configuring the Aladdin Software
The next step in the installation of the Aladdin program is
the configuration of the program itself. Figure III-1 depicts the
Aladdin GEnie/Modem/Options configuration screen. Figure III-2
depicts the Aladdin screen colors configuration screen. Refer to
them as you read the configuration instructions. To access the
primary configuration screens, press the [F5] Key from the
Aladdin main menu.
GEnie Options
GEnie/Modem/Options Configuration menu Config [1] of [1]
Video options:
GEnie options: Long screen EGA: N
Phone number: 555-1212 Suppress "snow"?: N
User ID: XJM12345 RoundTable options:
Password: KIRKSTUB Use usual marks? N
GE Mail address: J.DOE Use Zmodem? N
BBS Nickname: John Doe Editor options:
Prompt character: "?" (63) Default to insert? Y
Break character: ^C (3) GE Mail options:
Prime-time rate/hr: 18.00 Always pick up mail? Y
Non-prime-time: 6.00 Automatic Xmodem? Y
Modem options: Input archive file: INPUT.TXT
COM: port (1 or 2): 1 Output archive file: OUTPUT.TXT
Speed: 1200 Downloaded Mail Path:
Reset command: ATZ Aladdin options:
Dial command: ATDT Script file name: SCRIPT.TXT
Command terminator: ^M Address list file name: ADDRESS.TXT
Connection message: CONNECT Billing file name: BILLING.TXT
No connection: NO CARRIER Time-out (seconds): 60.0
Esc Exit F3 Create new config set F5 Previous set
PgUp/PgDn Other sections F4 Delete this set F6 Next set
Figure III-1 - Aladdin GEnie/Modem/Options Configuration Screen
- NOTE -
Some of the fields shown on this and other screens
will allow you to type more characters than there is
space shown on the field. An example of this is the
Phone number field, in which you can type up to 255
characters.
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[Esc] Key - Exits from the configuration screen.
[F3], [F4], [F5] and [F6] - With the introduction of Aladdin
version 1.11, you can now create multiple configuration setups.
If you have multiple GEnie accounts, you can save the
configuration information for each. To create a new configuration
setup for the current contents of the screen, press the [F3]
function key. To delete the currently displayed configuration
setup, press the [F4] function key. To display the previous
configuration setup, press the [F5] function key. To display the
next configuration setup, press the [F6] function key. When you
press the [Esc] key to exit to the Main Menu, the currently
displayed configuration will become the active one.
[PgUp] and [PgDn] Keys - Switches between the main configuration
and display color selection screen.
Configuration Number - The two numbered fields on the second line
from the top right-hand corner indicate which configuration (of a
maximum of seven) you are currently working with.
Phone number - This field holds the local GEnie access number
that you want Aladdin to call when it logs on to the GEnie
system. (Refer to Appendix A, GEnie Access Number Listing, to
locate the number nearest you.) You should also place any special
modem dialing characters in this field. For example, with Hayes
and compatible modems, if you must insert a pause anywhere within
the dialing process, you put a comma character "," in the dialing
string at the point where the pause is desired. If you have to do
this to dial, you should also put the comma into Aladdin's phone
number field.
User ID - This field holds your user ID string, assigned when you
request a GEnie account. The user ID is a string of 8 characters;
three letters and five numbers, beginning with an "X". For
example, "XYZ55555" is a valid example of a user ID, but
"ZXY89Z09" is not.
Password - This field holds your password, also assigned to you
when you first log on to GEnie and request an account. Your
password can be changed at any time using Aladdin. Refer to the
"Miscellaneous Operations/Changing Your Password" section of this
manual.
BBS Nickname - This field holds the "nickname" which Aladdin will
log into any RoundTable which you enter for the first time or for
which your user record has been purged because you have not
visited it in 30 days or more. The recommended entry for this
field is your first name.
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GE Mail Address - When you requested an account on GEnie, you
were assigned a GEmail electronics mail "address" string of 12
characters or less. Enter your assigned mail address string in
this field.
Prompt Character - This field holds the character which Aladdin
should recognize as the prompt from GEnie when it is waiting for
a command prompt. The default character is the question mark (?)
and should not be modified unless you already had a GEnie account
when you obtained Aladdin and had already changed your prompt
character to something else.
Break Character - At any time while you are logged on GEnie you
can interrupt most any operations (except uploads and downloads)
by sending what GEnie calls a "break character". Aladdin's
default is a [Ctrl-C] (ASCII 3). Do not change this setting
unless you are having problems with GEnie's break character
recognition. GEnie's default is a true break signal, but Aladdin
is not capable of sending a true break. If your break character
on GEnie is set to some other character other than a [Ctrl-C],
you should change it before using Aladdin by accessing the User
Settings page on GEnie.
- NOTE -
Option 5 on page 110, the main menu page for the
Aladdin Support RoundTable, will automatically set all
your terminal mode parameters to match Aladdin's
default settings. To set the parameters from any GEnie
system prompt, type "M110;5" and press [Enter].
Prime-time rate/hr, Non-prime-time rate/hr - Since Aladdin
calculates the charges to your account every time it logs on to
GEnie, it needs to know what GEnie is charging you for every hour
you are connected. At the time of this release of Aladdin, the
hourly rates are $18 per hour during prime-time (8:00 am to 6:00
pm Monday through Friday) at any connect speed and $6 per hour
during non-prime-time hours, weekends and holidays at 1200 baud.
These are the default values for Aladdin. Do not change this
information unless you receive notice from GEnie about a rate
change. If you are using a public data network like Tymnet or
Telenet to access GEnie, add the hourly charge of those network
services to the standard GEnie connect charges and enter the
rates in this field. You can also use these fields to approximate
long distance fees if you do not have a local GEnie access
number. Determine the average cost per minute for a phone call to
the GEnie access point and add this to the hourly cost. This will
give you a more accurate idea of how much it is costing you to
access GEnie.
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Modem Options
COM: port (1 or 2) - Aladdin is capable of using either COM1 or
COM2 communications ports on the IBM-PC and compatible. These are
the standard ports for the IBM-PC, and Aladdin does not, at this
time, support any others. In this field enter the port to which
your modem is connected. Aladdin will accept an entry of 3 or 4
as well in this field, but we cannot guarantee that this will
work on all IBM-PC and compatible personal computer models
because of hardware differences in serial communication port
implementations. For you tech buffs, for COM3 to work properly it
must be configured for a base port address of 3E8 hex and IRQ 4,
and there must not be any serial device active on COM1. For COM4
to work properly it must be configured for a base port address of
2E8 hex and IRQ 3, and there must not be any serial device active
on COM2.
Speed - Enter the baud rate at which you wish to connect to
GEnie; 300, 1200 or 2400. Aladdin can also communicate with your
modem at 4800 and 9600 baud, if your modem supports these
communication speeds.
Reset command - This field holds the string that Aladdin must
send to the modem to reset it. Hayes and compatible modems use
"ATZ", the default value. If your modem is not a Hayes or
compatible modem, refer to your manual for the reset command. If
you are using a Hayes Smartmodem 2400, you should change this
field to read "AT&D2&C1".
Dial command - This field contains the string that Aladdin must
send to the modem to dial a number. The default is "ATDT" which
is the Hayes command to dial a number using touch-tone dialing.
If your telephone line does not support touch-tone dialing,
change this field to "ATDP" to instruct the modem to dial using
pulse dialing. If you do not have a Hayes or compatible modem,
refer to your modem's user manual for the string to use in this
field.
Command terminator - This field holds the character which Aladdin
must send to the modem so that the modem will execute the
command. On Hayes and compatible modems (and most of the other
non-compatible modems) the character is the Carriage Return
(ASCII 13, or [Ctrl-M]). This is the default that Aladdin assigns
to this field.
Connection message - This field is the string which Aladdin will
use to recognize that the modem has indeed achieved a connection
with GEnie's modem at the local access number it has dialed. For
Hayes and compatible modems, the default value of this field is
"CONNECT 1200" string. If you are using a 2400 baud modem, change
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this field to "CONNECT 2400".If your modem is not a Hayes or
compatible modem, refer to your modem's user manual for the
connect indication string.
No connection - This field is the string which Aladdin will use
to recognize that the modem has failed to achieve a connection
with GEnie's modem at the local access number it has dialed. For
Hayes and compatible modems, the message returned by the modem is
the "NO CARRIER" string, the default value of this field. If your
modem is not a Hayes or compatible modem, refer to your modem's
user manual for the connect failure indication string.
Video Options
Long screen EGA - If your computer has an EGA or VGA display card
and monitor, you can choose to have Aladdin display a 43-line or
50-line screen, respectively, instead of the usual 25 lines in
text mode. Enter "Y" in this field if you have an EGA or VGA
display card and monitor and want Aladdin to make use of the
extended display modes. The default value for this field is "N".
Supress "snow"? - If you have CGA video adapter on your personal
computer and the display shows "snow" on the screen when Aladdin
is running, enter a "Y" into this field. This will cause Aladdin
to eliminate the snow from your screen. The clock and billing
counters will not be displayed if this field is set to "Y", but
they will still be running (as opposed to using the /NC command
line argument when you invoke Aladdin, which completely disables
Aladdin's clock and billing counter).
RoundTable Options
Use usual marks? - This option refers to the action that Aladdin
will take when you ask it to check for new messages on a
RoundTable. When you check for new messages in the RoundTable's
topics you have to decide which topics you want to read using the
[M]ark topics option. This displays a list of topics with new
messages, and each mark defaults to "KEEP" which means do nothing
with the topic. If you answer "Y" to Use Usual Marks then
Aladdin will default to "KEEP", "NEW", or "IGNore" depending on
which option you chose the last time you marked topics. This
saves you the trouble of having to remember what you want to do
with a topic since the last time Aladdin found new messages in
it.
Use Zmodem? - This fields tells Aladdin whether it should use the
ZMODEM file transfer protocol to download files instead of the
XMODEM protocol. The default is "Y". This field enables the use
of automatic and invoked ZMODEM downloads. There is no other way
to have Aladdin download files with ZMODEM. Setting this field to
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"N" will force Aladdin to use Xmodem for all automatic download
operations. It will also disable the feature of Aladdin which
automatically detects when a ZMODEM download is being initiated.
Editor Options
Default to insert? - This field controls whether Aladdin's editor
will always begin in insert or overstrike mode. The default entry
for this field is "Y". If you enter a "N" in this field Aladdin's
editor will begin operation in overstrike mode.
GE Mail Options
Always pick up mail? - This field controls whether or not Aladdin
will always pick up mail when it detects that you have mail
waiting in your mailbox while running an automatic operation. The
default entry for this field is "Y". If you enter a "N" into this
field Aladdin will only pick up mail from your mailbox when you
specifically ask it to from the GEmail menu.
Automatic Xmodem? - This options tells Aladdin whether or not to
automatically download files that are attached to messages. If
this option is set to "Y", every time Aladdin detects that a
GEmail message has an attached file, it will download it. If it
is set to "N", Aladdin will not download the file until you tell
it to do so.
Input archive file - This field holds the filename of the file to
which Aladdin saves copies of messages which you tell it to save.
Output archive file - This field holds the filename of the file
in which Aladdin saves copies of all outgoing mail and messages.
Downloaded mail path - This field holds the DOS path (directory)
to which you want Aladdin to store files which are downloaded as
part of a GEmail message (attached files). This field is also the
default download path for automatic ZMODEM protocol file
downloads.
Aladdin Options
Script file name - This field holds the name of the file in which
Aladdin script language commands are stored. See the section on
the Aladdin Script Language for more information on the script
language.
Address list file name - This field holds the filename in which
Aladdin will store your personal address list. See the section on
Sending/Receiving Mail for more information on the address list
feature of Aladdin.
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Billing filename - Aladdin keeps track of all your connect
charges in a file in ASCII text format. This field holds the
filename of the file Aladdin will use to store the billing
information.
Time-out (seconds) - This field is used to specify the number of
seconds Aladdin will wait for GEnie to do something if there
seems to be no response to a command. You should only change this
number if you notice that GEnie is reacting slowly on a
particular day, in which case you would increase the time-out
value.
4. Setting the Aladdin Display Colors
If you are using Aladdin on a computer equipped with a video
card and display monitor that is capable of displaying colors,
you can modify the colors Aladdin uses to display items on the
screen to suit your taste.
To set the display colors for Aladdin, use the following
keystrokes, making sure first that the [NumLock] key above the
keypad is disabled (NumLock light should be dark),
[Esc] key - The [Esc] key exits the configuration screen, saves
the current display colors configuration and returns you to the
Aladdin main menu.
[PgUp] and [PgDn] Keys - Switches between the main configuration
and display colors selection screen.
[Up] and [Down] (on keypad) - Use these to select the item for
which you want to change the display color. When you first enter
this screen the top line of the display (showing the version
number and copyright statement for Aladdin) will be blinking on
and off. As you press the [Up] or [Down] keys other items will be
selected and they in turn will begin blinking on and off. The
previously selected item will stop blinking, of course. If none
of the items on the screen are blinking then you will be
modifying the main background color, and you need to use the
[Ctrl-Left] and [Ctrl-Right] keys, explained in the next page.
[Left] and [Right] (on keypad) - Use these to select the
foreground color for the selected item. Pressing these keys will
cycle the colors through 8 text colors. When you are satisfied
with the color of the text, stop pressing the keys. To get the
full 16 colors you must use the "I" intensity option, explained
further down in this page. The colors are (in the order in which
Aladdin shows them) black, blue, green, blue-green, red, violet,
yellow and white.
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[Ctrl-Left] and [Ctrl-Right] (on keypad) - To use these keys,
depress and hold the [Ctrl] key and press the [Left] or [Right]
keys on the keypad. These keys set the background color for the
selected item. Pressing these keys repeatedly cycle the
background colors through all the available colors, in a manner
similar to pressing the [Left] and [Right] keys alone for the
foreground color. When you are satisfied with the background
color for the item, stop pressing the keys and release the [Ctrl]
key.
"I" Intensity Control - If you press the "I" key on the keyboard,
the intensity of the displayed text (foreground only) will be
switched to low or high. This allows you to select a bright white
instead of a gray color for the text editor display color, for
example.
5. Setting the RoundTable Configurations
Now that you have set up the primary and display color
configurations, we will cover the setup of the RoundTables in the
RoundTable Configuration screen. To access the RoundTable
Configuration screen, press the [F6] key from the Aladdin main
menu.
Figure III-3 depicts the Aladdin RoundTable Configuration
menu. Refer to it as you follow the instructions in this section.
[Esc] Key
Pressing the [Esc] key will exit the RoundTable
Configuration screen, save any new/modified RoundTable
configuration information and return you to the Aladdin main
menu.
Adding a RoundTable
To add a RoundTable to the list, press "A". This will bring
up the Aladdin RoundTable Editing screen, depicted in Figure III-
4. Aladdin will select the next available entry position for you.
See the section below on "The RoundTable Editing Screen" for
instructions on how to add a RoundTable to the list.
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RoundTable Configuration menu RoundTables
A IBM-PC RoundTable
Options: B
A Add a RoundTable C
E Edit a RoundTable D
D Delete a RoundTable E
F
S Sort RoundTable list G
H
Navigation: I
F2 Go to GE Mail menu J
F4 Go to Terminal menu K
Esc Return to Main menu L
M
N
O
P
.
.
.
U
Command [ ]
Figure III-3 - Aladdin RoundTable Configuration Menu
Editing a RoundTable
To edit a RoundTable on the list, press "E". This will cause
Aladdin to ask you which RoundTable settings you wish to edit.
Enter the letter of the RoundTable, as displayed in the
RoundTable listing to the right of the screen. If you press "E"
by accident, press the [Esc] key to abort the operation. If you
accidentally press "E" and also select a RoundTable by accident,
press and hold the [Ctrl] key and press "A" once, then release
the [Ctrl] key. This will abort the editing operation and return
you to the function selection prompt. Editing a RoundTable is
done on the same RoundTable Editing screen as when you add a
RoundTable to the list. The same instructions apply.
Deleting a RoundTable
To delete a RoundTable from the list, press "D". This will
cause Aladdin to delete the RoundTable from the list,
permanently. Enter the letter of the RoundTable, as displayed in
the RoundTable listing to the right of the screen. If you press
"D" by accident, press the [Esc] key. This will abort the
deletion operation and return you to the function selection
prompt.
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Sorting the RoundTable List
To sort the RoundTable list, press "S". This will sort the
list alphabetically by RoundTable name. Sorting the RoundTable
list is an optional operation. If you choose to sort the list,
make sure and sort it every time you add or delete a RoundTable
from the list.
Moving Directly to the GEmail and Terminal Mode Screens
Pressing the [F2] key takes you directly to the Aladdin
GEmail screen (see "Sending/Receiving Mail"). Pressing the [F4]
key will take you directly to the terminal mode (see "Aladdin
Terminal Mode").
The RoundTable Editing Screen
The RoundTable Editing screen is used to select and set the
options for specific GEnie RoundTables that you want Aladdin to
access automatically.
[Esc] key - Exits the RoundTable Editing screen, saves the
information for the selected RoundTable and returns to the
RoundTable Configuration screen.
[Ctrl]-"A" - If you press and hold the [Ctrl] key and press the
letter "A", Aladdin will discard any new/changed information on
the RoundTable Editing screen and return you to the RoundTable
Configuration screen without saving anything.
[Up] and [Down] (on keypad) - The [Up] and [Down] keys will move
you from field to field. You can also use the [Enter] key to move
down a field.
RoundTable Information
GEnie page number - Enter the number of the GEnie page at which
the RoundTable is located. Services on GEnie are assigned page
numbers. For example, the IBM-PC RoundTable main menu is located
on page 615, the Borland Language Products RoundTable is located
on page 765 and the Microsoft Product Support RoundTable is
located on page 505. If you are not sure on which page the
RoundTable you want to add is located, return to the Aladdin main
menu by pressing [Esc] twice, select the Miscellaneous Operations
by pressing [F3] and select the GEnie product index function by
pressing "I". This function displays all the services on GEnie
and their respective GEnie page numbers. For more information on
this function, see the section on "Miscellaneous Operations". You
can also view the file "GENIE.LST" which is included in the
Aladdin distribution files.
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Once you enter the page number, Aladdin will search the index and
display the name of the service on that page, if it is found in
the index. If it is not found, you will have to enter the
RoundTable name in the following field. This should not happen
under normal conditions. If you cannot find a RoundTable which
you know exists by its page number, you may have to select the
option to update the GEnie product index from the "Miscellaneous
Operations/GEnie Product Index" section of Aladdin.
RoundTable name - This field is normally filled in by Aladdin.
Refer to the previous section for more information.
Auto pass 1 options - This field holds the pass 1 options for
Aladdin. In this field you will select what actions Aladdin will
take every time it automatically accesses this RoundTable on
GEnie when you select a "Pass 1" operation from the GEnie main
menu. We will explain the pass operations later in the manual;
for now suffice it to say that in a pass 1 operation Aladdin
checks for and/or retrieves new messages and/or files. The
possible options for this field are, for the message area, "A",
"C" or "N". "A" will tell Aladdin that it should ask for and
store all new messages. "C" tells Aladdin that it should check
for new messages only and let you select which topics you want
to read later on. It will take another log on session for
Aladdin to get those new messages into your computer to allow
you to view and reply to them. "N" is similar to "A" but it will
instruct Aladdin to read only those topics which you have
already read or replied to once before. These topics are
referred to by GEnie as "marked" topics. If you want Aladdin to
check for new files in the software library area of the
RoundTable, enter a "D" into the field. Aladdin will then check
the software library for new files every time it logs on to
GEnie and accesses that RoundTable during a pass 1 operation.
For example, if you want Aladdin to check for new messages only,
enter a "C" in the pass 1 options field and press [Enter]. If
you want it to check for and retrieve new messages and also
check for any new files in the software library of that
RoundTable, enter "AD" into the field and press [Enter]. If you
only want Aladdin to check for new files in the software library
area and ignore the message area, enter a "D" into the field and
press [Enter].
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RoundTable editing window
RoundTable Information:
GEnie page number: 615
RoundTable name: IBM PC RoundTable
Auto pass 1 options: AD
Auto pass 1 days: SUMTUWTHFSA
RoundTable files:
Aladdin work files: IBMPCROU
Input archive file: INPUT.TXT
Output archive file: OUTPUT.TXT
Auto-save messages? N
Software library settings:
Default path:
Last file date: 800101
Esc Save and quit Ctrl-A Quit w/o saving / Move
Figure III-4 - Aladdin RoundTable Editing Screen
Auto pass 1 days - This field controls which days of the week
Aladdin will access the RoundTable during an automatic pass 1
operation. The default entry in this field is "SUMTUWTHFSA",
which tells Aladdin to include this RoundTable on a pass 1
operation during all seven days of the week. If you wish to limit
pass 1 operations on this RoundTable to certain days of the week,
enter the days that you wish the RoundTable to be included as
follows -- "SU", Sundays; "M", Mondays; "TU", Tuesdays; "W",
Wednesdays; "TH", Thursdays; "F", Fridays; and "SA", Saturdays.
For example, if you wish to have Aladdin include this RoundTable
during a pass 1 operation only on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays
of every week, you would enter "SUWF" into this field. You may
enter the character equivalent(s) for each corresponding weekday
in any order you wish -- Aladdin will look for a match anywhere
within the string.
RoundTable Files
Aladdin work files - Aladdin will normally fill in this field
automatically by taking the first eight (8) letters of the
RoundTable name field, excluding spaces. This field represents
the filename portion of the files which Aladdin creates to store
incoming and outgoing messages, software library indexes, etc.
for that RoundTable during normal operations. Aladdin uses its
own extensions for each file, which you cannot modify. For
example, retrieved messages are stored in a file with the
extension ".MSG". If for some reason you are not satisfied with
this filename, you may change it, but we recommend that you leave
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it as is.
Input archive file - This is the filename that Aladdin uses to
store incoming messages and replies for the selected RoundTable
when you tell Aladdin to save these. The default filename, filled
in by Aladdin, is always "INPUT.TXT". If you want your saved
incoming messages and replies for this RoundTable to be stored in
a separate file, enter the desired filename in this field.
Output archive file - This is the filename that Aladdin uses to
store outgoing messages and replies for the selected RoundTable.
The default filename, filled in by Aladdin, is always
"OUTPUT.TXT". If you want your outgoing messages and replies for
this RoundTable to be stored in a separate file, enter the
desired filename in this field.
Auto-save Messages? - This option requires a "Y" or "N" answer.
Putting a "Y" instructs Aladdin to save all incoming messages
from that specific RoundTable into the input archive file.
Answering "N" (the default condition) will instruct Aladdin to
discard all new messages after they are read and Aladdin
retrieves new messages for processing. Note that setting this
option to "Y" will cause Aladdin to use a lot of disk space to
save all incoming messages, particularly on very active
RoundTables like the IBM-PC RoundTable.
Software Library Settings
Default path - Under normal conditions, Aladdin will ask you
where exactly do you want to put a file that is about to be
downloaded. If you want Aladdin to save downloaded files in a
separate directory, enter the directory's path here. For example,
if you want Aladdin to save downloaded files for this RoundTable
into the WORK directory on drive C:, enter "C:\WORK\" into this
field and press [Enter]. You can always override the default and
place the incoming files anywhere you want on your disk.
Last file date - When Aladdin checks for new files in the
software library of the selected RoundTable, it issues a command
that displays the file directory of the library. As the files are
displayed, it checks the upload date of file against the date in
this field. As soon as files that were uploaded before this date
begin showing up on the screen, Aladdin will send a "break"
signal (as defined in the GEnie/Modem/Options Configuration
Screen) to stop the directory listing. If there are no files with
an upload date newer than the date in this field, Aladdin will
ignore the listing and continue. If there are files that have
been uploaded into the library after the date in this field and
with a file number higher than the one stored in Aladdin's
software library directory file for this RoundTable, Aladdin will
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store them into a special file from which you can later select
which ones you want to download, if any. The date is entered in
the format "YYMMDD". If you want to tell Aladdin to ignore files
in the library that were uploaded before January 1, 1988, enter
"880101" into the field and press [Enter].
- Note -
The default date in the "Last file date"
field is January 1, 1980. Make sure you set
this field to a later date, unless you want
to see all the files in the library. If you
already had a GEnie account before obtaining
Aladdin and were up to date in the software
library, enter today's date into this field.
In this way Aladdin will not waste your time
capturing the information for files that you
already know about.
6. Script Configuration
Script configuration is covered in the "Aladdin Script
Language" section.
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IV. The Aladdin Main Menu
Now that you have set up Aladdin with the information we
have given you so far, you are ready to try it out for the first
time. First, we'll discuss the Aladdin main menu, depicted below
in Figure IV-1, and then we will give you a brief overview of how
Aladdin works before getting into the details of each command.
Main menu RoundTables
A IBM PC RoundTable
Main sections: B
A-K RoundTable menu C
F2 GE Mail menu D
F3 Miscellaneous operations E
F4 Terminal menu F
Automated tasks: G
1-2 Perform automatic pass 1 or 2 H
3-9 Perform user script I
Configuration: J
F5 Aladdin setup K
F6 RoundTable setup
F7 Script menu User Scripts
Hot-keys: 3
F1 Help! 4
Alt-F5 List defined macros 5
Alt-F6/F7 Begin-Edit/End macro 6
Alt-F8 File reader 7
Alt-F9 Exit Aladdin (^Q) 8
Alt-F10 Visit DOS 9
Command [ ]
Off RDY 7bit ECHO Blanks OK Capture OFF
Figure IV-1 - Aladdin Main Menu
Aladdin is an automatic access tool for GEnie users. Above
everything else, Aladdin is designed to help you get the most use
from GEnie for your hard-earned money. It will retrieve and send
messages for you from GEmail and the RoundTables, and will also
download/upload files into the RoundTable software libraries.
Additionally, it provides you with tools like the Terminal Mode
and the Script languages, each with its own features to make life
as a GEnie user much easier for you. The Aladdin Main Menu is the
door to all of the features of Aladdin. In this section we will
discuss each main menu option in general terms.
1. Help! - [F1]
Aladdin has a built-in context-sensitive help facility. The
hot key for help in any area of Aladdin is the [F1] function key.
Pressing it at any place in the software will give you either
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specific help for that item or a help index for that screen, from
which you can select help information to be displayed by using
the [Up] and [Down] keys and the [Enter] key.
2. The RoundTable Menu Keys - "A" through "U"
The letters "A" through "U" will take you directly to the
Aladdin menus for each of the RoundTables which you have told
Aladdin to access for you. You can configure GEnie to access a
maximum of twenty-one (21) RoundTables. From the RoundTable menus
you can read and reply to messages, upload and download files,
start new topics, reply to old topics and even access the Real
Time Conferencing feature of each of the RoundTables on GEnie. If
there are any pending actions to be taken by you, Aladdin will
mark the RoundTable selection letter with a right chevron " ". If
there are pending actions for Aladdin to perform, the letter will
be marked with a left chevron " ". If there are both incoming and
outgoing pending actions, the letter for the RoundTable will be
marked with a left and right arrow marker " ".
- NOTE -
Even though you may have configured Aladdin
to access more than 11 RoundTables, you will
only see a maximum of 11 at a time in the
RoundTables window. To display the other
RoundTables, press the [Up] or [Down] arrow
keys on the computer's keypad.
3. The GEmail Menu Key - [F2]
Pressing the [F2] function key will take you directly into
the Aladdin GEmail Menu, from which you can receive and send
messages and replies. You can also attach files to messages to
accomplish tasks such as sending a spreadsheet to a friend by
using GEnie instead of the U.S. Mail or expensive services like
Federal Express or United Parcel Service. There is another
advantage: the file arrives instantaneously at the recipient's
GEnie mailbox. No waiting for the delivery truck to arrive or
making arrangements to receive packages or envelopes. It's there,
ready to be picked up right away in the comfort of your home or
office. If there are GEmail messages pending to be read by you,
Aladdin will mark the [F2] option with a right chevron marker
" ". If there are messages pending to be sent out, Aladdin will
mark the menu option with a left chevron marker " ". If there are
both incoming and outgoing pending messages, you will see a left
and right arrow marker " ".
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4. Miscellaneous Operations - [F3]
Pressing the [F3] function key takes you to the Aladdin
Miscellaneous Operations screen. From here you can view and
update the complete list of services available on GEnie, change
your password, or review your GEnie account's billing history, in
summary or in detail, day by day for every single time you used
the service through Aladdin.
5. Terminal Mode - [F4]
Aladdin's Terminal Mode is discussed in the section of the
same name further on in this manual. The [F4] option on the menu
will be marked with a left chevron marker " " if there are system
notifications pending to be read by you. For more information,
refer to the Terminal Mode section of this manual.
6. Automated Operations - Pass 1/Pass 2 - Scripts
Aladdin has two types of passes in which it processes
information to or from GEnie. Pass 1 is the operation in which
Aladdin logs on to GEnie, checks your mail and all configured
RoundTables for messages and/or new files and sends out any
pending mail or RoundTable messages/replies and/or files. Pass 2
also logs on to GEnie, but only sends out pending messages and/or
replies and files, and retrieves marked messages from topics.
Your GEmail is also checked on pass 2 if Aladdin detects that you
have mail waiting for you.
Aladdin has a very powerful script language, designed so you
can tailor a specific action that you want Aladdin to perform on
GEnie. For example, you might want to occasionally access the
RSCARDS Multi-Player Blackjack area and download the manual and
host software if there has been a version number upgrade. Since
Aladdin does not support this type of operation from any of the
built-in facilities, you can use the script language to "teach"
Aladdin how to do this. You can have up to seven (7) scripts
accessible from the Aladdin main menu.
7. Aladdin, RoundTable and Script Setup - [F5], [F6] and [F7]
We have already covered the Aladdin and RoundTable setup
commands in section III, "Setting Up Aladdin". If you have not
yet read that section and/or setup Aladdin, please go back to
that section now and follow the instructions to configure the
Aladdin software. The Script Setup option is covered in the
"Aladdin Script Language" section.
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8. List defined macros - [Alt-F5]
With the introduction of version 1.11, Aladdin now has a
built-in keyboard macro facility which allows you to redefine one
of 26 keystrokes (Alt-A through Alt-Z) into a string of up to
1,024 characters in length. This hotkey is available anywhere in
Aladdin and will display all the available macro keys. Those
keystrokes that have macros defined will be highlighted.
9. Begin-Edit/End macro - [Alt-F6/Alt-F7]
Aladdin's macro definition and editing facilities are
controlled with these hotkeys. Alt-F6 is used to define a macro.
If the keystroke to which you want to assign the macro already
has a macro in it, Aladdin will give you the option to overwrite
or edit the macro. The Alt-F7 keystroke terminates the macro
recording process. Refer to Appendix B, Aladdin Macro Facilities,
for more information on Aladdin's keyboard macro functions.
10. File Reader - [Alt-F8]
Aladdin has a hot key that can be used to read text files
stored on disk. To access this feature, press and hold the [Alt]
key and press the [F8] function key once, then release the [Alt]
key. Aladdin will ask you for the path and filename of the file
you want to view/browse. Enter the path and filename and press
[Enter]. Aladdin will load the file and show it to you. The file
viewer can display a maximum of 64,000 lines of text.
11. Exiting Aladdin - [Alt-F9]
To exit Aladdin from any point in the program you press and
hold the [Alt] key and press the [F9] function key once, then
release the [Alt] key. This will terminate Aladdin and return you
to the operating system. You may also press the [Ctrl-Q] to exit,
but only from the Aladdin Main Menu. Note that Aladdin does not
tell the modem to hang up the phone and terminate the call
automatically when you exit to DOS by pressing [Alt-F9]. If you
are not sure whether you are still online or not and want to exit
Aladdin, press [F4] to transfer to the Terminal Mode menu, and
press the "H" key once. Aladdin will then tell the modem to hang
up the phone and terminate the call.
12. "Dropping" to DOS Temporarily - [Alt-F10]
During the time that you are using Aladdin, you may run into
situations in which you do not want to exit Aladdin to do
something. Instead, you may want to drop to the DOS operating
system, do something quickly and get right back into Aladdin. The
developers of Aladdin realized this need, and the result is
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another hot key combination that will allow you to do just that.
To exit to DOS temporarily, press and hold the [Alt] key,
press the [F10] function key once, and then release the [Alt]
key. Aladdin will suspend operations and put you at the DOS
prompt. You may now execute any DOS commands. Keep in mind,
though, that the amount of free memory to execute these commands
will probably be very low (around 200k or less) and you may only
be able to use some small programs and the DOS built-in commands
like COPY, DEL, CHDIR, etc.
Once you are finished and are ready to go back to Aladdin,
type the word "EXIT" from the DOS command prompt and you will be
taken right back into Aladdin, exactly at the place where you
left off when you pressed [Alt-F10]. This hot key works from any
point in Aladdin except when you are downloading/uploading files
and doing automatic passes.
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V. The RoundTable Menu
The Aladdin main menu (refer to figure IV-1) displays up to
11 of 21 RoundTables in the upper right-hand window of the menu
(only one in the demonstration version). Each entry, labeled "A"
through "U", shows one RoundTable that has been properly setup
using the RoundTable Configuration screen, explained earlier in
this manual. Once the RoundTable is set up, you can access its
RoundTable Menu by pressing the key for its label. The entry and
letter for the RoundTable does not have to be displayed for you
to be able to reach that RoundTable.
At this time, press the letter "A" on your keyboard. Aladdin
will display the RoundTable Menu for the IBM PC RoundTable, which
is depicted in Figure V-1 below.
RoundTable menu - IBM PC RoundTable (Bulletin Board section)
On-line operations: Message management:
A Download all new messages R Read and reply to messages
C Check for new messages E Edit or delete replies/new topics
O Perform pending operations:
Send messages/start topics Miscellaneous:
Download marked topics B View bulletin
Download/browse marked files
G Log on to RoundTable BBS Navigation:
H Log on to RoundTable RTC Previous RoundTable
1 Perform automatic pass 1 Next RoundTable
2 Perform automatic pass 2 Software Library section
F2 Go to GE Mail menu
Topic management: F3 Go to Miscellaneous Options
M Mark topics found by C F4 Go to Terminal menu
J Mark/reply to old topics Esc Return to Main menu
T Start new topic
U Update topic list
Command [ ]
Off 7bit ECHO Blanks OK Capture OFF
Figure V-1 - The RoundTable Menu for the IBM PC RoundTable
As you can see, the title of the menu specifies that the
menu displayed is the one for the Bulletin Board (message)
section of the RoundTable. There is a second half of the menu,
the Software Library side, which we will explain shortly. Let's
cover each command in detail. We will explain to you how each
works; refer to Figure V-1 above as we go along.
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1. Option "A" - Download all new messages
Pressing the letter "A" on your keyboard will cause Aladdin
to take the following actions:
a) Aladdin will clear the screen and dial the local number
that you entered into the GEnie/Modem/Aladdin Options
configuration screen, if you are not already connected to
GEnie.
b) Once the modem achieves a connection with GEnie's modem
at the local access point and Aladdin determines that the
initial connection is "clean", Aladdin will send three "H"'s
to inform GEnie that someone is at the modem attempting to
log in. The three "H"'s is a way of telling GEnie what baud
rate you are connected at.
c) GEnie will display the login prompt, which is the string
"U#=". Aladdin recognizes this and sends GEnie your user ID,
password, the number of the page in which the IBM PC
RoundTable is and the option on that page, "1", which will
tell GEnie who you are and initially what you want to do.
Your user ID and password are hidden from view. This is
particularly useful if someone happens to be watching over
your shoulder.
- IMPORTANT NOTE! -
You should never give your user ID or
password to anyone (not even while logged on
to GEnie) or use it in any message on any
part of the service.
d) If the user ID and password is valid, GEnie will display
a welcome message, the news of the day for GEnie users, a
notification of whether there is any mail waiting for you in
your mailbox, and then it will take you to the IBM PC
RoundTable. A short notice welcoming you to the RoundTable
would be displayed and the club door welcome message for the
RoundTable will follow. The Bulletin Board area welcome
message is displayed, and the Bulletin Board prompt "1 ?"
appears.
e) Aladdin issues a BRO NOR command, which tells GEnie that
you want to browse all new messages. The new messages (along
with their topic titles and summaries) are displayed on the
screen, which GEnie captures into the active message file.
f) When GEnie finishes displaying all the new messages (if
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any), it once again displays the prompt.
g) At this time Aladdin will check to see if the initial
GEnie screen had a notification that there were messages
waiting for you in your mailbox, and if so it will issue a
"READ" command, which tells GEnie to scroll the contents of
your mailbox on the screen. Aladdin will capture the text of
the messages to your Aladdin mailbox file in your personal
computer. If there were no messages waiting in your mailbox
when Aladdin logged on to GEnie, Aladdin skips this step.
h) Since there are no more actions to take, Aladdin is
finished. It issues a "BYE" command to GEnie, and waits
until GEnie says goodbye and disconnects your modem. Aladdin
then returns you to the RoundTable Menu.
i) If there were any new messages in the RoundTable Bulletin
Board area, Aladdin will put a marker, " ", next to the "R"
option in the menu. To read and optionally reply to the new
messages, refer to the "Option 'R' - Read and reply to
messages" topic further on in this section of the manual. If
there was any mail waiting for you when Aladdin logged on,
it can be read and optionally replied to using Aladdin's
GEmail section. Refer to the section "Sending/Receiving
Mail".
2. Option "C" - Check for new messages
This option is identical to option "A", except in that it
does not issue a "BRO NOR" command to have GEnie display all new
messages in the Bulletin Board section of the RoundTable.
Instead, it issues a "NEW" command to have GEnie display all the
topics (by category and topic number) which contain new messages.
If there are topics that contain new messages, Aladdin will store
this information in a file. You can then use the "M" option,
described further on in this section, to select which new
messages you want to read from the available topics. In all other
regards, this command performs in the same manner as the "A"
command.
3. Option "O" - Perform pending operations
The "O" command is used to tell Aladdin to immediately
perform any pending operations for the current RoundTable
displayed at the top of the screen in the menu title line. These
include:
a) Send any new/reply messages pending, including those that
require a new topic which you have instructed Aladdin to
start using the "T" option, (discussed further on in this
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section).
b) Download any new messages from topics marked using the
"M" option (discussed further on in this section).
c) Download, upload or browse any files selected with the
"M" or "U" options in the software library section of the
RoundTable menu (discussed further on in the RoundTable Menu
section).
If there any of the above pending operations, when you press
"O" Aladdin will log on to GEnie, access the RoundTable, and
process the operations in either the Bulletin Board or Software
Library areas of the RoundTable.
Aladdin will place a marker, " ", next to the "O" in the
RoundTable menu to indicate that there are pending operations,
and a diamond-shaped marker, " ", next to the first letter of the
type of operation that is pending.
4. Option "G" - Log on to RoundTable BBS
The "G" command is used to tell Aladdin to immediately dial
the local number, log on, and take you to the Bulletin Board area
of the RoundTable. If Aladdin detects that there is mail waiting
for you, it will issue a "READ" command to collect your mail
first, then it will release control to you after having placed
you on the Bulletin Board prompt. At this point you can issue
manual Bulletin Board command by using Terminal Mode.
5. Option "H" - Log on to RoundTable RTC
The "H" command tells Aladdin to immediately dial the local
access number, log on, and take you to the RoundTable Real Time
Conference area. If Aladdin detects that there is mail waiting
for you, it will tell GEnie to scroll it and Aladdin will collect
it first, then Aladdin will release control to you in Terminal
Mode after taking you to the RTC area. This is a useful command
for when you don't want to do anything except attend an RTC
immediately.
6. Options "1" and "2" - Perform Automatic Pass 1 or 2
Automatic passes 1 and 2 refer to the heart of the Aladdin
system, the portion of Aladdin which automates your access to
GEnie.
Pressing "1" will cause Aladdin to execute automatic pass 1,
which checks your mailbox and performs all normal actions in each
selected RoundTable, including checking for and/or downloading
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new messages and file descriptions. During pass 1 Aladdin will
also take care of any pending actions in any of the Aladdin
areas, including GEnie mail and the RoundTables. This includes
sending messages/replies and uploading/downloading files.
Automatic pass 2, invoked by pressing "2", will only take
care of pending actions, including sending messages/replies and
downloading/uploading files. Pass 2 will also retrieve any mail
in your mailbox if there is any when it logs on to GEnie, and
will also retrieve messages in RoundTables which are posted
between the time you last read the topic and the time you posted
a new message/reply in that topic. In this case, GEnie will
notify that there were one or more unread messages before your
message/reply was posted. Aladdin detects this and retrieves
these unread messages, but only within these conditions. Aladdin
will not read or check for any other new messages in other topics
while executing automatic pass 2. You may also retrieve messages
for individual RoundTables using the "M" and "J" options on the
RoundTable Menu.
7. Option "M" - Mark topics found by "C"
The "M" option is used to tell Aladdin what to do about the
topics in which it found that there were new messages available
after executing option "C", checking for new messages.
If Aladdin finds topics in the RoundTable with unread new
messages, it will store the information about these topics in a
special file. When you press "M", Aladdin will display a screen
similar to V-2. Each topic in which GEnie told Aladdin there were
new messages is displayed on the screen. You now have to tell
Aladdin which topics out of the ones displayed you want to read.
This is done by moving the cursor up and down and marking the
topics you want to read. This option works just like the next
option covered in this section, Option "J", except that it only
works with those topics found by the "C" command.
8. Option "J" - Reply to old topics
The "J" option is used to tell Aladdin that you want to
reply to an already existing topic for which Aladdin has
performed some action in the past. All topics found during
reading, replying to or checking messages are stored in a
database file which contains a list of these topics for the
selected RoundTable.
Pressing "J" tells Aladdin to display the list of existing
topics in a format similar to Figure V-2. The topics are
displayed by category, topic, title, number, current status and a
"mark" status which tells you what actions you have asked Aladdin
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to take since the last time you used the "J" option, as long as
you have answered "Y" in the "Use usual marks?" in the RoundTable
Setup menu.
The [Esc] key will tell Aladdin to exit this screen and save
your selection parameters for future action. The [Up] and [Down]
arrow keys are used to move up and down the topic list during the
selection process.
Topic name Top Closed Msgs Mark
Category 1: Welcome & Announcements
Welcome & Announcements 1 Closed KEEP
Helpful Hints for New Members 2 KEEP
FREE File Uploads on GEnie 3 Closed KEEP
Topics Moved to Other Categories 4 Closed KEEP
GEnie Auto-logon Scripts & Techniques 5 KEEP
Xmodem on GEnie 6 KEEP
GEnie Break Character Problems? 7 KEEP
Comm Program settings for GEnie 8 KEEP
feedback to sysop 9 KEEP
telephone software 10 KEEP
New GEnie protocols Xmodem-1K Ymodem 11 KEEP
Mouse for DBaseiii+ 12 KEEP
Western Digital cards 13 KEEP
help with downloading 14 KEEP
Esc Exit K Keep msgs D Read DAT=<>
/ Move one line I IGNore msgs U Read AUT=
PgUp/PgDn Move one screen P Ignore PERmanent # Read #-#
Shift-PgUp/Dn Move one category N Read NEW msgs R Reply to topic
Ctrl-PgUp/Dn Move to top/bottom A Read ALL msgs S Search for topic
L Read LAST msg C Cancel category
Figure V-2 - Mark/Reply to Old Topics Screen
The [PgUp] and [PgDn] keys perform the same action as the
arrow keys but move down one full page at a time. Holding down
any of the [Shift] keys will pressing these will move the cursor
to the first message in the next or previous message category,
respectively. Holding down the [Ctrl] key while pressing these
will move you to the last and first topics in the entire list,
respectively.
The cursor moves up and down the topic list but in fact
remain within the "mark" column. Within each topic you can
instruct Aladdin one of many actions displayed on the screen.
They are:
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"K" - Cancel all actions on that topic
and leave it alone. Aladdin will
not do anything with this topic.
"KEEP" is the default condition of
a topic.
"I" - Tell GEnie that you want to ignore
all the current messages in this
topic, including those messages
which you have not read since the
last time Aladdin logged on to
GEnie.
"P" - Tell GEnie that you never want to
bothered with new messages in this
topic again. Basically, this means
that as far as you are concerned
this topic will not exist. This
action is reversible, but you must
log on to GEnie manually and use
the "Unignore" command. See your
GEnie user manual for more
information on this subject.
"N" - Read all new messages on this
topic.
"A" - Read all messages on this topic,
from number 1 to the latest message
posted on the topic.
"L" - Read the last message on this
topic. This is sometimes useful on
long topics to get an idea of what
is the current drift of the topic.
Many topic on GEnie, especially
those that people find interesting,
tend to "mutate" into other
entirely different subjects as time
goes on.
"D" - Read messages that have been posted
on, before or after a certain date.
When you press "D", Aladdin
displays a new bottom section of
the screen, as displayed in Figure
V-3 below. Pressing the [Enter]
key will end the date parameter
selection process. Pressing the
"<", "=" or ">" keys tells Aladdin
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that you want to read only those
messages posted before, on or after
a certain date. The data itself is
entered in a YYMMDD format, where
YY is the last two digits of the
year, MM is the two-digit month
number and DD is the two-digit day.
Esc Abort YYMMDD Date
Accept date
< Read msgs before date DAT<870301 Read msgs before March 1, 1987
= Read msgs on date DAT=860128 Read msgs on January 28, 1986
> Read msgs after date DAT>871231 Read msgs after December 31, 1987
Figure V-3 - Topic Selection by Date
"U" - Read all messages posted on the
selected topic by one specific
user. You must know what that
user's GEmail address is. Aladdin
will prompt you for the user's
GEmail address.
"#" - Read messages on this topic between
two message numbers, inclusive.
Aladdin will prompt you for the
first and last message to read. It
will then read all messages in the
topic whose message numbers are
between those two numbers,
inclusive.
"R" - Reply to the selected topic.
Aladdin will display the message
editor. At this time you can enter
a reply message to be posted on
this topic. Press [Esc] when you
are finished editing the message.
Aladdin will then save it and post
it to the topic when you next
instruct it to log on to GEnie.
"S" - Search the topic list for a
specific keyword(s). Aladdin will
prompt you for the keyword and will
then search the topic list to see
if it can find a topic which has
that exact keyword(s) in the topic
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subject header. Try to keep the
keyword down to one word; it will
be easier to find topics in this
manner because Aladdin will always
look for an exact match.
"C" - Cancel the category in which the
cursor is current located. This
command will move the cursor to the
first topic in the category and
mark it as being cancelled with the
mark "CANCEL". When Aladdin next
processes this action it will issue
the necessary commands to terminate
all participation in the selected
category on the selected
RoundTable. The only way to restart
your participation in the category
is to manually request to do
something within the category, or
ask Aladdin to perform an action of
any kind specific to one of the
topics in the category, such as
reading the last message in a
topic.
9. Option "T" - Start a new topic
If after searching the current topic index for a RoundTable
you cannot find a topic which seems suitable for a query of the
subject you want to discuss in that RoundTable, you can instruct
Aladdin to tell GEnie to open a new topic for you in a category
of that RoundTable. The "T" option does just that. Pressing the
"T" key displays the screen depicted in Figure V-4.
Aladdin asks you what category you want to start the topic
under. The categories displayed in Figure V-4 are very
comprehensive so it should be very easy to select one for the
subject of your topic. On other RoundTables it may be a little
more difficult to decide what category to place the new topic
under. If you have a doubt as to which category to select, choose
category 1. In most cases the Sysop of the RoundTable will either
move the topic to the proper category or, if the subject deems
it, will begin an entirely new category for that subject. The
latter doesn't happen very often, though. In most cases there is
an existing category under which your topic will fit. If there
are more topics than can be displayed on the screen, you can use
the [Up] and [Down] arrow keys, as well as the [PgUp] and [PgDn]
keys to scroll up and down the list.
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Once you have selected the category and pressed [Enter],
Aladdin will display the screen depicted in Figure V-5.
RoundT
On-line 1 Welcome & Announcements
A Dow 2 Hardware
N New 3 Applications topics
C Che 4 Programming
O Per 5 Operating Systems
S 6 Communications & Connectivity
D 7 Games & Entertainment
D 8 Clones and Look-Alikes
G Log 9 On-Line Product Support
H Log 10 General RoundTable Business
1 Per 11 Speakers' Corner
2 Per 12 For Sale and Other Commercial Pursuits
14 Aladdin ns
Topic m
M Mar Ctrl-U Update list
J Mar
T Sta Which Category?
U Upd
Command [ ]
Off 7bit ECHO Blanks OK Capture OFF
Figure V-4 - Start New Topic / Category Selection
If at any point during the process you want to abort the
procedure, press and hold the [Ctrl] key and press the "A" key.
This will tell Aladdin that you want to abort the procedure and
do not want to start a new topic at this time. Aladdin will ask
you if you really want to abort the process (just in case you
pressed [Ctrl-A] by accident). You can also press [Esc] at any
point to exit and save the parameters for the new topic. Aladdin
will then process the new topic request the next time you ask it
to log in to GEnie. The [Up] and [Down] arrow keys are used while
in the topic header field to switch between that field and the
first message window, which is explained below. Once you have
entered the topic header and pressed [Enter] those two options on
the screen change to [Ctrl-E] to edit the topic header and [Ctrl-
W] to switch between the long description and first message
windows.
The first thing you have to do is select a topic header,
which in essence becomes the topic subject. The cursor is
automatically positioned in this field when the screen is
displayed, so all you have to do is type it in. Select a topic
header that will give the reader a good idea of what the topic is
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intended to be about. For example, "Printers" is not a good topic
header but "Printer Problems - Okidata 2410" is.
Topic name:
. .
. .
. .
Esc Save Edit topic header
Ctrl-A Abort Edit first message
Figure V-5 - New Topic Editing Screen
Once you have entered the topic header, press [Enter]. The
cursor will move to the next window below, which is the "long
description" part of the topic header. In this window you should
enter a longer description of the topic. For example, following
the topic header example given above, you could enter a long
description like this: "This topic is for discussion of problems
interfacing and using the Okidata 2410 Pacemark high speed dot-
matrix printer." The long description is limited to a maximum of
3 lines. Again, try to write a long description in general terms
so that the reader can get a good idea of what the topic is
about. Don't try to go into too many details here, you'll have
plenty of opportunity to include as much detail as you want in
the next step of the process.
Next, you need to enter the first message of the topic. You
have the option of not entering a first message, but we recommend
that you always enter a first message. There is no reason to
limit the query to just the long description; use the first
message to state your query or topic subject in full with all the
details that you want to include in it.
10. Option "U" - Update topic list
This command instructs Aladdin to immediately log on, go to
the selected RoundTable and request a topic index for that
RoundTable from GEnie. The topic index list is captured, and
Aladdin logs off. The old topic index is discarded, the new index
is made the current one, and you now have a fresh index with all
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available topics. This is particularly useful when you have not
logged on to GEnie in a while and do not want to be bombarded
with a slew of new topics and messages.
11. Option "R" - Read and reply to messages
This command can only be used if there are new messages
pending in the queue after Aladdin logs off from GEnie. If there
are no pending messages, the command will have no effect. If
there are pending messages, Aladdin displays a marker beside the
option on the display (see Figure V-1, where the marker is
displayed). If you have pending messages, press "R". If you have
not read the pending messages, Aladdin will first show you a
screen with the RoundTable bulletin, containing the opening
information as well as any RoundTable news. Pressing the [Esc]
key, space bar or [Enter] key will exit the bulletin display.
Aladdin will then display the first message and topic in the
pending list, using a display format similar to that in Figure V-
6.
Hardware/What's the best AT computer?
(message 2 of 21)
Category 2, Topic 44
Message 110 Mon Jan 16, 1989
J.L.SMITH at 18:02 EST
Has anyone had any experience with the Northgate 386/20? Sounds
like a very nice machine. But have you ever read an ad that made
a product look miserable?
. .
. .
. .
Esc Exit R Reply P Print ^P Print/Eject
/ Scroll this message ^L Address list S Save normal
/ View other messages F Forward ^S Save Special
Figure V-6 - Pending message display screen
The top of the message display screen shows the category
title and the topic header, separated by a slash "/" character.
Immediately below that you see a message that tells you that this
message is number 2 of 21 messages that are pending in your local
queue at the moment. This means that Aladdin downloaded 21 new
messages the last time you told it to log on and this is message
number 2 of those 21. The next line tells you what category and
topic number this message came from. The next line tells you the
message number in the topic and the date that it was posted. The
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next line tells you who posted it and the time when the message
was posted. The person who posted it is identified by the GEmail
address. Following that is the text of the message itself.
The [Esc] key is used to exit the viewing mode at any time.
It will take you back to the RoundTable menu. The [Up] and [Down]
arrow keys are used to scroll up and down on the current message.
The [Right] and [Left] arrow keys are used to view the previous
or next message on the pending queue. The specific commands
available at this point are:
"R" - Reply to the current message. This
tells Aladdin that you want to
reply to this message. Aladdin
displays the screen depicted in
Figure V-7.
Once you press the "R" key, Aladdin is
immediately ready to accept a reply to the
message. It already knows where to send it,
so you do not have to make any header
changes. All you have to do is type in the
text of your reply. Once you are done, press
[Esc] to save your reply in the outgoing
queue. Aladdin will post it the next time you
tell it to log on to that RoundTable. If you
do not wish to reply at this time, or if you
pressed the "R" key by accident, press and
hold the [Ctrl] key and press the "A" key
once. This will tell Aladdin that you want to
abort the reply. Aladdin will ask you to
confirm the abort of the reply.
Category 2, Topic 44
Message 110 Mon Jan 16, 1989
J.L.SMITH at 18:02 EST
Has anyone had any experience with the Northgate 386/20? Sounds like
F5 Scroll up F6 or F9 Scroll down
What's the best AT computer?
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
Esc Save Ctrl-A Abort Ctrl-P Private
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Page Number: 44
Figure V-7 - Message Reply Screen
As of version 1.30 of Aladdin, if you have
already prepared one or more replies to
messages in one topic, when you press the "R"
key to compose another reply the current
reply text will be brought up for editing. In
other words, all replies to messages in one
topic are consolidated into one reply at the
reply composition level.
As you can see, Aladdin does not display all
of the original message, simply because there
is not enough room. If you need to refer to
portions of the original message you are
replying to while composing your reply, use
the [F5] function key to scroll the original
message up in the upper window, and use the
[F6] or [F9] functions keys to scroll the
message down.
Aladdin is also capable of making a reply a
private one by sending it via GEmail instead
of posting it in the open on the RoundTable.
To make a reply private, you must first
choose to make a reply. Once the reply screen
in Figure V-7 is displayed, press and hold
[Ctrl] and press the "P" key once. Aladdin
will then modify the reply screen, which will
now look as displayed in Figure V-8. Note
private replies must be composed before any
public replies to any messages in the topic.
As you can see, the message now has a header
field section in which the recipient of the
message is listed. It also has a "CC:" field
in which you can add other GEmail addresses
of people to whom you want to send copies of
this message as well. The mail message also
has a subject, which consists of the topic
header. If the topic header is too long to
fit in the message subject field, it is
truncated. If you change your mind and wish
to make the message public, press and hold
the [Ctrl] key and press the "P" key once. If
you wish to edit the message header to add or
change information to the fields, press and
hold the [Ctrl] key and press the "E" key
once. The cursor will move to the header
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section where you can edit the fields. Press
[Enter] on the subject field to return to the
message editing window. The same functions
for the [Esc], [Ctrl-A], [F5], [F6] and [F9]
key combinations as for the normal message
reply screen apply here as well.
[Ctrl-L] - Pressing the [Ctrl-L] key invokes a feature of
Aladdin which makes it easy to remember the GEmail
addresses of people to whom you frequently send
messages. Aladdin can keep a list of these people
for you in a file, subsequently allowing you to
search it to find the GEmail addresses of these
persons. When you press [Ctrl-L], Aladdin will
display a screen showing the GEmail address of the
person who sent you the letter you are reading,
the real name of that person or entity as
registered on GEnie, and an extra field which you
can use to enter a comment about that GEmail
address. If you press [Esc], Aladdin will save
this address in your personal address file (the
file is a standard ASCII text file called
"ADDRESS.TXT"). Once the address is saved, you can
search for it when composing new mail messages or
forwarding messages you have already received to
other GEnie users. This makes it easier to
remember who's who on GEnie. If you do not wish to
enter this address into your personal address
file, press [Ctrl-A] to abort the procedure. The
[Up] and [Down] arrow keys will move you from
field to field in the window.
"F" - Forward a message. Pressing the "F" key tells
Aladdin that you want to forward the message you
are viewing to one or more users. Aladdin will
present you with a new window in which you enter
the GEmail addresses of one or more users to whom
you want GEnie to send extra copies of this
message. Remember that multiple GEmail addresses
must be separated by commas. Once you have entered
the addresses, press [Enter] to complete the
process. If you do not wish to forward any copies
of the letter, press [Esc] to abort the procedure
and return to the message view screen. You can
also press [Ctrl-L] to search your personal
address file for the GEmail addresses of those
users to whom you want to forward the current
message. See the section on composing new messages
for an explanation on how this feature works.
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Category 2, Topic 4
Message 110 Mon Jan 16, 1989
J.L.SMITH at 18:02 EST
Has anyone had any experience with the Northgate 386/20? Sounds like
F5 Scroll up F6 or F9 Scroll down
To: J.L.SMITH
cc:
Subject or file: What's the best AT computer?
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
Esc Save Ctrl-P Public Ctrl-E Edit header info above
Ctrl-A Abort
Figure V-8 - Private Message Reply Screen
"P" - Print the current message. Pressing the "P" key
tells Aladdin to print a copy of the message on
your printer. Make sure that your printer is
online and that the paper is loaded properly
before issuing this command.
[Ctrl-P] - Prints the current message and sends a "form feed"
command to the printer which forces it to eject
the page once the message is printed. Again, make
sure that your printer is online and that the
paper is loaded properly before issuing this
command.
"S" - Save the message. Pressing the "S" key will cause
your message to be saved in the filename which you
specified as your Input Archive during the Aladdin
setup. This file is normally called "INPUT.TXT"
and resides in the same directory in your computer
as Aladdin.
[Ctrl-S] - Special save of the message to a file. This is
useful for when you receive a particularly
important message that you want to save separately
from your normal mail and message traffic.
Pressing [Ctrl-S] is similar to pressing the "S"
key, but instead of saving it to the input
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archive, Aladdin will prompt you for a filename to
save the message to. Once you enter it, press
[Enter]. If the file already exists, Aladdin will
ask you if you want to add the text of the message
to the file, delete the file first and start a new
one with the text of the message, try a new
filename, or abort the procedure. If you want to
add the message to the file, press the "A" key. If
you want to overwrite the file, press the "O" key.
If you made a mistake when you typed in the
filename or you want to use another filename,
press [Enter] and Aladdin will ask you for the
filename once again. If you do not want to save
the message, press [Esc] and Aladdin will take you
back to the message view screen.
12. Option "E" - Edit or delete replies/new topics
The "E" option is used to edit or delete a number of actions
which you may have instructed Aladdin to take, such as replying
to messages, creating new topics, etc.
When you press "E", Aladdin will display a screen similar to
that depicted in Figure V-9. The screen display has been
shortened a bit to save some room. You will see a full screen.
Pressing the [Esc] key will exit the display mode and return
you to the RoundTable menu. To select a particular message to
edit, use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to select the
particular message and press "E" to have Aladdin display it for
you.
The editing screen is exactly the same as that depicted in
Figure V-8, with the exception that there is no message being
replied to, so the display covers the entire screen. The same key
command combinations are available as well. When you are done
editing the message, press [Esc] to save it. Aladdin will return
you to the previous display just in case you want to edit any
more messages.
If you want to delete a message from the reply queue,
highlight the message with the cursor keys and press the "D" key.
This will mark the message with a "DELETED:" prefix, and Aladdin
will display this fact on the screen immediately. Pressing the
"D" key once again will undelete the message and restore it to
it's original condition. You can only undelete a deleted message
if you have -not- left the edit function. If you mark an entry
for deletion by pressing "D" and then press [Esc] to exit, that's
it; it's gone forever.
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Message to Advice on a comm program? Topic in Communications & Con
. .
. .
. .
Esc Exit / Select E Edit D Delete/undelete
Figure V-9 - Message Reply/Edit Selection Screen
13. Option "B" - Viewing the Club Door Bulletin
The "B" option is used to view what GEnie calls the "Club
Door Bulletin". This is the text that you see every time you
enter a particular RoundTable. This bulletin always contains a
preset opening text, but sometimes also contains what GEnie calls
"one-time notices". One-time notices are used by the Sysop of the
RoundTable to inform one or more users about a significant piece
of information (such as an upcoming Real Time Conference). The
notice shows up once after it is set for you, and you don't see
it again. Since you might miss an important notice while you are
away from your computer and Aladdin is performing some tasks on
GEnie, Aladdin gives you the option to see what the latest club
door bulletin looked like. If there were any special one-time
notices for you, you will see those as well.
To return to the Aladdin RoundTable menu after viewing the
bulletin, press the [Esc] key.
14. Moving from RoundTable to RoundTable
On the RoundTable menu, pressing the [Right] and [Left]
arrow cursor keys will move you to the next or previous
RoundTable menu, respectively. If you are at the last RoundTable
you have defined and you press the [Right] arrow cursor key, you
will move into the GEmail Menu. Likewise, if you are at the first
defined RoundTable and you press the [Left] arrow cursor key you
will move to the GEmail Menu as well.
15. Entering the Software Library Section of the RoundTable
Pressing the [Down] arrow cursor key will move you to the
Software Library section for the selected RoundTable. We will
cover the Software Library area in the next section of this
manual. The menu option depicting the down arrow will be marked
with a left chevron marker " " if there are new files pending
action or you if you have asked Aladdin to download, browse or
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upload any files from the selected RoundTable.
16. Quick Access Keys - [F2], [F3] and [F4]
Pressing the [F2] function key will immediately take you to
the GEmail Menu on Aladdin. Pressing the [F3] function key will
immediately take you to the Miscellaneous Options Menu on
Aladdin. Pressing the [F4] function key will take you to the
Terminal Menu on Aladdin.
17. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu
Pressing the [Esc] key will exit the RoundTable Menu and
return you to the Aladdin Main Menu.
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VI. The RoundTable Software Library Section
As we pointed out in the previous section, pressing the [Up]
or [Down] arrows from the RoundTable Menu takes you to that
RoundTable's Software Library section. It is from this section
that Aladdin gives you access to the hundreds of thousands of
files available in the GEnie RoundTables. Figure VI-1 depicts the
IBM-PC RoundTable's Software Library section menu.
RoundTable menu - IBM PC RoundTable (Software Library section)
On-line operations: Library management (uploads):
D Check library for new files U Add a file to upload
O Perform pending operations:
Send messages/start topics Library management (miscellaneous):
Download marked topics E Edit/delete uploads/searches
Download/browse marked files
G Log on to RoundTable SL Miscellaneous:
H Log on to RoundTable RTC B View bulletin
1 Perform automatic pass 1
2 Perform automatic pass 2 Navigation:
Previous RoundTable
Library management (downloads): Next RoundTable
M Choose files to download or browse Bulletin Board section
J Choose from main file list F2 Go to GE Mail menu
F Free-form downloads F3 Go to Miscellaneous Options
S Search for files F4 Go to Terminal menu
Esc Return to Main menu
Command [ ]
Figure VI-1 - The RoundTable Software Library Section Menu
From this menu you can access all of the features of the
RoundTable's Software Library, from searching for files by
keywords, uploader or upload date to browsing the long
descriptions of each file and performing multiple batch
downloads, automatically and with a minimum amount of effort on
your part.
1. Option "D" - Check Library for New Files
Pressing "D" while on this menu will tell Aladdin to
immediately log on to GEnie, go to the RoundTable's Software
Library, and check to see if there are any new files available
for downloading. For those of you that are familiar with GEnie's
library commands, Aladdin issues a command to display all files
in the library. You don't have to worry about Aladdin spending
hours checking for new files, though.
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Aladdin keeps track of the last time it checked that
specific library for new files. As soon as it finds a file with
an upload date which is equal to or earlier than the date Aladdin
knows was the last time it checked for new files, it sends GEnie
a "break", which stops the file listing. Aladdin will then log
off and return you to the Software Library section of the
RoundTable. If there are any new files available, Aladdin will
display a " " marker next to the "M" option in the menu,
indicating to you that there are new files available on the
RoundTable's Software Library. The "M" option is covered in
detail a little further on in this section of the manual. Aladdin
will also display the same marker next to that RoundTable's entry
in the Aladdin main menu. This marker will remain until you
access the "M" option.
2. Option "O" - Perform Pending Operations
The "O" option is exactly the same as the "O" option in the
RoundTable Menu. Refer to the previous section for more
information on this command.
3. Option "G" - Log on to the RoundTable Software Library
The "G" option tells Aladdin to immediately log on to GEnie
and take you directly to the Software Library of the selected
RoundTable. Aladdin then puts you into terminal mode, where you
can perform manual commands.
4. Option "H" - Log on to the RoundTable RTC
The "H" option is exactly the same as the "H" option in the
RoundTable Menu. Refer to the previous section for more
information on this command.
5. Options "1" and "2" - Perform Automatic Pass 1 or 2
The "1" and "2" options are exactly the same as the "1" and
"2" options in the RoundTable Menu. Refer to the previous section
for more information on these commands.
6. Option "M" - Choose Files to Download or Browse
The "M" option tells Aladdin that you want to view any files
which Aladdin has found that have recently become available.
These are "new" files that just became visible in the Software
Library listing and whose descriptions were retrieved either
through an Automatic Pass 1 or through the "D" option in the
Software Library section menu. This option will only work if
there is a " " marker next to the option on the menu. If there
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is, and you press the "M" key, you will be shown a display
similar to Figure VI-2. It will also work if you previously used
the "M" option but have not instructed Aladdin to do either an
Automatic Pass 1 or 2 or another check of the library for new
files. In essence, it retains the list until it has to check
again.
The display in Figure VI-2 shows a typical download/browse
display screen. Each file is listed on two lines. The first line
lists the file name, the type (X for Xmodem/Binary, 7 for 7-bit
text), the date when it was uploaded, in YYMMDD format, the size
of the file in bytes, how many times it has been accessed or
downloaded since it was uploaded, which library it is located in,
and the cost of downloading the file.
On this display the cost is not displayed; you will see a
figure in dollars and cents which will give you an idea of how
much it will cost you to download the file, based on the non-
prime-time rate. The cost figure is displayed if you have
downloaded at least one file since you changed the baud rate in
the configuration screen.
The second line of the file display shows the status of the
file within the Aladdin queue and the short description of the
file which the uploader put on it when the file was posted to the
Software Library.
Pressing the [Esc] key will return you to the RoundTable
Software Library section menu. The [Up] and [Down] arrow cursor
keys move up and down the list (if there are more files than
Aladdin can fit in one screen); so will the [PgDn] and [PgUp]
keys, except these move up and down in full screen jumps.
The other options available are:
"K" - "Keep" the file. In other words, do nothing with
this file entry. This is the default condition of
the file entries when you first use the "M"
option.
"B" - Browse the file's long description. This tells
Aladdin that the next time it logs on you want it
to download the full description of the file
instead of just the short, one-line description.
Aladdin will mark the status field next to the
description with a "BROWSE" marker. This is useful
for when the short description is either too
terse, not descriptive enough, or for when you
want to see more information about a large file
before you spend money downloading it. When you
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select this option and Aladdin gets the long
description for you, you use the same "M" option
from the software library section, but instead of
seeing a screen such as the one in Figure VI-2,
you will see one with a full description of the
files you asked to browse.
No. File Name Type Address YYMMDD Bytes Accesses Lib Cost
13439 ADDCON42.PKA X R.KEBER 890302 126000 25 3
KEEP Desc: ADDRESS CONTROLLER 4.2 (ShareWare)
13438 ADD.ARC X T.GREER 890302 100800 13 12
KEEP Desc: HF ANTENNA DESIGN PGM (3-30 MHZ)
13435 DYRTS.ARC X T.MADISON1 890302 55440 18 12
KEEP Desc: Music Trivia Game (lots of graphics)
13434 MAXI152.ARC X MIKLOS.G 890302 44100 39 5
KEEP Desc: Ver. 1.52 of Maxi Form floppy fmt
13433 STS_101.PKA X B.FORREST1 890302 57960 29 5
KEEP Desc: Menued File Handler for Pk-Ware
13429 Y-N-3.ARC X J.LASALLE1 890301 7560 25 5
KEEP Desc: BATch branch on yes/no queries
Esc Exit K Keep (do nothing) Ctrl-A Add free-form file
/ Move 1 line B Browse long desc. Ctrl-D Delete free-form file
PgUp/PgDn Move 1 screen D Download file
S Search for a file
Figure VI-2 - Software Library Download/Browse Screen
"D" - This option tells Aladdin that you want to
download the file to your personal computer. The
next time you issue an Automatic Pass 1 or 2
command, or the "O" option within the RoundTable's
menus, Aladdin will download the file for you and
place it in the directory specified in the
RoundTable Setup screen for the selected
RoundTable (see page 17 of this manual, Software
Library Settings/Default Path). You can also
override the default directory and filename. When
this option is selected, Aladdin will mark the
status field with a "DOWNLOAD" message.
"S" - This option is used to search for a file within
the files on this screen. When you press "S",
Aladdin prompts you with a window containing
fields entitled KEYWORD, UPLOADER and DAYS BACK.
The KEYWORD field is used to search the files by a
specific keyword, such as the possible name of the
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file you are looking for. The UPLOADER field is
used to search for a file by the name of the
person who uploaded it (using that person's GEmail
address). The DAYS BACK field is used to limit the
search to a specific number of days back from
today's date. For example, if you enter a number
30 in this field, Aladdin will only search for
files that have been uploaded in the last 30 days.
Pressing [Esc] will abort the search operation,
pressing [Ctrl-S] will begin the search. If the
search is successful, Aladdin will move the cursor
to the listing for the first file that matched the
search parameters. If the search is not
successful, the cursor will stay where it was when
you began the search operation.
[Ctrl-A] - Pressing [Ctrl-A] will tell Aladdin that you want
to add a filename to the list. This command is
useful for when you know that a file exists but
for some reason it is not displayed. This
condition may happen if the Sysops of the
RoundTable do not "release" the files for download
in the order in which they were uploaded. Aladdin
will prompt you for a file name or a file number.
Pressing [Esc] will immediately terminate this
operation at this point. Once you enter the
filename or the file number of the "free-form"
file you want to download, press [Enter]. Aladdin
will add the file entry at the top of the list,
and will then prompt you for the location in your
computer to which the file will be saved when it
is downloaded. This prompt will contain a default
path and filename. If you are satisfied with the
default, press [Enter], otherwise you can edit it
to suit your needs and then press [Enter]. Aladdin
will then mark the new entry with a "DOWNLOAD"
message in the status field an return you to the
normal function of the download/browse screen.
[Ctrl-D] - If you have entered a free-form file download
specification by using the [Ctrl-A] option, you
can reverse the action by moving the cursor to the
entry and pressing [Ctrl-D]. This will delete the
free-form file at that cursor position. This will
only work with free-form file download requests
which have been entered using the [Ctrl-A] option.
7. Option "J" - Choose Files from the Main File List
The "J" option is similar to the "M" option except that
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instead of displaying the newly-available files from that
RoundTable's Software Library, it displays the files for which
Aladdin has previously stored information. Every time Aladdin
retrieves information for new files, it adds these files to an
incremental database which holds all the files for which Aladdin
has downloaded information. This option is useful for when you
want to download or search for a file which you saw a while back
in a previous session but is no longer accessible through the "M"
option. The commands in the display screen for this option work
exactly the same as those used with the "M" option. Refer to the
previous section for more information.
8. Option "F" - Free-form Downloads
The "F" option lets you instruct Aladdin to download
specific files, which can be identified by file name or file
number. This option is the stand-alone equivalent of the [Ctrl-A]
and [Ctrl-D] options in the "J" and "M" option descriptions. The
additional commands within these option are the same as those for
the "M" option. Please refer to the section on the "M" option for
more information.
9. Option "U" - Add File to Upload
The "U" option is used to upload files from your personal
computer into the selected RoundTable's Software Library area.
Selecting the "U" will cause a screen similar to Figure VI-3 to
be displayed on your screen.
File to upload:
Name for GEnie:
Software library: 1
Keywords:
More keywords:
Short description:
. .
. .
. .
Esc Save Edit Long description
Ctrl-A Abort Edit Name for GEnie
Figure VI-3 - RoundTable Software Library File Upload Screen
To upload a file, the first thing you have to do is tell
Aladdin the name of the file that you want to upload. For
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example, if you want to upload the file MYFILE.TXT, and the file
is located in your C:\DOCUMENT directory. you would type
"C:\DOCUMENT\MYFILE.TXT" into the first field. You must enter a
filename in this field; if you do not, Aladdin will discard the
entire upload request when you try to save it by pressing the
[Esc] key.
The "Name for GEnie" field corresponds to the filename that
you want to have GEnie store the file as. For example, if your
MYFILE.TXT file should be displayed as TECHINFO.TXT in the
RoundTable's Software Library file directory, you would type
"TECHINFO.TXT" into this field. Do not enter a path or directory
in this field, only the GEnie filename should be entered here.
The "Software Library" field defines which library the file
will be uploaded to. All Software Libraries are divided into
categories, such as "Utilities", "Games", "Demonstration
Programs", etc. You should enter the proper library number in
this field. If you are not sure which library to use, press the
"?" key to display a list of the software libraries available. If
you are still not sure, upload the file to library 1. The Sysop
will then move the file to the proper library during file
verification.
The next two fields are "Keyword" fields. These fields are
used to perform file searches in the RoundTable's Software
Library. There are two fields with the same name, just in case
you run out of room in the first field. The keywords should be
entered in capital letters, with a comma separating each keyword.
You should choose keywords which will make it easy to find your
program in a search. For example, if you are uploading a file
directory display utility, you might want to use keywords such as
"FILE,DIRECTORY,DISPLAY,UTILITY" instead of "FILE,PROGRAM". Make
sure you do not repeat any keywords, this wastes space and is
unnecessary because the GEnie search algorithm checks all
keywords once to try and find a match.
The "Short Description" field is used to enter a short, one-
line file description which is displayed with the filename during
searches, directory displays, etc. This should be a concise but
clear one-line message which tells the next person to see that
file entry what the file is or does. For example, for the file
directory display utility, a good short description would be
"File Directory Display Utility V99.9". Don't be too verbose on
this short description, just be concise and to the point.
Once you have filled out the top part of the screen, the
cursor will jump down to the bottom window. This window is where
you will enter a long description for the file which should not
exceed 10 lines of text. Here's where you will list the complete
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description for the file, including any information which you
think will give the user a very detailed idea of what's in the
file. For programs, you should include version numbers, whether
the program is shareware or not, who makes it and your opinion of
it as well. Text files should include good descriptions of the
contents and subject of the file.
When you are finished entering the information for the
upload, press [Esc]. This will save your upload information and
return you to the Software Library section menu. If you wish to
abort the upload process, press [Ctrl-A]. Aladdin will prompt you
to see if you really want to abort the process. Answer "Y" to
abort, "N" to continue preparing the upload.
10. Option "E" - Edit/Delete Uploads/Searches
The "E" option in the Software Library section menu works
very much like the "E" option in the RoundTable Menu. The
difference is that you are editing file upload or search
operations instead of messages. When you press the "E" key, you
will be shown a display very similar to Figure V-9. Select the
upload or search operation that you want to edit and press "E"
again. If you select an upload operation to edit, you will be
shown the upload specification screen, just as if you had
selected the "U" option from the Software Library section menu,
with the information in the fields which you already entered.
Refer to the "U" option description for more details.
If you decide to edit a search operation, you will be shown
the same display as if you had selected the "S" option from the
Software Library section menu. See the section on the "S" option
for more details.
If you decide to abort the edit operation before selecting
an upload or search to edit, press [Esc]. This will return you to
the Software Library section menu. If you are already within an
editing operation, press [Ctrl-A]. This will return you to the
editing selection screen.
To delete an upload or search request entirely, press "D".
This will mark the selected entry for deletion. If you change
your mind, press "D" again to "undelete" the deletion and return
it to the pending action queue.
11. Option "B" - View Bulletin
The "B" option is exactly the same as the "B" option in the
RoundTable menu. Refer to the RoundTable Menu section for more
information.
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12. Moving from RoundTable to RoundTable
Pressing the [Right] and [Left] arrow cursor keys will move
you to the next or previous RoundTable Software Library section
menu, respectively. If you are at the last RoundTable you have
defined and you press the [Right] arrow cursor key, you will move
into the GEmail Menu. Likewise, if you are at the first defined
RoundTable and you press the [Left] arrow cursor key you will
move to the GEmail Menu as well.
13. Entering the RoundTable Menu
Pressing the [Up] arrow cursor key will move you to the
RoundTable Menu for the selected RoundTable. If there are
messages pending to be read or replies pending to be posted to
the selected RoundTable, this menu option will be marked with a
left chevron marker " ".
14. Quick Access Keys - [F2], [F3] and [F4]
Pressing the [F2] function key will immediately take you to
the GEmail Menu. Pressing the [F3] function key will immediately
take you to the Miscellaneous Options Menu. Pressing the [F4]
function key will take you to the Terminal Menu.
15. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu
Pressing the [Esc] key will exit the RoundTable Software
Library section menu and return you to the Aladdin Main Menu.
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VII. GEmail Electronic Mail System
One of the most important and useful features of the GEnie
system is GEmail, GEnie's Electronic Mail system. GEmail is a
very powerful system which allows you to do just about anything
that has to do with mail, from sending a simple "Hi, there..."
note to transferring entire files attached to messages. Aladdin,
of course, gives you full access to the GEmail system.
To get to the GEmail menu, press the [F2] function key.
Doing so will take you from any Aladdin menu directly to the
Aladdin GEmail menu, which is depicted in Figure VII-1.
Mail menu
On-line operations:
A Download all new mail
O Send mail
G Go online at page 200
Off-line operations:
R Read and reply to mail
W Write mail
E Edit/delete mail
Navigation:
L Go to last RoundTable
R Go to first RoundTable
F3 Go to Miscellaneous options
F4 Go to Terminal menu
Esc Return to Main menu
Command [ ]
Figure VII-1 - Aladdin GEmail Menu
- NOTE -
Aladdin will always check your mail for you
every single time it logs on to GEnie,
regardless of what operation you told Aladdin
to perform. If Aladdin calls GEnie, logs on
and finds that there is mail waiting for you,
it will either download it immediately or
wait until it finishes all other pending
operations before logging off.
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Before we get into the details of how Aladdin's GEmail
management system works, let's cover some basic points about
GEmail.
A GEmail message is composed of five basic components. They
are:
1) The recipient list
2) The "CC" list (CC stands for "carbon copy", a standard
abbreviation used in correspondence).
3) The subject field
4) The body of the message
5) An optional attached file
The recipient list and CC list are nothing more than a
number of GEmail addresses. These identify who is going to
receive a message within the GEnie system. The recipient list
normally contains one or more "main addressees". This is the
person or persons to whom the message is specifically directed.
The CC list contains the "secondary addressees" of the message.
These are the person or persons to whom you also want to send the
message for reference or other purposes. For example, there are
situations in which you want to send a regular U.S. Post Office
letter to a someone but you also want someone else to receive a
copy of the letter for reference purposes. The person to whom you
are sending the letter and whose address is in the original
letter is the "primary addressee" equivalent on GEnie. The person
or persons to whom you are sending copies of the letter would be
the "secondary addressees" of the letter.
Each of the recipient and CC list GEmail addresses is
separated by commas "," so as to let GEnie know they are separate
GEmail addresses. For example, if you wanted to send a message to
a user whose GEmail address is "J.DOE", you would simply enter
the address in the recipient list. If, on the other hand, you
want "A.USER", "J.JONES" and "M.SMITH" to receive copies of the
message as well, you would enter their addresses into the CC list
as "A.USER,J.JONES,M.SMITH" (without the quotation marks). If you
don't separate the GEmail addresses with commas, only one user
(the first one), or quite possibly none of them, will receive the
copies of the message.
The subject field is used to attach a one-line title to the
message which summarizes its contents. For example, if a message
is about an upcoming meeting, you would enter the words "Upcoming
Meeting" into the subject field. Always enter a subject line into
this field; GEmail copies the contents of this field into all
replies that relate to the original message. If you don't have a
subject field, it's very hard to remember what a letter is about,
particularly when you are dealing with someone who replies to a
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notice with an "OK" and nothing else.
The body of the message is just that, the body of the
message. As far as Aladdin is concerned, you can have from 1 to
approximately 240,000 characters in a message. That's about
30,000 words (on average), longer than most essays and magazine
or newspaper articles.
The optional attached file has to do with a very useful
feature of GEmail. Suppose you wanted to send a friend of yours a
file containing information, such as a spreadsheet, which would
take a while to retype should it have to be entered manually into
the computer. GEnie allows you to send an "attached file" with a
message. The process is a little confusing if you are using GEnie
in manual mode with a normal communications program, but Aladdin
makes it easy. All you have to is tell Aladdin which file on your
computer you want to attach to the message. The file which you
wish to attach to the message must exist when the message is
prepared. Aladdin takes care of the rest, including the creation
of the message and the uploading of the file into GEnie's mail
system. For example, if you have a file called "WALLST.WKS" in
your Lotus 1-2-3 directory which you want to send to someone
using GEmail, all you have to do is create the message and attach
the file to it. If the file is located in your \LOTUS directory,
you enter "\LOTUS\WALLST.WKS" into the attached file field, press
[Enter], and that's all it takes!
Now that we have covered some of the basic concepts behind
the GEmail system, let's discuss the specific commands on
Aladdin's GEmail menu.
1. Option "A" - Download All New Mail
The "A" option is used to tell Aladdin to immediately log on
to GEnie and download any new mail messages that may be waiting
in your mailbox, including mail that has a file attached to it.
Once the process is completed, Aladdin will log off. If there was
in fact mail waiting for you in your mailbox, Aladdin will put a
" " marker next to the "R" option on this menu and also next to
the "F2" option on the Aladdin Main Menu.
2. Option "O" - Send Mail
The "O" option is used to tell Aladdin to immediately log on
to GEnie and send all mail and mail commands that are pending in
your computer. Aladdin will send all new mail, post replies and
forward any mail which you have asked it to send to one or more
third-party recipients. It will also send any messages with files
attached. If there are any mail operations pending, Aladdin puts
a " " marker next to the "O" option as well as next to the "F2"
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option on the Aladdin Main Menu.
3. Option "G" - Go Online at Page 200
The "G" option instructs Aladdin to immediately log on and
take you to page 200 on the GEnie system, which is the page on
which the GEmail Menu for GEnie is located. It then turns over
the console to you, leaving you in terminal mode. You can then
perform any manual operations on GEnie that you need to do.
4. Option "R" - Read and Reply to Mail
The "R" option is the heart of Aladdin's GEmail management
system. This is where you will read and take action on all
incoming mail that Aladdin has downloaded for you. Note that this
option will only work if you have mail in your queue that Aladdin
has downloaded for you and you have not read. The previous batch
of mail messages remains readable until you ask Aladdin to log on
again. At that time all current messages in your Aladdin mail
queue are deleted. Figure VII-2 depicts a typical screen where
Aladdin is showing us a downloaded mail message.
The number of commands available within this function of
Aladdin are small, but very powerful. Pressing [Esc] will exit
this screen and take you back to the Aladdin GEmail Menu. The
[Up] and [Down] arrow keys will scroll your message up and down
if the message is too long to display on one screen. The [Left]
and [Right] arrow keys will display the previous and next
messages in the queue, respectively. The other available commands
are:
"R" - Pressing the "R" key tells Aladdin that you wish
to reply to the currently displayed message.
Aladdin will display a new screen which contains
an editing window in which you can enter your
reply as well as a smaller window in which you can
view and scroll the original message should you
wish to refer to it as you compose your reply.
This message reply screen is depicted in Figure
VII-3. Within the message reply screen there are a
number of commands available. They are:
[Esc] - Exit and save reply for posting.
Pressing the [Esc] key will tell Aladdin
that you are done editing the message
reply and wish to save it on disk for
later posting on GEnie.
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(message 1 of 1)
Item 8337498 89/03/08 19:25
From: A.USER Albert A. User
To: M.PAL My Pal
Sub: Meeting
Hi Pal!
Don't forget about the meeting at my house tomorrow to plan the
fishing trip!
Esc Exit R Reply P Print ^P Print/Eject
/ Scroll this message ^L Address list S Save normal
/ View other messages F Forward ^S Save special
Figure VII-2 - Aladdin GEmail View/Reply/Store Screen
[Ctrl-A] - Abort the message reply. Pressing [Ctrl-
A] will tell Aladdin that you do not
want to send this reply. Aladdin will
throw away any editing of a reply that
you have done up to that point, so it
will prompt you to see if you really
want to abort the reply and throw it
away.
[Ctrl-E] - Edit the message reply header. Pressing
[Ctrl-E] will tell Aladdin that you want
to edit the message reply header.
Editing the header allows you to change
the recipient list or "CC" list of the
message or add an attached file to the
message.
[F5] - Scroll the original message up. Pressing
the [F5] function key will tell Aladdin
to move the original message that you
are replying to up one line at a time in
the upper part of the screen.
[F6]-[F9]- Scroll the original message down.
Pressing either the [F6] or [F9]
function keys will tell Aladdin to move
the original message that you are
replying to down one line at a time.
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Item 8337498 89/03/08 19:25
From: A.USER Albert A. User
To: M.PAL My Pal
F5 Scroll up F6 or F9 Scroll down
To: A.USER
cc:
Subject or file: Meeting
Path\File:
. .
. .
. .
Esc Save Ctrl-E Edit header info above
Ctrl-A Abort
Figure VII-3 - Aladdin GEmail Reply Screen
[Ctrl-L] - Pressing the [Ctrl-L] key invokes a feature of
Aladdin which makes it easy to remember the GEmail
addresses of people to whom you frequently send
messages. Aladdin can keep a list of these people
for you in a file, subsequently allowing you to
search it to find the GEmail addresses of these
persons. When you press [Ctrl-L], Aladdin will
display a screen displaying the GEmail address of
the person who sent you the letter you are
reading, the real name of that person or entity as
registered on GEnie, and an extra field which you
can use to enter a comment about that GEmail
address. If you press [Esc], Aladdin will save
this address in your personal address file (the
file is a standard ASCII text file called
"ADDRESS.TXT"). Once the address is saved, you can
search for it when composing new mail messages or
forwarding messages you have already received to
other GEnie users. This makes it easier to
remember who's who on GEnie. If you do not wish to
enter this address into your personal address
file, press [Ctrl-A] to abort the procedure. The
[Up] and [Down] arrow keys will move you from
field to field in the window.
"F" - Forward a message. Pressing the "F" key tells
Aladdin that you want to forward the message you
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are viewing to up to 5 users. Aladdin will present
you with a new window in which you enter the
GEmail addresses of one or more users to whom you
want the GEmail system to send them extra copies
of this message. Remember that multiple GEmail
addresses must be separated by commas. Once you
have entered the addresses, press [Enter] to
complete the process. If you do not wish to
forward any copies of the letter, press [Esc] to
abort the procedure and return to the message view
screen. You can also press [Ctrl-L] to search your
personal address file for the GEmail addresses of
those users to whom you want to forward the
current message. See the section on composing new
messages for an explanation on how this feature
works. If you do not enter a GEmail address and
press [Enter], Aladdin will ignore the forwarding
request. If you need to forward a message to more
than 5 users, issue multiple forwarding commands.
"P" - Print the current message. Pressing the "P" key
tells Aladdin to print a copy of the message on
your printer. Make sure that your printer is
online and that the paper is loaded properly
before issuing this command.
[Ctrl-P] - Prints the current message and sends a "form feed"
command to the printer so that the page is ejected
when the message is printed. Again, make sure that
your printer is online and that the paper is
loaded properly before issuing this command.
"S" - Save the message. Pressing the "S" key will cause
your message to be saved in the filename which you
specified as your Input Archive during the Aladdin
setup. This file is normally called "INPUT.TXT"
and resides in the same directory in your computer
as Aladdin.
[Ctrl-S] - Special save of the message to a file. This is
useful for when you receive a particularly
important message that you want to save separately
from your normal mail and message traffic.
Pressing [Ctrl-S] is similar to pressing the "S"
key, but instead of saving it to the input
archive, Aladdin will prompt you for a filename to
save the message to. Once you enter it, press
[Enter]. If the file already exists, Aladdin will
ask you if you want to add the text of the message
to the file, delete the file first and start a new
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one with the text of the message, try a new
filename or abort the procedure. If you want to
add the message to the file, press the "A" key. If
you want to overwrite the file, press the "O" key.
If you made a mistake when you typed in the
filename or you want to use another filename,
press [Enter] and Aladdin will ask you for the
filename once again. If you do not want to save
the message, press [Esc] and Aladdin will take you
back to the message view screen.
5. Option "W" - Write Mail
The "W" option is used to write mail with the help of
Aladdin. The screen is similar to that displayed when you want to
reply to a downloaded mail message (see Figure VII-4), except
that the "TO", "cc", "Subject or file" and "Path\File" fields are
empty and there is no window at the top of the screen to view any
original messages. As explained earlier, the "TO" field contains
the GEmail addresses of those persons to whom the message is
addressed and the "cc" field contains the GEmail addresses of
those persons to whom carbon copies of this message will be sent.
If you run out of space in the "cc" field for carbon copy
recipients, you can add more recipient addresses within the body
of your message, by moving the cursor to the end of the body of
your message and pressing [Enter] to open a new line. Type the
characters "*ACC," and enter the GEmail address of those
additional recipients immediately following the comma ",", with
each GEmail address separated by a comma as well. For example, if
you need to send carbon copies to "J.DOE", "A.USER" and "MY.PAL"
and you ran out of room for their GEmail addresses in the "cc"
field, type the following line at the beginning of the last line
of your message body:
*ACC,J.DOE,A.USER,MY.PAL [Enter]
The "*ACC" is an internal GEnie message editor command that
adds names to the list of carbon copy recipients. There are
several more internal GEmail commands that you can use; refer to
your GEnie User's Guide for more information.
The "Subject or file" field contains either the subject of
the message or the name of one attached file that will be sent
with the message. The "Path\File" field contains the location and
filename in your computer of the file that you want to attach to
this message, if any. If you enter a path and filename into this
last field, the filename will also be displayed in the "Subject
or file" field as well. The bordered window is where the message
text is entered.
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[Esc] - To save the message and exit back to the GEmail
menu, press the [Esc] key.
[Ctrl-A] - To terminate the process without saving the
message, press [Ctrl-A] and then press "Y" to
confirm the command. If you change your mind,
press "N" to continue editing.
[Up] - The [Up] arrow key is used when the cursor is in
one of the fields at the top of the screen. As you
press the key the description for the action it
takes will change at the bottom of the display,
telling you what will happen if you press it
again. Basically it moves from field to field or
into the message editing window.
[Down] - The [Down] arrow key is used in exactly the same
manner as the [Up] arrow key, except that it moves
the cursor down through the fields and into the
message editing window.
To:
cc:
Subject or file:
Path\File:
. .
. .
. .
Esc Save Edit letter text Ctrl-L Address list
Ctrl-A Abort Edit "cc"
Figure VII-4 - Aladdin GEmail Message Compose Screen
[Ctrl-L] - The [Ctrl-L] option invokes Aladdin's address list
feature, which we have already explained in the
section about reading download messages. In that
section we explained how to add GEmail addresses
to your personal address list. When composing a
new message using Aladdin, the [Ctrl-L] option
invokes a feature of Aladdin which draws
information from the address list. Once you press
[Ctrl-L], a new window will be displayed on top of
the current contents of the screen, similar to the
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window displayed in Figure VII-5.
The idea behind this feature of Aladdin is to help you
locate the GEmail addresses of those persons to whom
you send mail most often, without having to remember
cryptic GEmail identification strings. As soon as you
press [Ctrl-L], Aladdin will display the first entry in
the address list file.
To search for an address, enter the search string. If
you are looking for "John Doe"'s address, you can enter
"DOE" or "JOHN" as the search string and press [Enter]
to begin the search. Aladdin will display the first
match. If there are more "John"'s in your personal
address list, you can press [Enter] as many times as
needed to locate the person that you want to send a
message or carbon copy to. Once you have found the
address of that person(s), press [Ctrl-U] to close the
window and return to your message. Aladdin will insert
the GEmail address displayed in the window after the
search into the TO: field of the reply. If you do not
wish to perform a search at this time, press [Esc] to
exit the search window and return to the message reply
editing screen.
Search string:
Address found: A.USER
Addresses:
Esc Exit
Search for next occurrence of string
Ctrl-U Use address found
Figure VII-5 - Aladdin GEmail Address List Window
6. Option "E" - Edit/Delete Mail
The "E" option works exactly the same as the "E" options in
the Aladdin RoundTable and RoundTable Software library messages,
with the sole exception that you are shown mail messages in the
selection screen. When you choose to edit a message, the display
looks exactly the same as that depicted in Figure VII-4, with the
exception that the fields and message body contain the addresses
and text that you entered when you created a reply or new
message.
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7. Moving from RoundTable to RoundTable
Pressing the [Right] and [Left] arrow cursor keys will move
you to the last or first RoundTable section menu, respectively.
If you are at the last RoundTable you have defined and you press
the [Right] arrow cursor key, you will move into the GEmail Menu.
8. Quick Access Keys - [F3] and [F4]
Pressing the [F3] function key will immediately take you to
the Miscellaneous Options Menu. Pressing the [F4] function key
will take you to the Terminal Menu.
9. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu
Pressing the [Esc] key will exit the GEmail section menu and
return you to the Aladdin Main Menu.
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VIII. Aladdin Miscellaneous Options Menu
The Aladdin Miscellaneous Options menu gives you access to a
number of features of Aladdin that are designed to help you
manage things like the list of all the available services on
GEnie, your login password maintenance and the perpetual billing
history which Aladdin maintains for you. Figure VIII-1 depicts
the Aladdin Miscellaneous Options menu.
Miscellaneous Options menu
I Access GEnie product index
P Change password
B Review billing history
Esc Return to Main menu
Command [ ]
Figure VIII-1 - Aladdin Miscellaneous Options Menu
1. Option "I" - Accessing the GEnie Product Index
As part of its suite of configuration and data files,
Aladdin maintains a list of all the services, with mnemonic
access code and page numbers, that are available on GEnie. This
list is kept in the file "GENIE.LST", which is located in the
Aladdin directory and is in plain text format. This list is used,
among other things, to locate the title and name of a RoundTable
which you want to access when you install it in the RoundTable
Setup Menu. Pressing the "I" key displays a screen similar to
that depicted in Figure VIII-2, which gives you access to this
product list.
This screen displays three pieces of information about each
service on GEnie,
1) Its "PAGE" number
2) Its "MNEMONIC" code
3) Its full name
The page number refers to a numbering scheme that GEnie uses
to assign a "location" within GEnie for each service. This number
can be used with the "move" command, a shortcut way of getting to
different places within GEnie. For example, the page number for
the IBM-PC RoundTable is 615. By typing "M615", GEnie takes you
to the IBM-PC RoundTable's opening screen. You will notice that
Aladdin uses this command to move from RoundTable to RoundTable.
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The mnemonic code refers to an abbreviation which GEnie
assigns to each service to make it easier to get to the services
without having to remember the page numbers. For example, the
abbreviation for the IBM-PC RoundTable is "IBMPC". By typing this
command at any GEnie page prompt, GEnie will take you to the IBM-
PC RoundTable's opening menu. Aladdin does not normally use this
type of command.
The third item, the service's full name, is self-
explanatory. It tells you what the service is.
Pg# Mnemonic Product description
001 TOP GEnie Top-Level Menu
010 GENIE About GEnie
011 TIPS Quick Tips
012 RATES Rates
013 POLICY Policies & Guidelines
015 INDEX Index of Services
080 GIFTOFTIME Gift Of time
100 NEW What's new on GEnie
200 MAIL GE Mail
210 GRAM GEnie Quik-Gram
260 DJNS Dow Jones News Retrieval
280 SOAPS Soap Opera Summaries
300 NEWS US & World News
301 REFERENCE Reference Library
304 USATODAY USA Today
305 PRESS Press Releases
310 BOWEN A Networker's Journal
315 FCC FCC Proposal News
320 CAA Computing Across America
Esc Exit U Update list 890101 P Sort by page number
/ Choose product N Find new item M Sort by mnemonic
Log on to product S Search for item D Sort by description
Figure VIII-2 - GEnie Product Index Screen
Within the GEnie Product Index screen there are several commands
available to you.
[Esc] - Pressing the [Esc] key exits from the Product
Index screen and returns you to the Miscellaneous
Options menu.
[Up] - Pressing the [Up] arrow key moves the selection
bar up one position on the screen.
[Down] - Pressing the [Down] arrow key moves the selection
bar down one position on the screen.
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[Enter] - Pressing the [Enter] key tells Aladdin to
immediately log you on to Aladdin and take you
directly to the selected service's opening page.
Aladdin then turns over control to you in Terminal
Mode.
"U" - Pressing the "U" key tells Aladdin to immediately
log on to GEnie. It then issues a number of
commands which makes GEnie transmit the latest
complete listing of all the services available on
GEnie. Aladdin then updates the database, logs
off, and returns control to you at this same
screen. The date next to the word "list" on that
option's label tells you the last time Aladdin
updated its internal product list database. You
should issue this command once a month to keep the
list up-to-date. New products are marked with an
asterisk "*" character.
"N" - Pressing the "N" key instructs Aladdin to compare
the current list in memory with the database on
disk to determine if there are any new services
available on GEnie since the last time you updated
the product list. This is a very easy way to find
out "what's new" on GEnie.
"S" - Pressing the "S" key causes a small window to be
displayed on the screen which is used to search
for a particular GEnie service in which you may be
interested in. The window is similar to that
depicted in Figure VIII-3.
Search string:
Esc Exit without searching
Ctrl-S Begin search
Figure VIII-3 - GEnie Product Index Search Window
To search for a service, enter a search string in the
field, and press [Ctrl-S]. Aladdin will search the
database, and if it finds a match, it will move the
selection bar to the matched service. You can then
press [Enter] to tell Aladdin to take you to that
service on GEnie.
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"P"/"M"/"D" - The "P", "M" and "D" commands are used to define
the way in which the database of products is
displayed on the screen. Pressing "P" tells
Aladdin to display the database in order of page
numbers. This is the default method which Aladdin
uses when you enter this screen. Pressing the "M"
key tells Aladdin to sort and display the database
by the alphabetic order of the mnemonic codes.
Pressing the "D" key tells Aladdin to display the
database by the alphabetic order of the long
descriptions of each service. Note that there will
be a slight delay while Aladdin completes the
sort. Aladdin displays a " " marker on the
horizontal line separating the display from the
menu options. The marker appears on the left- hand
side and moves to the right as the sorting process
continues. When the marker reaches the right-hand
side, the sorting process is complete and Aladdin
displays the product index list in the order which
you have selected.
2. Option "P" - Changing Your Password
The "P" option is used to change your GEnie login password.
When you press the "P" key, Aladdin displays a small window like
the one depicted in Figure VIII-4.
New password:
Esc Abort
Change password
Ctrl-L Random letters (209 trillion choices)
Ctrl-W Random words (6.8 million choices)
Figure VIII-4 - Aladdin Password Change Screen
You have three options to change your password.
1) You can enter a new password in the "New password:" field
and press [Enter].
2) You can press [Ctrl-L] to have Aladdin select a new
password composed of random letters. As the text explains,
this method can yield 209,000,000,000,000 different choices.
You can continue to press [Ctrl-L] until Aladdin displays a
password that you consider to be satisfactory, then press
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[Enter] to tell Aladdin to change the password to the random
password displayed in the field.
3) You can press [Ctrl-W] to have Aladdin select a new
password composed of a two random words. As the text
explains, this method can yield 6,800,000 different choices.
You can continue to press [Ctrl-W] until Aladdin displays a
password that you consider to be satisfactory, then press
[Enter] to tell Aladdin to change the password to the random
password displayed in the field.
Once you press [Enter], Aladdin will log on to GEnie and
change your password for you. If you do not want to change the
password, press [Esc]. This will abort the process and return you
to the Miscellaneous Options screen.
- NOTE -
The password change is reflected in your
configuration screen as well, since Aladdin
needs to know what the new password is.
However, the change is reflected only in the
ACTIVE configuration, not on any other
additional configurations. You must manually
change the password in the other
configurations, if you have any.
You should get into the habit of changing your password at
least once every 3 months or so to ensure that your account is
secure from unauthorized use by third parties.
- WARNING -
Make sure that if you change your password
you also write it down on a piece of paper
and store it in a safe location. If you
change your password and then lose it (or if
for some reason the Aladdin configuration
file ALADDIN.CFG is deleted), you will not be
able to log on and you will have to call the
GEnie Client Services department to obtain a
new password. This is particularly important
if you like to choose random letters for a
password. Random words are a little easier to
remember, but you should still take the
precaution of writing the password down and
saving it somewhere. Make sure that you do
not write it down or store it in a place
where others can read it and use it. You are
responsible for use of your account.
Safeguard your password properly!
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Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
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3. Option "B" - Reviewing Your GEnie Account's Billing History
One of the neatest features of Aladdin is that it keeps
track of the money you are spending on your GEnie account while
you are logged on, as long as you use Aladdin exclusively for
accessing the GEnie services. You may have noticed that Aladdin
keeps a dollar and cent count of your running charges when you
are logged on and displays this count on the screen while it is
accessing GEnie (we will cover this subject in the next section,
Aladdin's Terminal Mode). Every time you log off GEnie, Aladdin
adds the total dollar and cent count to a file which contains the
billing history of your account from the point at which you
started using GEnie. The "B" option in the Miscellaneous Options
menu gives you access to this billing history. When you press
"B", Aladdin displays a window similar to that shown in Figure
VIII-5 on your screen.
- NOTE -
To ensure that Aladdin keeps a correct
billing history of your account it is
imperative that you ensure that Aladdin knows
the amount of money you are being charged for
GEnie usage. This billing rate figure is
entered in the Aladdin Setup Screen (see the
section on Setting Up Aladdin"). At the time
this manual was written, at 300 baud the
connect charges are $5.00 per hour, $6.00 per
hour at 1200 baud and $10.00 per hour at 2400
baud. The prime-time rate is an even $18.00
per hour. Some services on GEnie have
additional surcharges, and the method of
access you are using may also carry another
surcharge, such as when you use Telenet to
access GEnie. If you are not sure what your
billing rates are, contact GEnie Client
Services for more information and assistance.
If Aladdin does not know what your billing
rate is, or if the billing rate is incorrect,
the billing history will also be incorrect.
At any rate, it is impossible for Aladdin to
predict what all the billing rates and
surcharges will be, so at best the billing
history will always be a close approximation
of your actual billing charges, to be used as
a general usage charge guideline only.
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Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
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Which month?
A January G July
B February H August
C March I September
D April J October
E May K November
F June L December
Esc Exit X All months
Command [ ]
Figure VIII-5 - Account Billing History Selection Window
At this point you select which month you wish to view your
account's billing history for. Press the letter on your keyboard
that is next to the month you want to work with. You may also
choose to view your entire billing history by pressing the "X"
key. If you do not want to view your billing history at this
time, press the [Esc] key to close the window and return to the
Miscellaneous Options menu.
If you select a single month, Aladdin will display a
detailed listing of the month's activity. If there is activity
for more than one year in the data file, Aladdin will separate
the listing for each year's selected month. If you select all
months, Aladdin will display a summary of the activity for each
month of each year for which Aladdin has information in its data
file.
Figure VIII-6 shows a sample activity screen displayed when
all months are selected.
As you can see, Aladdin displays the approximate billing for
each month in dollars and cents, followed by the number of calls
Aladdin made to GEnie, the total time it spent online in
HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS format, the average duration of each call
in the same display format and the average cost of each call in
dollars and cents.
If you select a particular month for viewing, Aladdin will
display a screen similar to that depicted in Figure VIII-7.
Aladdin may display a message stating that a "Summary of charges
follows listing", which means that if you move further down you
will find a summary of the month's billing activity. If there is
only a small amount of activity in the data file for that month,
Aladdin will display the summary on the same screen and you will
not see the message.
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File _BILLING.HST
Total for November 1988 $634.52
Number of calls made 127
Total time on-line 47:35:04
Duration of average call 00:22:28
Cost of average call $5.00
Total for December 1988 $425.98
Number of calls made 98
Total time on-line 56:15:09
Duration of average call 00:34:26
Cost of average call $4.35
Esc Exit / Move one line X Extract
F7 Mark block start PgUp/PgDn Move one screen S Search
F8 Mark block end Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn Move to top/bottom
Figure VIII-6 - Billing History Sample Screen - All Months Selected
Next, Aladdin displays the month's billing activity in
columnar form, with the first column representing the date in
which an entry was made, the duration of the call in
HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS format and the cost of the call in dollars
and cents. If the call was made during prime-time, a letter "P"
will be placed to the right of the cost figure to indicate that
fact to you.
The command available from this screen are,
[Esc] - Pressing [Esc] will exit from this screen and
return you to the billing selection window.
[F7] - [F8] - The [F7] and [F8] function keys are used to mark a
block of text within the display window for
extraction to a file. These functions work hand in
hand with the "X" command, which we will cover in
a moment. To select a block of text to extract,
move the cursor to the position at the beginning
of the block which you wish to extract and press
the [F7] function key. Move the cursor to the end
of the block and press the [F8] function key.
Aladdin will then mark the block of text for you
so that you can see what you have selected.
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File _BILLING.HST
Summary of charges follows listing
Date Time Duration Cost
881201 01:09 00:04:32 0.37
881201 11:51 00:13:22 7.74 P
881201 12:33 00:06:42 3.85 P
881201 14:19 00:18:45 10.88 P
881201 20:17 00:23:40 1.97
881201 21:20 00:13:30 1.12
881202 12:55 00:13:42 7.94 P
881202 14:27 01:04:36 37.64 P
881203 02:59 00:15:22 1.27
881203 03:37 00:06:27 0.53
881203 10:57 00:13:23 1.11
881203 11:45 00:25:49 2.15
881203 15:16 01:21:27 6.78
881203 21:45 00:40:00 3.33
881203 22:03 00:03:17 0.27
881203 03:32 00:09:11 0.76
Esc Exit / Move one line X Extract
F7 Mark block start PgUp/PgDn Move one screen S Search
F8 Mark block end Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn Move to top/bottom
Figure VIII-7 - Billing History Sample Screen - Monthly Detail
"X" - Pressing the "X" key will tell Aladdin to extract
a previously marked block of text to a file. You
must mark a block of text with the [F7] and [F8]
function keys for this feature to work. Aladdin
will display a window on the screen which prompts
you for the filename of the file you want to save
the marked block of text to. If the file exists,
Aladdin will ask you if you want to add the text
to the contents of the file, overwrite the file or
abort the operation. You can also specify a
destination of "PRN" to print the text. Aladdin
will tell you that this file exists. This is
normal. Select "A" to print the text to the
printer.
[Up] - Pressing the [Up] arrow key moves the cursor up
one line on the screen.
[Down] - Pressing the [Down] arrow key moves the cursor
down one line on the screen.
[PgUp] - Pressing the [PgUp] key on the numeric keypad
scrolls the information up on the screen one page.
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[PgDn] - Pressing the [PgDn] key on the numeric keypad
scrolls the information down on the screen one
page.
[Ctrl-PgUp] - Pressing the [Ctrl-PgUp] keys moves the cursor to
the beginning of the billing information screen.
[Ctrl-PgDn] - Pressing the [Ctrl-PgDn] keys moves the cursor to
the end of the billing information screen.
"S" - Pressing the "S" key tells Aladdin that you want
to search the billing information that is
currently displayed for a specific string of
characters. Aladdin will display a window on the
screen and prompt you for the search string. Enter
the text to be searched into the field and press
[Ctrl-S] to begin the search. If Aladdin finds the
text in the currently displayed billing
information, it will move the cursor to the line.
If it doesn't, Aladdin will let you know about it
and ask you to press any key to return to the
billing information display. If you do not want to
conduct the search, press [Esc] to exit the search
function and return to viewing the billing
information.
This search feature is useful for finding specific
dates within the billing display. For example, if you
want to find what activity if any you had on January
15th, 1989, you would enter a search string of "890115"
into the search string field and press [Ctrl-S]. If
there was any activity during that day, Aladdin will
find it in the billing information and move the cursor
to it.
4. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu
When you are finished with the Miscellaneous Options menu,
press the [Esc] key and Aladdin will take you back to the Aladdin
Main Menu.
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IX. Aladdin Terminal Mode
Aladdin's window to the outside world is through its
Terminal Mode screen. When in Terminal Mode, Aladdin will either
show you its progress as it executes an Automatic Pass, or it
will allow you to manually access GEnie (or for that matter any
other communication service which can be accessed through your
modem).
Aladdin has two distinct ways in which it presents its
Terminal Mode to you. The first is when it is performing an
automated task on GEnie, such as checking a RoundTable for new
messages. The other is when you invoke the manual mode. We will
cover both in this section, but first we will discuss the
Terminal Mode menu and its related screens. Aladdin's Terminal
Mode menu is shown in Figure IX-1.
Terminal menu
Terminal options:
T Terminal mode
G Log on
L Log off
H Hang up
Miscellaneous
B View GEnie banner
N View Notifies
F Flush Notifies
Disk options:
A Begin ASCII capture
S Send ASCII file
D Xmodem Download (CRC)
U Xmodem Upload (CRC)
Navigation:
F2 Go to Mail menu
F3 Go to Miscellaneous Options
Esc Return to Main menu
Command [ ]
Figure IX-1 - Aladdin's Terminal Mode Menu
1. Option "T" - Enter Terminal Mode
Pressing the "T" key puts Aladdin into terminal mode and
turns over complete control of the communications system to the
user. At this point, Aladdin is basically a dumb terminal which
communicates via a serial port and a modem to the outside world.
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The Aladdin Terminal Mode screen, when entered into by using the
"T" option, is composed of three distinct areas.
1) The upper two lines of the screen show the Aladdin
copyright notice and a list of available command keystrokes.
This section of the screen is depicted in Figures IX-2 and
IX-3.
2) The bottom line of the screen shows a status line, which
displays a number of status messages and fields related to
Aladdin's operations. This portion of the screen is depicted
in Figure IX-5.
3) The portion of the screen between these two areas is the
communications screen.
GEnie PC Aladdin 1.30 $4.51 05:02:00a
Esc Menu F6 RTC F7 Echo F8 Blanks F9 8th bit F10 Look back
Figure IX-2 - Aladdin Terminal Mode Screen - Upper Section - Commands
In this line of the screen, there are only two items which
change. On the top line of the screen, all the way to the right,
there is a time display which shows you the time as kept by your
computer's internal clock. When you are on-line with GEnie during
an Automatic Pass or in manual mode, there is a second display
between the copyright information and the current time. It is
currently shown as "$4.51". This represents the dollars and cents
which Aladdin has calculated that your charges will be for this
call. This display is continuous; while you are online it will
increase. If it is flashing on and off as well, it means that
Aladdin detected that you are calling during a prime-time period.
It flashes to draw your attention to the fact that charges will
be incurred at a much faster rate than during a non-prime-time
session. This running charges display is not shown while Aladdin
is not online to GEnie. There is another variation of this status
line, depicted in Figure IX-3, which shows the function key
options available when Aladdin is performing an automated
operation.
GEnie PC Aladdin 1.30 $ 4.51 05:02:00a
Esc Abort operation F4 Fix garbled prompt F5 Stay on-line when done
Figure IX-3 - Aladdin Terminal Mode Screen - Upper Section, in Automated Task
Let's examine the commands available in the top section of
the Terminal Mode screen,
[Esc] - Pressing the [Esc] while Aladdin is performing an
automated task causes the task to be terminated.
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Aladdin the turns over control to you in terminal
mode. Pressing the [Esc] key while in terminal
mode (no automated tasks running) exits Terminal
Mode and returns you to the Terminal Mode menu.
- NOTE -
Aladdin does not terminate a phone call or hang up the
modem when it exits terminal mode if the mode was
entered by using the "T" option in the Terminal Mode
menu. It is up to the user to terminate the phone call
by using the "L" or "H" option on the Terminal Mode
menu, or disconnecting the call manually by turning off
the modem. If the status line's left-hand field has an
"ON" status and the dollars and cents counter is still
climbing (and possibly flashing because you are
connected during prime time) you are still online with
GEnie and account charges are being accrued!
The following function key commands are only available while
Aladdin is processing an automated task.
[F4] - The [F4] function key reads "Fix garbled prompt",
but in fact it should read "Give Aladdin a nudge", because
that's exactly what it does. There are some situations in
which the phone line you are using may be a little too
"noisy". The symptoms of this condition are the display of
garbage characters on the screen. Aladdin is very picky
about what characters it receives, since it is looking for
some very specific responses from the GEnie system. If for
some reason it does not receive exactly what it is waiting
for, it may decide that it did not receive the proper
response. It will then wait until it does receive a
response. If you see, on the screen, that GEnie did in fact
respond, you can press the [F4] function key. This tells
Aladdin "it's ok, go ahead and continue with what you were
going to do next."
[F5] - The [F5] function key toggles the "STAY" indicator
on the status line, which tells Aladdin whether or not it is
to log off from GEnie when it finishes performing an
automated operation.
The following function key commands are only available while
Aladdin is in manual terminal mode.
[F6] - The [F6] function key toggles RTC mode while in
manual terminal mode. This mode splits the screen into two
sections with a dividing line located about three-quarters
of the way down the communications area of the terminal mode
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screen. The top area displays characters received from
GEnie. The bottom area displays the text that you type from
the keyboard, and only sends it to GEnie when you press the
[Enter] key. When you ask Aladdin to log you on to an RTC
for any of the RoundTables, it will put you into this RTC
mode.
[F7] - The [F7] function key toggles the "ECHO" status
indicator at the bottom of the screen while in terminal
mode. See the explanation on the "ECHO" status indicator
further on in this section for more information.
[F8] - The [F8] function key toggles the "Blanks OK/Blanks
OFF" status indicator at the bottom of the screen in
terminal mode. See the explanation on the "Blanks OK/Blanks
OFF" status field further on in this section for more
information.
[F9] - The [F9] function key toggles the "7bit/8bit" status
indicator at the bottom of the screen in terminal mode. See
the explanation on the "7bit/8bit" status field further on
in this section for more information.
[F10] - The [F10] function key toggles the terminal mode
screen between displaying normal communications and "Look
Back" mode. Aladdin stores the last few screens of
characters that it receives from GEnie, and allows you to
browse through that text. This feature is useful for when
you are looking for something that just scrolled off the top
of the screen but you don't want to have to issue more GEnie
commands to redisplay the information. When you press the
[F10] function key, Aladdin changes the screen to display
the scrolled text and puts a small menu section at the
bottom of the screen with the available commands in "Look
Back" mode, depicted in Figure IX-4.
Esc Exit / Move one line X Extract
F7 Mark block start PgUp/PgDn Move one screen S Search
F8 Mark block end Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn Move to top/bottom
Figure IX-4 - Aladdin Terminal Mode Screen - Look Back Mode Menu
Within the "Look Back" mode all the key commands work
exactly the same as in the billing history screen. Refer to the
explanation of the keys available in the billing history section
in the previous chapter of this manual.
Figure IX-5 depicts Aladdin's status line, which is located
at the bottom of every screen except some of the internal
operation screens such as message reply, etc.
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Off 7bit ECHO Blanks OK Capture OFF Terminal mode
Figure IX-5 - Aladdin Terminal Mode Screen - Bottom Section - Status
The small squares in Figure IX-5 represent additional fields
in the status line that are not showing any information at the
moment. Each little section of the status line display shown in
Figure IX-5 constitutes a status display for one particular
function of Aladdin. Note that this status line is displayed on
all the Aladdin menus except some of the lower levels such as
when you are editing a message reply. The fields are, from left
to right:
On/Off-line Indicator - This status indicator tells you if
your modem is currently connected to a remote system such as
GEnie. For those of you that have a deeper understanding of
modem communications, this field is set to "ON" when the
modem signals Aladdin that it has detected the carrier
signal from GEnie's modem and the "CD" (carrier detect)
signal is asserted. When the carrier is lost due to the
modem terminating the call the status field is set to "OFF".
RDY Indicator - This indicator displays the message "RDY"
when it tells the modem that the computer is ready to
communicate with it. For those of you that are familiar with
RS-232 communications, Aladdin displays the "RDY" message
when it asserts the "DTR" (Data Terminal Ready) line to
enable the modem.
7bit/8bit Indicator - This status indicator tells you if
Aladdin is operating in 7- or 8-bit mode. The only
importance of this field is when you are connected to
another communication service other than GEnie which can
display the full character set of the IBM-PC. Aladdin itself
always operates in 8-bit mode internally. For example, if
the system you are connected to is sending you line graphics
characters, Aladdin will not display them correctly in 7-bit
mode. You need to switch Aladdin to 8-bit mode to display
these characters properly. If you intend to use Aladdin
exclusively for access to GEnie, you will never have to
worry about this indicator
ECHO Indicator - This indicator tells you whether you will
be able to see what you type on the screen as you press the
keys on the keyboard. Aladdin's default (and the best choice
for communication with GEnie) is ECHO mode (otherwise known
as "Half-Duplex Mode"). In this mode whatever you type on
the keyboard will also show up on the screen. If the
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indicator is turned off (blank), Aladdin is in "No Echo"
mode, which means that you will not be able to see what you
type. Aladdin only uses the "No Echo" mode when it is logged
into the RTC area of a RoundTable.
RTC Indicator - This indicator tells you if Aladdin is in
RTC mode. We will cover RTC mode a little further on in this
section of the manual.
STAY Indicator - This indicator tells you whether or not
Aladdin will terminate the current session on GEnie after
performing an automatic operation. The status of this
indicator can only be changed by pressing the [F5] function
key while Aladdin is performing an automated operation. If
the indicator reads "STAY", once Aladdin completes the
automated operation, be it a full pass or a simple message
reply, it will return control to you with the call still
connected and the session in progress. Control will be
returned to the menu from which the automated operation was
initiated. If the indicator is blank, once Aladdin finished
the automated operation it will issue a "BYE" command to
GEnie, wait until GEnie finishes the session, and then
return control to you.
BLANKS OK/BLANKS OFF Indicator - When this indicator
displays the "BLANKS OK" message, Aladdin will display each
incoming line exactly as it is sent to your computer. If the
indicator reads "BLANKS OFF", when Aladdin receives a blank
line of text, the blank line will not be displayed. Only
lines that contain some text will be displayed. The "BLANKS
OFF" mode is used in RTC mode, but you can use it anywhere
you want on GEnie.
CAPTURE ON/CAPTURE OFF Indicator - This indicator tells you
if Aladdin is currently capturing all the text being sent to
it by GEnie. Capturing text requires a command from the
Terminal Mode menu. If the indicator reads "Capture OFF",
Aladdin is displaying the text it receives but is not saving
it. If you instruct Aladdin to capture the session to a
file, Aladdin will place a "Capture ON" status in this field
and will also display the number of characters captured to
the text file since you began the capture.
XON/XOFF Indicator - This field displays an "X" when Aladdin
must send an "XOFF" signal to the remote computer to ask it
to pause the transmission of characters for a moment while
Aladdin processes what it already has received. This
condition occurs when Aladdin's communications buffer is
almost full.
General Mode Indicator - This indicator is used by Aladdin
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to tell you what particular task it is performing while it
is processing an automated operation. For example, if it is
sending mail, Aladdin will put a "Sending Mail" message in
this field. When you are using the manual terminal mode,
Aladdin puts a message here that reads "Terminal mode". This
field is not used while you are in any other section of the
Aladdin program.
2. Option "G" - Log On to GEnie
Pressing the "G" key while in the Terminal Mode menu causes
Aladdin to immediately log on to GEnie and turn over control to
you in terminal mode on the opening page of the GEnie system.
3. Option "L" - Log Off from GEnie
Pressing the "L" key logs you off from GEnie. You must be
connected to GEnie for this command to work. Aladdin will issue a
"BYE" command, wait until GEnie hangs up the phone and then turn
over control to you in the Terminal Mode menu.
4. Option "H" - Hang Up the Phone
Pressing the "H" key immediately hangs up the phone. This is
the "panic" command to log off, and should not be used except in
extreme circumstances when nothing else seems to work. For those
of you who are more familiar with how modems work, Aladdin drops
the signal on the DTR (Data Terminal Ready) line, which causes
the modem (if configured correctly for use with Aladdin) to
immediately hang up the phone.
5. Option "N" - View Notifies
Pressing "N" will show you the notifies that you may have
received while connected to GEnie. Notifies are real-time
messages that a user can send to another on GEnie. To send a
notify to a user, you must be online and in terminal mode, and on
a GEnie page prompt, i.e. "P 200?" as the current prompt. The
notify is sent by typing an "N" and a space, then the user's
GEmail ID and a space, followed by a message up to 240 characters
in length. You then press [Enter] to send the message to the
user. An example,
P 200?N JOE.USER Hi Joe! I see you're back online!
If the users is online, GEnie will check to see if the user
has told GEnie that he/she is willing to receive notify messages.
This is controlled with the NONOTIFY command. Typing a "NONOTIFY"
at a GEnie page prompt will signal GEnie that you do not want to
receive notifies. GEnie will confirm this. If you send the
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command again, you are telling GEnie that you do want to receive
notifies, and GEnie also confirms this. The command is like a
pushbutton switch. You press (send) it once and it's ON. You
press (send) it again and it's off.
If GEnie determines that the user is online, and notifies
are enabled, GEnie will send the message to the user and tell you
that it sent it. The user will receive it the next time the
recipient gets to a page prompt. At that point GEnie will send
you a message saying that the recipient received the notify. You
will see the confirmation the next time -you- get to a page
prompt. If the recipient has notifies disabled, you will be told
that such is the case and the message will not be sent. If the
user is not online at the time you want to send the notify
message, GEnie will also inform you of this fact and the message
will not be sent either.
The purpose of this menu option is to allow you to go back
after a session is over and see if anyone sent you any notify
messages. If so, the "N" option will have a " " marker next to
it.
6. Option "F" - Flush Notifies
The notifies that Aladdin receives while you are online are
stored in memory (for you techie programmer types, they are
stored on a linked list). Once you have read the notifies and
replied to those you wish feel you need to, it's a good idea to
remove them from memory. The "F" option does just that. It
removes all the stored notifies from memory (think of it as
flushing them down the toilet, hence the term "flush"). The
marker next to the "N" option is also removed, if indeed there
were stored notifies in memory and the marker was set.
7. Option "B" - View GEnie banner
Everytime Aladdin logs onto GEnie, GEnie displays a "login
banner", usually a screenful of information regarding new
products and important announcements. Pressing the "B" displays
this banner, which Aladdin stores for you on disk for easy
reference. You should check the banner every day for important
information and announcements.
8. Option "A" - Begin/End ASCII Capture
Aladdin is capable of capturing all incoming text from GEnie
to a file. This feature is accessed through the use of the "A"
option in the Terminal Mode menu. To capture incoming text to a
file, press the "A" key. Aladdin will prompt you for the file
name to which you want it to capture the incoming text. Enter the
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file name and press [Enter]. If the file already exists, Aladdin
will ask you if you want to append the incoming text to the file,
overwrite the file, try another name or abort the command. If you
want to append the incoming text to a file, press the "A" key. If
you want Aladdin to erase the file and start saving the text from
scratch, press the "O" key. If you gave Aladdin the wrong name or
if you want to try another file name, press the [Enter] and enter
the file name again. If you want to abort the capture command,
press the [Esc] key.
Once the capture process has begun, the menu option text for
option "A" changes from "Begin ASCII capture" to "End ASCII
capture". Press the "T" key to return to terminal mode (or begin
any other automated or manual command). When you are finished
with your session on GEnie, or when you have captured the text
that you wanted, return to the Terminal Mode menu and press the
"A" key once again. Aladdin will terminate the capture process
and close the file.
9. Option "S" - Send ASCII File
The "S" option is used to tell Aladdin to send a text file
through the communications line to another computer system.
- WARNING -
Make sure that the file which you ask Aladdin
to send using this command is indeed a text
file. If it is a program or data file that is
not in ASCII text format, you will get some
very unpredictable results.
To send an ASCII text file, you must first be connected to
GEnie and must have prepared GEnie to receive the ASCII text
file. If you are uploading the file as a message to one of the
RoundTables, you need to tell GEnie that you are replying to a
message, and when it gives you the "1>" prompt to begin entering
your reply, type the "*UP" command. This puts the GEnie software
in a mode in which it will receive the file properly into the
message area. If you do not do this, your message will not come
out properly. The same commands apply to GEmail. If you are
uploading a text file into a software library, use the "Upload a
file" option and select 7-bit text protocol. Make sure that you
want until GEnie says it is ready to receive the file.
In any case, both of these operations can be performed by
Aladdin without any intervention on your part other than telling
it what file to send or composing the message that you want to
post. Let Aladdin take care of the hard things as much as
possible, that's what it was designed for!
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To initiate the send process, press the "S" key. Aladdin
will then ask you to tell it what file you want it to send. Enter
the file name and press [Enter]. Aladdin will then proceed to
send the file as fast as it can. When it is finished it will
return control to you at the Terminal Mode menu. Note that
Aladdin does not perform any "pacing" nor does it look for any
"cues" from the receiving end to determine when it can or can't
send the text file data. It just sends it as fast as it can,
period.
10. Options "D" and "U" - XMODEM File Download and Upload (CRC)
The "D" and "U" options are used to initiate XMODEM file
transfers to/from a remote computer system such as GEnie. Before
we explain how the commands work, let's cover a little background
history of the XMODEM file transfer protocol.
The XMODEM file transfer protocol was developed by Ward
Christensen. It was designed as an easy (though back then it
wasn't as easy as it is today) and efficient way to transfer
files from one computer to another using a modem. It was also
designed to be easy to implement on virtually all types of
computers, from the first hacker boxes to the latest Cray
supercomputers.
The way XMODEM works is by dividing a file into chunks of
128 characters each (also known as "packets" or "blocks") and
sending them out one at a time. The computer that sends the file
also includes a verification number which the receiving computer
can use to check that the data was received properly. Originally
this number was a "checksum" of the 128 bytes of data (a checksum
is simply the sum of all the values of the data, truncated to a
maximum of 16 bits, or 65536). Later on a new verification
process was designed which uses a method known as Cyclic
Redundancy Check (or CRC for short). This method uses a
mathematical formula to calculate the check value. The receiving
computer then applies the same formula to the incoming data and,
if the results are the same, the packet was received properly. If
the result does not match, the receiving computer asks the
sending computer to send the packet again. Besides the packets of
data, the computers communicate through a simple "OK" and "NOT
OK" language. The characters used for this are the "ACK" and
"NAK" characters, respectively. These characters are special one-
character codes defined by convention as part of the complete
ASCII character set.
Aladdin has a built-in implementation of the XMODEM-CRC
protocol which it uses to download and upload files from/to
GEnie. It invokes this feature automatically when Aladdin is
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processing an automated task which calls for such an action to be
taken, but you can also invoke the XMODEM file transfer routines
manually from the Terminal Mode menu.
The "D" option is used to receive files from the remote
computer system. To initiate a file transfer, you must wait until
the remote computer system is ready to send you the file. In the
case of GEnie, it will send you a message that contains words
such as "File is ready, start your XMODEM file transfer now".
Once the remote system is ready to send the file, you exit
terminal mode with the [Esc] key to return to the Terminal Mode
menu, and press "D" to begin the download. Aladdin will prompt
you for the file name that you want to give to the file. Enter
the file name and press [Enter]. If the file already exists,
Aladdin will ask you if you want to overwrite the file, try
another name or abort the process. If you want to overwrite the
existing file, press the "O" key. If you want to try another file
name, press the [Enter] key and enter another file name. If you
want to abort the download command, press the [Esc] key. Once you
have entered the file name and pressed [Enter], Aladdin will
return to the Terminal Mode menu and display a file transfer
status window which shows you the progress of the file transfer
as it is performed. Figure IX-6 depicts the file transfer
progress window.
- NOTE -
If you told GEnie to start an Xmodem download
and you changed your mind, you will need to
abort the download on the GEnie side. To do
this, press and hold the [Ctrl] key and press
the "X" key ONCE, then release the [Ctrl]
key. GEnie should respond with a message that
says that the download was aborted. If it
doesn't, try send the [Ctrl-X] sequence
again. Zmodem downloads are aborted by
pressing the [Esc] key when Aladdin
automatically begins the download process.
There are several distinct sections and one available
command in this window. Let's cover them one by one, starting
from the top left,
Download filename - This field tells you the name of the
file that Aladdin is downloading. Note that this is the file
name that you assigned to the incoming file, not the one on
the sending computer. Most of the time the file names are
the same, but sometimes they are not.
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[Esc] - To abort the file transfer, press the [Esc] once.
Aladdin will terminate the transfer and return you to the
Terminal Mode menu.
Bytes Received - This field keeps a running count of the
number of characters received during the transfer.
Downloading MYFILE.TST
Press Esc to abort transfer
Bytes received Transfer speed
Blocks received Efficiency
Blocks re-sent Elapsed time
Errors Est. time left
Figure IX-6 - Aladdin XMODEM Download Transfer Progress Window
Blocks Received - This field keeps a running count of the
number of packets of data received during the transfer.
Blocks re-sent - This field keeps track of the number of
times that Aladdin could not match the verification number
for a received packet of data with the number that the
remote computer gave it, so Aladdin had to ask the remote
computer to send the packet again.
Errors - This field keeps track of the total number of
errors encountered during the file transfer.
Transfer speed - This field keeps track of how many
characters per second Aladdin is receiving from the remote
computer. This is an average number, not a total count, and
it takes into account the pauses between packets to give you
an idea of how fast the transfer is going. This field
applies to all files downloaded during a single session, so
it eventually reaches a pretty good average figure.
Efficiency - This field is a percentage field, and it gives
you the efficiency of the transfer. 100% is perfect. Aladdin
figures out what the time to transfer the file should be
under perfect conditions, and constantly compares that to
the actual time it is taking to transfer the file. This
field applies to all files transferred during a session as
well.
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Elapsed time - This field gives you the time elapsed in
hours, minutes and seconds since you began the file
transfer.
Est. time left - This field gives you Aladdin's estimate of
how much time is left for the transfer to be completed. This
is a function of file size (if you are connected to GEnie
Aladdin always knows how big the incoming file is) and the
current efficiency factors.
Last error message area - The shaded area below the "Errors"
field is a message area, Every time Aladdin detects an
error, it will display the cause of the error in this area.
When another error is detected, Aladdin overwrites the last
message and displays a new one.
Returning to the Terminal Mode menu, the "U" command
performs the opposite operation of the "D" command. Instead
of receiving a file, it sends a file. You must also make
sure that the receiving computer is ready to receive the
file. GEnie usually signals that is is ready with a "READY"
prompt message. Aladdin will also prompt you for a path
and/or file name when you select the "U" command, but if you
make a mistake when you type it will simply tell you that
the file does not exist. Enter the file name and press
[Enter]. Aladdin will then go to the terminal mode screen
and display a window exactly the same as the one in Figure
IX-6, except that instead of saying "Downloading" it will
say "Uploading". All the fields have the same meanings as
when you are downloading a file.
11. Zmodem Downloads
With the introduction of version 1.11, Aladdin now has the
built-in capability to perform file downloads using the Zmodem
protocol. When in terminal mode, the Zmodem download process is
completely automatic. You simply ask GEnie to begin the download
of one or more files (up to 20) using the Zmodem protocol, and
Aladdin will take care of the rest. It will detect that GEnie
wishes to initiate a Zmodem download and begin the process
automatically. The only difference between a Zmodem download
progress window and an Xmodem download progress window is in the
"Blocks re-sent" field. The Zmodem driver uses this area to
display the type of packets that GEnie is using to transfer the
files. Normal packets will display a "CRC32" string in this
field, compressed packets will display a "CRC32/RLE" string in
the field, and packets using the MobyTurbo(tm) Zmodem-90
extension will display a "CRC32/Moby" string in the field.
Multiple file requests are handled automatically.
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12. Quick Access Keys - [F2] and [F3]
Pressing the [F2] function key will immediately take you to
the GEmail Menu on Aladdin. Pressing the [F3] function key will
take you to the Miscellaneous Options on Aladdin.
11. Exiting to the Aladdin Main Menu
Pressing the [Esc] key will exit the GEmail section menu and
return you to the Aladdin Main Menu.
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X. The Aladdin Script Language
Aladdin, with all its powerful features and functions, is
not capable of accessing all services on GEnie in the process of
performing an automatic pass. It also does not have any built-in
functions to access other services other than GEnie, even though
it is a communications program. To make up for these
shortcomings, it was decided to give Aladdin a tool that would
make it flexible enough to perform user-defined automated tasks,
within GEnie or any other service. This facility is the Aladdin
Script Language. In this section we will cover the Aladdin Script
Language, as well as the menu options and tools within Aladdin
that go along with the language.
Before we begin, let's cover some basic points about
scripts. All Aladdin scripts are stored in one file, the
"SCRIPT.TXT", which comes with the Aladdin distribution kit. When
installed, Aladdin comes with only one script entry, and it is an
empty script. You can edit the script file with a normal text
editor, but we recommend that you use Aladdin's script editor as
it is designed to work with the format of the script file. In
that way you don't have to worry about where to place the scripts
or what to call them, Aladdin does that automatically.
If you refer to Figure IV-1, which depicts Aladdin's main
menu, you will notice that there are a number of commands and a
display window which refer to scripts. Since the access to the
script language options and tools is the first thing you notice
about scripts, we'll cover them first.
1. Options "3" through "9" - Invoking an Aladdin Script
The window on the lower right-hand side of the main menu
shows a number of fields, numbered "3" through "9". Pressing one
of the number keys in that range instructs Aladdin to execute
that particular script.
2. Option [F7] - Invoke Aladdin's Script Menu
Pressing the [F7] function key causes Aladdin to display its
Script Menu, depicted in Figure X-1.
The available commands within this menu are:
"A" - Pressing the "A" key tells Aladdin that you want to
add a script to the script file. If there is an empty slot
in the "User Scripts" window, Aladdin will immediately go
into script editing mode using that script number. Script
editing mode is simply a text editor window that allows you
to edit the text within a script. Pressing the [Esc] key
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within the script editor saves the current script and
returns to the Aladdin script menu. Pressing [Ctrl-A] tells
Aladdin to abort the script editing task. Aladdin will ask
you to confirm the abort command. Press "Y" if you indeed
want to terminate the editing process and return to the
script menu. Press "N" if you want to continue editing the
script.
Script menu User Scripts
3 untitled
Editing options: 4
A Add a script 5
E Edit a script 6
D Delete a script 7
8
Navigation: 9
Esc Return to Main menu
F2 Go to GE Mail menu
F3 Go to Miscellaneous Options
F4 Go to Terminal menu
Command [ ]
Figure X-1 - Aladdin Script Menu
"E" - Pressing the "E" key tells Aladdin that you wish to
edit a script. Aladdin will display a small window asking
you which script you want to edit. Press the key
corresponding to the number of the script, from "3" through
"9". Aladdin will load the script into the script editor and
you may begin editing. If you change your mind about editing
a script, press the [Esc] key. Aladdin will close the window
and return you to the script menu.
"D" - Pressing the "D" key tells Aladdin that you want to
delete a script from the script file. Aladdin will display a
window asking you which script you want to delete. Press the
key for the number of the script from "3" through "9".
Aladdin will then delete the script from the script file and
the script listing for that script in the right-hand window
of the script menu will disappear. If you do not want to
delete a script, press the [Esc] key. Aladdin will close the
window and return you to the script menu.
[Esc] - Pressing the [Esc] key causes Aladdin to exit from
the script menu and return you to the main menu.
[F2], [F3] and [F4] quick access keys - Pressing the [F2]
function key will take you immediately to Aladdin's GEmail
menu. Pressing the [F3] function key takes you immediately
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to Aladdin's Miscellaneous Options menu. Pressing the [F4]
function key takes you immediately to Aladdin's Terminal
Mode menu.
That's about it for the Script menu. Its a relatively simple
one, compared to some of the other menus. Next, let's get into
the fun part. As we promised at the beginning of the manual,
here's the section on the Aladdin Script Language.
3. Aladdin Script Language Syntax Guidelines
The following general guidelines and rules apply to all
scripts,
- You may only have one command per line.
- Command words must be separated by at least one "TAB" or
space character.
- The language is not case-sensitive. Command words can be
any combination of upper- and lower-case characters.
- If a line does not contain any commands it must either be
blank or have a semicolon ";" or a colon ":" as the first
non-blank character. If the line begins with a colon then
the line is considered to be a label or place-marker within
the script that can be referred to in other commands. If the
line begins with a semi-colon then the line is a comment and
is ignored during script execution.
- Any text remaining in a line after the formal command is
ignored. This makes for easy commenting of script commands
without having to worry about special delimiting characters.
- In the descriptions of the commands, {STRING} refers to
any sequence of characters surrounded by a pair of
delimiters. A delimiter is any single character. If the
left-hand delimiter is anything other than the (, [, {, < or
' characters, then the right-hand delimiter must be the same
as the left-hand delimiter. If one of these five characters
is used as a left-hand delimiter, then the right-hand
delimiter must be the corresponding ), ], }, > or ',
respectively. The text within the delimiters must not
contain the right delimiter character.
- In a {STRING}, the symbols "^A" through "^Z" are converted
into the corresponding control characters Ctrl-A through
Ctrl-Z.
- All occurrences of the characters %0 through %9 in any
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script are replaced with the corresponding user-defined
string equivalent. User-defined strings 0 through 9 are
created using the SETSTRING or GETSTRING commands. If you
want to use the % character followed by a digit in your
scripts without it being replaced for a user-defined string,
use the %% combination instead. For example, %0 refers to
user-defined string number 0, but %%0 defines a string with
the characters % and 0.
4. The SCRIPT Command
The SCRIPT command is required at the beginning of every
script. The syntax for the SCRIPT command is:
SCRIPT {digit} {text}
The {digit} argument defines which script number this is and
must be a value between 3 and 9. There may not be more than one
SCRIPT command with the same {digit} argument. The {text}
argument represents the title of the script to be displayed in
the script windows, and may be any string up to 20 characters
long. An example of the SCRIPT command is:
SCRIPT 3 My First Script!
Every SCRIPT command must have a corresponding ENDSCRIPT
command.
5. The ENDSCRIPT Command
The ENDSCRIPT commands marks the end of a script. Every
SCRIPT command must have a corresponding ENDSCRIPT command. The
ENDSCRIPT command takes no arguments.
6. The GOTO Command
The GOTO command transfers execution of a script to a
specific location within the script. The location is referred to
as a label. The syntax of the GOTO command is:
GOTO {label}
The {label} argument represents a location in the script
defined by a colon ":" as the first character of a line and a
label name following immediately thereafter. A label can be any
sequence of characters not containing blanks or "TAB" characters.
An example of the GOTO command is:
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...
GOTO MyLabel
...
...
:MyLabel
...
In this example, the GOTO command refers to the label
"MyLabel". When Aladdin reaches this command, it will jump to the
location in the script with the label ":MyLabel", skipping all
intervening script commands and continuing execution at that
point. Note that labels are only available within the script in
which they are defined, so you can't issue a GOTO command to
transfer execution to a label in another script.
7. The CALL Command
The CALL command transfers execution to a specific location
within a program indicated by a label. Execution continues until
a RETURN statement is encountered, at which point execution is
returned to the first line immediately after the line containing
the CALL command. The syntax of the CALL command is:
CALL {label}
The {label} argument references a line within the script
which begins with a colon ":" character and is immediately
followed by a label name, which may not contain any spaces or
tabs. An example of the CALL command is:
...
CALL MyLabel
...
...
:MyLabel
...
RETURN
...
In this example, the CALL command will transfer execution to
the point in the script where the label "MyLabel" is defined.
Execution will continue until the RETURN statement is
encountered, at which point execution is again transferred to the
script line immediately following the one containing the CALL
command. Those of you familiar with BASIC will recognize this
command as the equivalent of BASIC's GOSUB command. Its use is
exactly the same, to execute user-defined subroutines. Note that
labels are only available within the script where they are
defined, so you can't make a CALL to a label in another script.
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8. The RETURN Command
The RETURN command is used to mark the point at which
execution is to be returned to the statement following a CALL
command. The RETURN command takes no arguments, as depicted in
the example covering the CALL command.
9. The PERFORM Command
The PERFORM command is used to invoke a script from within
another script. The syntax of the command is:
PERFORM {digit}
The {digit} argument is a number from 1 to 9, inclusive,
which refers to a script's identification number. Aladdin will
immediately execute the script identified by the {digit}
argument, and execution will continue in that script until the
ENDSCRIPT command is encountered, at which point execution is
returned to the script command line immediately following the one
containing the PERFORM command. If you specify 1 or 2 as the
script to execute, Aladdin will perform an automatic pass 1 or 2,
respectively, as if you had selected these automated operations
from the Aladdin Main Menu. An example of the PERFORM command is:
SCRIPT 3 1st Script
NOTE (We are in script number 3)
PERFORM 4
NOTE (We are back in script number 3)
PERFORM 5
NOTE (We are back in script number 3 once again)
ENDSCRIPT
SCRIPT 4 2nd Script
Note (We are in script number 4)
ENDSCRIPT
SCRIPT 5 3rd Script
NOTE (We are in script number 5)
ENDSCRIPT
In this example, if Script number 3 is invoked, the user
will see the following text on the screen:
We are in script number 3
We are in script number 4
We are back in script number 3
We are in script number 5
We are back in script number 3 once again
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Execution begins on the first line of script number 3, which
is a NOTE command (which displays a text message to the user on
the screen; we'll cover it in a minute). The next command is a
PERFORM command making reference to script 4, so Aladdin executes
script number 4, which prints its own little message on the
screen. The next command in script number 4 is an ENDSCRIPT, so
execution returns to the next line in script number 3 after the
PERFORM command, which is another NOTE command. Once again, a
PERFORM command is encountered, but making reference to script
number 5 this time, so script 5 is performed. It prints its
message, and the ENDSCRIPT command returns control to script
number 3 after the PERFORM command. The final message is printed,
and a final ENDSCRIPT command is encountered, at which point
Aladdin finishes the script execution. The PERFORM command is
similar to the CALL command except that it expands your script so
that it can call other scripts to perform other functions as
well.
10. The IF, ELSE and ENDIF Commands
The IF command provides the Aladdin Script Language with a
feature which is critical to any programming language, the
ability to make simple decisions and take courses of action based
on the state or result of a condition. The IF command does just
that. The syntax of the IF command is:
IF {condition}
...
ELSE
...
ENDIF
The {condition} argument can be one of the following
keywords:
SUCCESS
ONLINE
CURRENTLINEHAS {string}
STRING {digit} {verb} {string}
DATAWAITING
KEYWAITING
EXIST {string}
DAYOFWEEK IS {day}
MAILFOUND
Each one of these conditions is evaluated as a TRUE or FALSE
result. If the condition returns a TRUE result, the statements
within the IF command and the first ENDIF encountered in the
script will be executed. If the condition argument returns a
FALSE result and there is no ELSE command between the IF command
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and the next ENDIF command, the statements are ignored and
execution continues on the first line after the ENDIF command. We
will cover each one of the conditions separately in the next few
pages of this manual and present examples for each possible
condition argument as well. All IF commands must have a matching
ENDIF command.
The ELSE optional command tells Aladdin that if the
condition evaluated in the IF command is evaluated to a FALSE
result, execution of the script will jump to the first line
immediately after the ELSE command and continue from that point.
If the condition is evaluated as a TRUE result, Aladdin will
execute the statements immediately after the IF command. When it
gets to the ELSE command, all statements up to the next ENDIF
command are ignored, and execution continues on the next line
immediately after the ENDIF command. The ELSE command basically
extends Aladdin's decision-making powers from a simple "if this
condition is TRUE do this" to a more complete "if this condition
is TRUE do this; if it is FALSE, do this instead".
The ENDIF command marks the end of a block of instructions
related to the previous IF command. Again, all IF commands must
have a matching ENDIF command. IF commands may be nested, which
means that you can have IF commands within other IF commands.
11. The SUCCESS Condition
The SUCCESS condition depends on the previous operation
performed, such as a LOG ON command. The condition takes no
arguments.
- NOTE -
Do not confuse the SUCCESS condition argument
with the SUCCESS command. They are two
different statements altogether. The SUCCESS
command is covered a little further on in
this section.
If the previous operation was successful, the SUCCESS
condition is evaluated as a TRUE; otherwise it evaluates as
FALSE. The following commands affect the status of the SUCCESS
condition:
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CAPTURE
ENDCAPTURE
ERASEFILE
GETSTRING
LOG ON
LOG ONTO
SNAPSHOT
SUCCESS
WAITFOR
WAITFORPROMPT
WAITUNTIL
XMODEM
For explanations on each of these commands, see the
appropriate sections in this chapter. An example of the use of
the SUCCESS condition is:
LOG ON Log on to GEnie
IF SUCCESS Did we make it?
NOTE (You are logged on.) Tell user
ELSE Oops, problem!
NOTE (Unable to log on.) Tell user
ENDIF Required ENDIF
12. The ONLINE Condition
The ONLINE condition is evaluated as a TRUE result if and
only if the modem is on-line - the CD (Carrier Detect) signal is
on - at the time the IF command with the ONLINE condition is
executed. The condition takes no arguments. An example of the
ONLINE condition is:
SENDLINE "ATDT123-4567" Tell modem to dial
:MyLoop Define label "MyLoop"
IF ONLINE Are we online?
GOTO Connected Yes, jump to "Connected" label
ELSE
GOTO MyLoop No, wait, jump to :MyLoop" label
ENDIF Required ENDIF
:Connected Define "Connected" label
13. The CURRENTLINEHAS Condition
The CURRENTLINEHAS condition is evaluated as a TRUE result
if and only if the line of text being received from the modem at
the time of the IF command execution contains a string being
looked for. The syntax of the CURRENTLINEHAS condition is:
CURRENTLINEHAS {string}
where the {string} argument represents the string that is
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being looked for in the incoming line of text. Lines of text are
separated by incoming carriage returns (ASCII character 13). The
comparison performed by Aladdin is case-sensitive, which means
that you must specify the string you are looking for in the exact
combination of upper- and lower-case characters that you want to
match. One of the uses of the CURRENTLINEHAS condition is to test
the presence or absence of a particular GEnie prompt, for
example:
IF CURRENTLINEHAS "Enter #" Is GEnie on full page menus?
SENDCOMMAND "C" Go into command mode
ENDIF Required ENDIF
14. The STRING Condition
The STRING condition is used to examine a user-defined
string (%0 through %9) to see if it is exactly the same as, or
contains, a particular string of characters that you are looking
for. The syntax of the STRING condition is:
STRING {digit} {verb} {string}
The {digit} argument represents a user defined string and
can be any number from 0 through 9. This user-defined string
should already contain the text that you will compare your string
against. Strings are stored into user-defined strings with the
SETSTRING or GETSTRING commands, which we will cover a little
further on in this chapter.
The {verb} argument can be one of two keywords, "IS" or
"HAS". If you specify the "IS" keyword, the STRING condition will
only return a TRUE result if the text in the user-defined string
is exactly the same as the string that you have specified in the
command. The comparison is case-sensitive, which means that
Aladdin will take into consideration whether or not the
characters are upper- or lower-case.
For example, in a case-sensitive matching situation, the
string "THE WORD" is not the same as the string "The Word",
because the case of the letters does not match. If the {verb}
argument is "HAS", the STRING condition will only return a TRUE
result if the string which you specified is contained within the
string in the user-defined string. In this case, the string that
you specify must be located in a contiguous fashion within the
specified user-defined string.
For example, if the string that you are looking for is
"ABCD" and the user-defined string contains the string
"123ABCD456", the condition will return a TRUE result. However,
if the user-defined string contains the string "123ACBD456", the
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condition will return a FALSE result because even though the
characters are indeed in the user-defined string, they are in the
wrong order. An example of the STRING condition is:
NOTE "Password, please:" Prompt for password
:TryAgain Define "TryAgain" label
GETSTRING 1 Store in user-defined string
%1
IF STRING 1 IS "SESAME" Does %1 contain "SESAME"?
GOTO GoodGuy Yes! Its one of the good guys!
ELSE %1 does not have "SESAME",
so...
NOTE "You typed "%1"... Try again." Tell user and...
GOTO TryAgain ...do it all over again
ENDIF Required ENDIF
:GoodGuy Define "GoodGuy" label
15. The DATAWAITING Condition
The DATAWAITING condition is evaluated as a TRUE condition
if there are one or more incoming characters waiting in the
communications buffer. The command takes no arguments. An example
of the DATAWAITING condition is:
IF DATAWAITING Any characters in the buffer?
NOTE "Data in the buffer!" Yes, tell the user.
ENDIF Required ENDIF
Yes, this is a rather useless example, but it is an example
nonetheless.
16. The KEYWAITING Condition
The KEYWAITING condition is evaluated as a TRUE result if
there is a keystroke waiting in your computer keyboard's buffer.
Note that the KEYWAITING condition will only work if the command
"KEYWAITING ON" is executed before you try to use the condition
in an IF command. However, if "KEYWAITING ON" has been issued,
Aladdin will not be able to check the keyboard for an [Esc] or
[F5] keystroke while the script is executing. The condition takes
no arguments. An example of the KEYWAITING condition is:
KEYWAITING ON Enable the KEYWAITING
condition
NOTE "Press any key to stop." Display message to user
:Loop Define "Loop" label
MONITOR Display chars in buffer
IF KEYWAITING Is there a pending keystroke?
GOTO QuitListing Yes, jump to "QuitListing"
ELSE No key waiting?
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GOTO Loop Jump to "Loop" and do it again
ENDIF Required ENDIF
:QuitListing Define "QuitListing" label
KEYWAITING OFF Disable the KEYWAITING
condition
The MONITOR command is covered a little further on in this
chapter.
17. The EXIST Condition
The EXIST condition is evaluated as a TRUE result if a
specified file exists on your computer. The syntax of the EXIST
condition is:
EXIST {string}
where the {string} argument represents the name of the file
which you want to check for. An example of the EXIST condition
is:
IF EXIST "FOO.TXT" Check for file "FOO.TXT"
NOTE "File exists!" It's there, tell the user
ELSE If it is not there...
NOTE "File does not exist!" ...tell the user as well!
ENDIF Required ENDIF
18. The DAYOFWEEK Condition
The DAYOFWEEK condition is evaluated as a TRUE result if the
day that you specify for the condition matches the day of the
week stored in your computer's clock. The syntax of the DAYOFWEEK
condition is:
DAYOFWEEK IS {day}
where the word IS is a required keyword and the {day} can be
one of the following seven words,
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
You may also use the entire name of the day of the week, but
Aladdin will only look at the first three characters of the
{string} argument to determine which day you want to check for.
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Do not surround the {day} argument in quotes or use any other
delimiter, as the argument to this condition is not a string! An
example of the DAYOFWEEK condition is:
IF DAYOFWEEK IS WED Is it Wednesday already?!
CALL GetDowJonesQuotes Oh! Get latest stock quotes!
ENDIF Required ENDIF
...
:GetDowJonesQuotes Define the label
...
RETURN Finished, go back
19. The MAILFOUND Condition
The MAILFOUND condition is evaluated as a TRUE result if
Aladdin finds that there was is mail waiting for you in your
mailbox. The condition takes no arguments. An example of the
MAILFOUND condition is:
SCRIPT 5 Wake me for mail! Define script number and title
LOG ON Log on to GEnie to check mail
LOG OFF Log off from GEnie
IF MAILFOUND Was there mail waiting for me?
ALARM Yes, wake me up!
ENDIF Required ENDIF
ENDSCRIPT Required ENDSCRIPT for end of
script
Note that Aladdin will always check for mail when it logs on
to GEnie as a result of using the LOG ON or LOG ONTO commands,
which is how this script works!
20. The SUCCESS Command
The SUCCESS command is used to set the state of the SUCCESS
condition to a TRUE or FALSE state. The syntax of the SUCCESS
command is:
SUCCESS {condition}
where the {condition} argument can be either TRUE or FALSE.
An example of the SUCCESS command is:
SUCCESS FALSE Set SUCCESS condition to FALSE
state
IF SUCCESS Test the condition
NOTE "This line will never execute." This will never show
ELSE
NOTE "This line will always execute." This will always
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show.
ENDIF Required ENDIF
21. The ECHO Command
The ECHO commands enables or disables the display of script
commands as they are executed. Do not confuse this command with
the echo/no echo or half/full duplex status of Aladdin's
communications function; this is a command to aid you in
determining whether or not your scripts are doing what you
originally designed them to do. Programmers call this a
"programming aid" or a "debugging aid." The syntax of the ECHO
command is:
ECHO {state}
where the {state} argument can be one of two keywords, ON or
OFF. The initial state of the ECHO command is ON, which means
that script commands will be displayed as they are executed. If
you use the OFF keyword, Aladdin will not display your script
commands as they are executed. Note that the ECHO command itself
will not be displayed as a script command, even if ECHO is indeed
in an ON state.
22. The CLEAR Command
The CLEAR command is used to clear the terminal mode display
area. It takes no arguments.
23. The NOTE Command
The NOTE command is used to display a message to the user on
the screen. The NOTE command itself is never displayed, even if
the state of the ECHO command is ON at the moment the NOTE
command is executed by Aladdin. The syntax of the NOTE command
is:
NOTE {string}
where the {string} argument represents the message string
that you want to display to the user at the moment the NOTE
command is executed. For examples of the use of the NOTE command,
refer to previous sections of this chapter; there are several
examples in the explanations of previous commands.
24. The BEEP Command
The BEEP command will cause Aladdin to emit a short "beep"
sound. The command takes no arguments.
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25. The ALARM Command
The ALARM command will cause Aladdin to emit a continuous
series of "beep" sounds which will continue until the user
presses any key on the keyboard of their computer. The ALARM
command takes no arguments. Refer to the explanation of the
MAILFOUND condition for an example of how to use the ALARM
command.
26. The HIDE Command
The HIDE command is used to prevent the user (or anyone else
within sight of the computer's display) from seeing any text
received from the remote computer system. The syntax of the HIDE
command is:
HIDE {state}
where the {state} argument can be one of the two keywords,
ON or OFF. If you issue a HIDE ON command, any text received from
the remote system will be displayed with the word "SECRET",
repeating over and over again for all text received. You may
recognize this command as the command that Aladdin uses to hide
your password as Aladdin sends it to GEnie during the login
procedure. If you issue a HIDE OFF command, Aladdin will no
longer hide the incoming data and instead will display it as it
is received from the remote computer system. An example of the
HIDE command is:
SENDLINE "ATDT123-4567" Tell the modem to dial this number
:Loop Define "Loop" label
IF ONLINE Are we online yet?
GOTO Continue Yes, jump to "Continue" label
ELSE No, we are not?
GOTO Loop Keep waiting, jump to "Loop" label
ENDIF Required ENDIF
:Continue Define "Continue" label
WAITFOR "Enter your name:" Wait for login from computer
SENDLINE "JOHN DOE" Send your name
WAITFOR "Password:" Wait for the password prompt
HIDE ON Hide incoming text
SENDLINE "MyPassword" Send the password
HIDE OFF Display incoming text normally
This example is obviously not usable to login to GEnie.
There is a specific command, LOG ON, for use with GEnie. This
example could be used to log in to a private bulletin board
system, though.
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27. The MONITOR Command
The MONITOR command will take a character received from the
remote system and display it on the screen. If there are no
waiting characters, the MONITOR command does not do anything. The
MONITOR command takes no arguments. See the section on the
KEYWAITING command for an example of how to use the MONITOR
command.
28. The PAUSE Command
The PAUSE command tells Aladdin to wait a specific amount of
time which can be full seconds or fractions of a second. The
syntax of the PAUSE command is:
PAUSE {seconds}
where the {seconds} argument represents the number of
seconds for which you wish Aladdin to pause. Examples of the
PAUSE command are:
PAUSE 30 Pause for 30 seconds
PAUSE 0.25 Pause for one-quarter of a second
Note that if any characters are received from the remote
computer during the PAUSE period, Aladdin will display them on
the screen.
29. The WAITUNTIL Command
The WAITUNTIL command is used to instruct Aladdin to wait
until the system clock on your computer reaches a certain time.
The syntax of the WAITUNTIL command is:
WAITUNTIL {time}
where the {time} argument is represented by a time in HH:MM
24 hour format. If the [Esc] key is pressed before your system
clock reaches the desired time of day, the SUCCESS condition is
set to a FALSE status. If your system clock reaches the desired
time of day with no interruptions, the SUCCESS condition is set
to a TRUE status. An example of the WAITUNTIL command is:
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SCRIPT 6 Alarm Clock Define script number and title
WAITUNTIL 13:30 Wait until 1:30 pm
IF SUCCESS Did we get there?
PERFORM 1 Perform script number 1
LOG OFF Log off from GEnie
BEEP Signal with a "beep" sound
ENDIF Required ENDIF
ENDSCRIPT Required ENDSCRIPT
30. The ERASEFILE Command
The ERASEFILE command is used to erase a file from your
computer's hard or floppy disk. The syntax of the ERASEFILE
command is:
ERASEFILE {string}
where the {string} argument represents the file that you
want to erase. If Aladdin finds the file and successfully erases
it, it sets the status of the SUCCESS condition to TRUE. If
Aladdin cannot find the file or if it cannot erase the file for
whatever reason, it will set the SUCCESS condition to a FALSE
state. An example of the ERASEFILE command is:
ERASEFILE "\WORK\FOO.TXT" Erase FOO.TXT in the \WORK
IF SUCCESS Did Aladdin erase the file?
NOTE "File erased." Yes, tell the user
ELSE No, not able to erase the file
NOTE "File not found or" ...tell the user as well.
NOTE "unable to erase it!"
ENDIF Required ENDIF
31. The CAPTURE and ENDCAPTURE Commands
The CAPTURE command is used to tell Aladdin to save all
incoming text from the remote computer to a file. The syntax of
the CAPTURE command is:
CAPTURE {filename}
where the {filename} argument represents the file name to
which you want to save all the incoming text. If the capture file
already exists, the incoming text will be appended to the end of
the existing file. If a capture file is already open either
because of a previous CAPTURE command or by the use of the "A"
option in the Terminal Mode menu, the current capture file will
be closed before the new one is opened. If the CAPTURE command is
successful and can initiate and complete the capture of the
incoming text, the SUCCESS condition is set to a TRUE state; if
Aladdin has any problems opening the file or saving the text, it
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will set it to a FALSE state. An example of the use of the
CAPTURE command is:
SCRIPT 6 IBM RTC and record Define script number and title
LOG ONTO "615;2" Log on and go to IBM RTC
IF SUCCESS Were we able to log on?
SENDLINE "2" Choose RTC room 2
WAITFOR "is here" Wait for RTC to acknowledge
you
SENDLINE "/NAM JOHN" Set your RTC nickname
WAITFORDATA STOP Wait until no incoming text
ERASEFILE "RTC.LOG" Erase the existing log
CAPTURE "RTC.LOG" Start capturing the RTC text
IF SUCCESS Ok opening the capture file?
ELSE If yes, take no action
NOTE "Can't open log!" Notify user of problem
ENDIF Required ENDIF
SENDLINE "/STA" Get list of people in RTC
ENDIF Required ENDIF
ENDSCRIPT Required ENDSCRIPT
The ENDCAPTURE command simply ends the capture process and
closes the capture file. The command takes no arguments.
ENDCAPTURE also sets the status of the SUCCESS condition to
indicate whether or not it was successful in finishing the
capture process and closing the capture file properly.
32. The SNAPSHOT Command
The SNAPSHOT command takes a "picture" of the screen at the
moment the command is issued and stores it into a file. The
syntax of the SNAPSHOT command is:
SNAPSHOT {filename}
where the {filename} argument represents the name of the
file to which Aladdin is to save the "snapshot" of the screen. If
the file already exists, it will be erased and replaced with a
new file. If Aladdin cannot open the file or save the text into
it, it will set the status of the SUCCESS condition to FALSE;
otherwise it will set it to a TRUE state. An example of the
SNAPSHOT command is:
SNAPSHOT "MYSNPSHT.TXT" Take a snapshot of the screen
IF SUCCESS Everything ok?
NOTE "Snapshot OK!" Yes, tell the user
ELSE Oops, something happened
NOTE "Snapshot ERROR!" Let the user know of a problem
ENDIF Required ENDIF
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33. The XMODEM and ZMODEM Commands
The XMODEM and ZMODEM commands are used to download or
upload files using the XMODEM file transfer protocol. For more
information on the protocol, see the section on the Terminal Mode
menu. The syntax of the XMODEM and ZMODEM commands are:
XMODEM {direction} {filename}
ZMODEM {filename}
where the {direction} argument determines whether the file
will be received to or transmitted from your personal computer
and is one of two keywords, DOWNLOAD or UPLOAD. Note that the
ZMODEM command does not accept a {direction} argument as Aladdin
is only capable of downloading files using the ZMODEM file
transfer protocol. The {filename} argument represents the name of
the file which will either be sent from or received to your
computer. If the transfer is successful, the SUCCESS condition
will be set to a TRUE state; if it is not, for whatever reason,
it will be set to a FALSE state. An example of the XMODEM command
is:
WAITFOR "file.^M^J" Wait for ready msg from GEnie
XMODEM DOWNLOAD "MYFILE.TXT" Start the XMODEM download
IF SUCCESS Was the transfer successful?
NOTE "XMODEM transfer completed" Yes, tell the user
ELSE Oops, ran into a problem
BEEP Ring the "bell"
NOTE "XMODEM transfer not successful!" Tell the user
ENDIF Required ENDIF
If you want to use the ZMODEM protocol instead of the
standard XMODEM protocol, substitute the keyword "ZMODEM" for the
"XMODEM" keyword.
34. The LOG ON/LOG OFF/LOG ONTO Commands
The LOG command is used to tell Aladdin to either log you
onto GEnie, log you onto a particular section of GEnie or log you
off from GEnie. There are three variations of the LOG command,
and their forms are:
LOG ON
LOG OFF
LOG ONTO {string}
The LOG ON command tells Aladdin to dial the local access
number for GEnie and login to the system. The SUCCESS condition
is set to TRUE if the operation is successful; otherwise, it is
set to FALSE. If Aladdin detects that you are already logged on
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to GEnie, the SUCCESS condition is set to TRUE and no other
action is taken.
The LOG OFF command instructs Aladdin to issue a "BYE"
command to GEnie. It then waits for GEnie to terminate the
session and hangs up the phone. Execution resumes on the next
script line. The LOG OFF command will be ignored if the STAY
indicator (see the Terminal Mode chapter) is set to "ON" or if
the command is executed as part of a script that was invoked with
the PERFORM command. The SUCCESS condition is not affected by the
LOG OFF command.
The LOG ONTO command will log you on to GEnie and take you
directly to a GEnie page number and, optionally, a selection
within that page number. The {string} argument represents the
page and optional selection number, and is specified as a string
containing a page number and, optionally, a semicolon ";" and an
selection number. If you are currently not online to GEnie,
Aladdin will make the call, wait for a connection and then issue
the login command, appending to your password the "short-cut" way
of getting to a page number from the login prompt. See your GEnie
reference manual for more information on this "short-cut" method.
If you are already logged on to GEnie, Aladdin issues an "M"
command, instead, to move to that page and optional selection
number. If the login is successful and you reach the selected
page and selection, Aladdin sets the SUCCESS condition to a TRUE
state; otherwise the condition is set to a FALSE state.
- NOTE -
The LOG ONTO command CANNOT be used if you
are offline and have invoked Aladdin with the
/LS autologin script option. Doing so will
cause unpredictable behavior on the part of
Aladdin.
Note that you cannot use this command to log onto a GEnie
page that does not use your pre-configured prompt character, such
as page 200, selection 6, which always uses the interrogation
sign "?" as its prompt character regardless of what your normal
prompt character is.
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An example of the LOG command is:
SCRIPT 7 Mail Command Mode Define script number and title
LOG ONTO "200" Login and go to page 200,
GEmail
IF SUCCESS All ok?
SENDSPECIALCOMMAND "6" "?" Command mode with special
prompt
ENDIF Required ENDIF
ENDSCRIPT Required ENDSCRIPT
35. The COMMANDMODE Command
Under normal conditions, Aladdin will always tell GEnie to
put the system into "command mode" every time it runs into an
"Enter #" in a page prompt when it is expecting a "P ###" prompt.
This saves time and money because Aladdin does not need to see
the full GEnie menus to do its job. There are some cases in which
an "Enter #" is in fact an appropriate prompt and you cannot have
Aladdin issue the "C" command to GEnie. To enable and disable
this automatic switching feature in a script, you use the
COMMANDMODE command. The syntax of the COMMANDMODE command is:
COMMANDMODE {state}
where the {state} argument is one of two keywords, ON or
OFF. If you issue a COMMANDMODE ON command, Aladdin will always
attempt to switch GEnie into command mode anytime that it sees an
"Enter #" prompt. If instead you issue a COMMANDMODE OFF command,
Aladdin will not try to make the switch.
36. The QUOTES Command
The QUOTES command lets you tell Aladdin to convert the
single quote "'" characters that appears in NewsGrid items into
the normal character. The syntax for the QUOTES command is:
QUOTES {state}
where the {state} argument represents one of two keywords,
ON or OFF. If you issue a QUOTES ON command, the single quotes in
NewsGrid items will be changed to double quotes; if you issue a
QUOTES OFF command, the single quotes will be left as they are.
37. The HANGUP Command
The HANGUP command instructs Aladdin to immediately hang up
the phone and terminate the call. It will not issue any logoff
commands; it will simply hang up. For those of you familiar with
communications with modems, Aladdin drops the signal on the DTR
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(Data Terminal Ready) line, which will force the modem to drop
the connection if its switch settings are correctly set. The
HANGUP command does not take any arguments.
38. The SEND Command
The SEND command is used to tell Aladdin to send a string of
text to the remote computer system. The syntax of the SEND
command is:
SEND {string}
where the {string} argument represents the text that is to
be transmitted by Aladdin. Note that the SEND command only sends
the text and no other characters. If you need to send a carriage
return/line feed pair following the string (simulating the
pressing of the [Enter] key in terminal mode) use the SENDLINE
command. An example of the send command is"
SEND "^C" Send a break (Ctrl-C)
character
39. The SENDLINE Command
The SENDLINE command is exactly the same as the SEND
command, except that it will also send a carriage return and a
line feed at the end of the line. This simulates typing a line in
terminal mode and pressing the [Enter] key.
40. The SENDCOMMAND Command
The SENDCOMMAND command is the same as the SENDLINE command
except that, after the command is sent, Aladdin will wait for
your prompt character to be sent from the remote computer.
Additionally, it will set the SUCCESS condition to a TRUE state
if the prompt is received; otherwise it will set it to FALSE. For
example, the command
SENDCOMMAND "M615;2"
is equivalent to
SENDLINE "M615;2"
WAITFORPROMPT
41. The SENDSPECIALCOMMAND Command
The SENDSPECIALCOMMAND command is identical to SENDCOMMAND
except that it takes one additional argument. It is used in
situations where GEnie's default prompt character is not used,
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such as on page 200, option 6, the GEmail command mode.
The syntax of the SENDSPECIALCOMMAND command is:
SENDSPECIALCOMMAND {string} {promptstring}
where the {string} argument represents the command to send
and the {promptstring} argument represents the characters of the
prompt which GEnie is expected to reply with. An example of the
SENDSPECIALCOMMAND command is:
SENDSPECIALCOMMAND "M200;6" "?"
GEmail page 200's option 6 is a function that always replies
with a "?" prompt regardless of what you have your default prompt
set to.
42. The WAITFOR Command
The WAITFOR command is used to tell Aladdin to wait until a
specific combination of characters is received from the remote
computer system. The syntax of the WAITFOR command is:
WAITFOR {string}
where the {string} argument represents the string for which
Aladdin will wait before continuing the execution of the script.
Aladdin will wait until the string is received or until Aladdin
stops receiving text from the remote computer system for the
amount of time specified as the "timeout period" in the Aladdin
setup screen. If a matching string is received, Aladdin sets the
SUCCESS condition to a TRUE state and continues with the script;
otherwise it will set it to a FALSE state and then continue. An
example of the WAITFOR command is:
SENDLINE "SET 10" Set category to 10 in the bulletin board
WAITFORPROMPT Wait for the system prompt
SENDLINE "REP 1" Initiate a reply to topic number 10
WAITFOR ">" Wait for the message editor prompt
43. The WAITFORPROMPT Command
The WAITFORPROMPT command is very similar to the WAITFOR
command, except that it only waits for a specific character, the
character which you have specified in the Aladdin setup screen as
your prompt character. Additionally, the prompt character must
not be followed by any other characters, ensuring that you,
indeed, have received a prompt from GEnie. The other parameters
and conditions for successful execution of a WAITFOR command
apply to the WAITFORPROMPT command as well. For an example of the
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WAITFORPROMPT command see the previous section on the WAITFOR
command.
44. The WAITFORDATA Command
The WAITFORDATA command is used to instruct Aladdin to wait
until it begins or stops receiving data from the remote computer
system. The syntax of the WAITFORDATA command is:
WAITFORDATA {keyword}
where the {keyword} argument is one of two keywords, START
or STOP. If you issue a WAITFORDATA START command, Aladdin will
wait until one or more characters are received from the remote
computer system. If you issue a WAITFORDATA STOP, Aladdin will
wait until the modem stops receiving characters from the remote
computer system and there are no more characters waiting in the
communications buffer. For example, the command
WAITFORDATA START
is equivalent to the following statements:
:Loopit
IF DATAWAITING
ELSE
GOTO Loopit
ENDIF
On the other hand, the WAITFORDATA STOP command is
equivalent to the following statements:
:Loopit
IF DATAWAITING
MONITOR
GOTO Loopit
ENDIF
45. The WAITFORKEYPRESS Command
The WAITFORKEYPRESS command is used to tell Aladdin to stop
execution of the script and wait until the user presses any key
on the keyboard. The key will not show up as an incoming
character from the keyboard, though, as it is removed from your
computer's keyboard buffer. The WAITFORKEYPRESS command takes no
arguments. An example of the WAITFORKEYPRESS command is:
NOTE "Press any key to continue..." Tell user what to do
WAITFORKEYPRESS Wait for any key to be pressed
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46. The KEYWAITING Command
The KEYWAITING command is used to enable and disable the use
of the IF KEYWAITING command. The syntax of the KEYWAITING
command is:
KEYWAITING {state}
where the {state} argument is one of two keyword, ON or OFF.
Under normal conditions, Aladdin will stop the execution of a
script when the [Esc] key is pressed. It will also recognize the
pressing of the [F5] function key during a session in which a
script is running a task on GEnie. This will prevent the script
from disconnecting the phone call after the script is finished,
regardless of what commands are in the script to terminate the
session. These are the actions taken by Aladdin if you issue a
KEYWAITING OFF command, which happens to be the default state of
KEYWAITING when you first execute the Aladdin program. However,
there are situations when you do want to be able to check for
characters waiting in your computer's keyboard buffer, and in
particular when you want to use the IF KEYWAITING conditional
command. In these cases, you must issue a KEYWAITING ON command
to enable the IF KEYWAITING command to work. The [Esc] and [F5]
keys will not be recognized while Aladdin is running the script,
so make sure that you restore KEYWAITING to the OFF state as soon
as you don't need to use IF KEYWAITING anymore in the script.
47. The GETKEY Command
The GETKEY command is used to ask Aladdin to wait for the
user to press any key on the computer's keyboard. However,
instead of throwing the keystroke away as the WAITFORKEYPRESS
does, the keystroke is made available to the script in one of the
user-defined strings. The syntax of the GETKEY command is:
GETKEY {digit}
where the {digit} argument represents a digit from 0 to 9,
which defines which user-defined string, %0 through %9, is going
to receive the keystroke. Note that some keys do not have any
ASCII text character equivalents. These keys are the functions
keys, the cursor keys on the keypad, etc. These keys are
considered to be "extended keys". If a user presses one of these
keys Aladdin will store the string "^@" into the user-defined
string. You will then have to issue another GETKEY command to
retrieve a second code from the keyboard, which is the keyboard's
scan code. In general, scan codes are used to identify keystrokes
that have no ASCII equivalents. An example of the GETKEY command
is:
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SCRIPT 8 Simple Dumb Terminal Script number and title
NOTE "Press [Ctrl-Q] to quit." Tell the user how to get out
KEYWAITING ON Enable IF KEYWAITING command
:Dumb Define the "Dumb" label
IF KEYWAITING Any keystrokes pressed?
GETKEY 7 Yes, keystroke into string %7
IF STRING 7 IS "^Q" Is it a [Ctrl-Q]?
GOTO Quit Jump to the "Quit" label
ENDIF Required ENDIF
IF STRING 7 IS "^@" Pressed a special key?
GETKEY 7 Yes, get scan code
ELSE No, normal keystroke
SEND "%7" Send it out!
ENDIF Required ENDIF
ENDIF Close second IF statement
GOTO Dumb Keep doing this all over again
:Quit Define "Quit" label
ENDSCRIPT Required ENDSCRIPT
48. The GETSTRING Command
The GETSTRING command is used to obtain a full line of text
from the user through the keyboard. The syntax of the GETSTRING
command is:
GETSTRING {digit}
where the {digit} argument represents a digit from 0 to 9,
which tells Aladdin which user-defined string, %0 through %9, to
store the text to. Upon encountering this command in a script,
Aladdin will wait for the user to enter a full line of text, up
to 79 characters long, which is finished by pressing the [Enter]
key. If all goes well, Aladdin will set the SUCCESS condition to
a TRUE state. If, on the other hand, the user presses the [Esc]
key before pressing the [Enter] key, Aladdin will abort the
input, clear the user-define string and set the SUCCESS condition
to a FALSE state. An example of the GETSTRING command is:
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SCRIPT 8 Start Capture to a File Define script # and title
NOTE "Enter capture filename:" Ask for capture file name
GETSTRING 3 Get file to string %3
IF SUCCESS All ok?
IF EXISTS "%3" See if file exists
NOTE "File exists, erase (Y/N)?" Ask if erasable
GETKEY 4 Get response
IF STRING 4 IS "Y" Ok, you asked for it!
ERASEFILE "%3" It's gone.
CAPTURE "%3" Start capture
ENDIF Required ENDIF
ELSE File doesn't exist, so...
CAPTURE "%3" ...start capture.
ENDIF Required ENDIF
ENDIF Close first ENDIF
ENDSCRIPT Required ENDSCRIPT
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Appendix A - GEnie Access Number Listing
The following is a list of cities and numbers where GEnie
local telephone access is available. The "S" before a
phone number indicates remote cities with a $2.00 per hour
additional surcharge. The "T" before a number indicates
tri-speed capability - 300/1200/2400 baud An "X"
indicates tri-speed capability with a $2.00 per hour
additional surcharge.
All 300/1200 baud telephone numbers are Bell 103A/212A
compatible unless otherwise noted. All 2400 baud numbers
are V.22bis compatible and support up to MNP Level 4
unless otherwise noted.
ALABAMA ALABAMA
======= =======
Anniston S (205) 237-7754
Birmingham ( ) 323-7900
2400 ( ) 323-5011
Dothan T 2400 ( ) 671-0791
Hartselle X 2400 ( ) 773-6551
Huntsville T 2400 ( ) 539-9451
Mobile T 2400 ( ) 432-0571
Montgomery T 2400 ( ) 262-5197
Florence T 2400 ( ) 760-8013
Tuscaloosa T 2400 ( ) 349-5891
ALASKA ALASKA
====== ======
Anchorage (907) 276-0911
ARIZONA ARIZONA
======= =======
Benson X 2400 (602) 586-3681
Kingman X 2400 ( ) 753-5520
Phoenix ( ) 275-7337
T 2400 ( ) 275-9486
Tucson T 2400 ( ) 622-2758
ARKANSAS ARKANSAS
======== ========
Rogers (Bentonville) X 2400 (501) 631-5925
Conway X 2400 ( ) 327-2237
Springdale (Fayetteville) T 2400 ( ) 751-3103
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Fort Smith ( ) 782-9197
Jonesboro X 2400 ( ) 932-1548
Little Rock T 2400 ( ) 372-6389
Stuttgart X 2400 ( ) 673-6384
CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA
========== ==========
Fresno T 2400 (209) 264-4655
Madera X 2400 ( ) 645-4048
Merced X 2400 ( ) 384-2271
Modesto T 2400 ( ) 529-8055
Stockton T 2400 ( ) 465-9656
Visalia X 2400 ( ) 627-1013
Culver City S (213) 202-0540
Los Angeles 300 ( ) 776-7222
1200 ( ) 776-2710
T 2400 ( ) 776-2005
San Pedro (Long Beach) ( ) 513-6893
T 2400 ( ) 835-0411
Monterey S (408) 372-0347
Salinas S ( ) 455-1020
San Martin S ( ) 683-4195
Santa Cruz T 2400 ( ) 427-3904
Sunnyvale 300 ( ) 738-3635
1200 ( ) 746-0651
T 2400 ( ) 738-2685
Antioch S (415) 778-4010
Concord T 2400 ( ) 825-9111
Fremont/Newark (Freemont) T 2400 ( ) 793-7771
Oakland 300 ( ) 836-6800
1200 ( ) 836-5060
T 2400 ( ) 452-1233
Pleasanton T 2400 ( ) 734-8121
Redwood City T 2400 ( ) 364-0900
San Francisco (W. San Fran) S ( ) 433-4211
S. San Francisco ( ) 952-5400
T 2400 ( ) 875-3942
San Rafael ( ) 454-5300
Oceanside T 2400 (619) 439-9980
Palm Springs X 2400 ( ) 320-2568
Mira Mesa/San Diego S ( ) 530-1950
T 2400 ( ) 530-2692
San Diego ( ) 696-0060
T 2400 ( ) 696-7366
Victorville S ( ) 245-1655
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Eureka T 2400 (707) 445-5412
Santa Rosa T 2400 ( ) 579-0454
Ukiah S ( ) 462-0384
Vallejo S ( ) 552-7630
Colton X 2400 (714) 825-5781
Corona S ( ) 736-0105
Garden Grove 300 ( ) 636-5102
1200 ( ) 636-5330
T 2400 ( ) 636-6602
Ontario S ( ) 983-9841
Rialto T 2400 ( ) 875-8751
Capistrano Valley (S.J. Cap.) S ( ) 661-2804
Bakersfield T 2400 (805) 833-6260
Lompoc X 2400 ( ) 735-6493
Oxnard T 2400 ( ) 487-9871
San Luis Obispo X 2400 ( ) 541-3215
Santa Barbara T 2400 ( ) 963-6811
Thousand Oaks X 2400 ( ) 497-7852
Burbank S (818) 848-2286
Canoga Park T 2400 ( ) 884-2127
El Monte ( ) 579-6440
Chico X 2400 (916) 342-0262
Marysville S ( ) 742-5139
Roseville X 2400 ( ) 726-5697
Sacramento T 2400 ( ) 441-6126
CANADA CANADA
====== ======
ALBERTA
-------
Calgary (403) 232-6121
BRITISH COLUMBIA
----------------
Vancouver T (604) 253-8429
ONTARIO
-------
Streetsville (Toronto) (416) 858-1230
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QUEBEC
------
Montreal (514) 333-1117
COLORADO COLORADO
======== ========
Denver (303) 698-0084
T 2400 ( ) 698-1086
Fort Collins S ( ) 224-4159
Grand Junction S ( ) 245-3331
Greeley ( ) 351-6148
Loveland S ( ) 663-0907
Montrose S ( ) 249-7311
Colorado Springs T 2400 (719) 574-9090
Pueblo X 2400 ( ) 543-2289
CONNECTICUT CONNECTICUT
=========== ===========
Bridgeport (Fairfield) 300 (203) 373-2905
1200 ( ) 373-3047
T 2400 ( ) 373-2502
Bristol X 2400 ( ) 584-8364
Danbury T 2400 ( ) 748-0837
Groton T 2400 ( ) 445-7466
Hartford 300 ( ) 727-8400
1200 ( ) 527-5554
T 2400 ( ) 724-7527
Middletown T 2400 ( ) 527-5554
New Haven T 2400 ( ) 865-7971
Norwalk T 2400 ( ) 853-6733
Old Saybrook X 2400 ( ) 388-4481
Stamford 300 ( ) 348-2448
1200 ( ) 964-1714
T 2400 ( ) 348-3117
Waterbury T 2400 ( ) 573-9003
DELAWARE DELAWARE
======== ========
Wilmington T 2400 (302) 652-3074
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
==================== ====================
Washington (Rockville) T 2400 (301) 340-4800
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T 2400 ( ) 340-5096
2400 ( ) 340-5565
FLORIDA FLORIDA
======= =======
Ft. Lauderdale T 2400 (305) 791-6202
Miami 300 ( ) 633-9772
1200 ( ) 635-6431
T 2400 ( ) 635-7826
Boca Raton T 2400 (407) 482-1055
Ft. Pierce ( ) 464-8305
Kissimmee T 2400 ( ) 847-0269
Melbourne ( ) 724-4660
Orlando ( ) 422-2823
T 2400 ( ) 422-0280
Sanford T 2400 ( ) 330-7061
Stuart S ( ) 286-1119
Vero Beach S ( ) 569-9304
W. Palm Beach ( ) 833-0116
Clearwater T 2400 (813) 447-9521
Ft. Myers ( ) 275-7071
Lakeland T 2400 ( ) 688-6020
Naples T 2400 ( ) 649-7667
Sarasota T 2400 ( ) 957-0472
Sebring T 2400 ( ) 471-0050
Tampa 300 ( ) 286-1117
1200 ( ) 286-8525
T 2400 ( ) 287-1478
Daytona Beach (904) 258-5484
Ft. Walton Beach T 2400 ( ) 664-6151
Gainesville ( ) 378-0244
Jacksonville ( ) 396-7210
T 2400 ( ) 399-8281
New Smyrna Beach S ( ) 428-2413
Ocala S ( ) 351-8039
Palatka S ( ) 328-7703
Pensacola T 2400 ( ) 434-5661
Starke S ( ) 964-4499
Tallahassee T 2400 ( ) 668-7610
GEORGIA GEORGIA
======= =======
Athens T 2400 (404) 354-6785
Atlanta ( ) 325-7293
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T 2400 ( ) 633-8552
Augusta T 2400 ( ) 724-4557
Columbus T 2400 ( ) 324-7314
Dalton S ( ) 226-3400
Pine Mountain X 2400 ( ) 663-2091
Rome X 2400 ( ) 235-6031
Albany T 2400 (912) 435-4425
Macon T 2400 ( ) 742-7040
Savannah ( ) 232-4481
HAWAII HAWAII
====== ======
Hilo S (808) 935-3920
Honolulu ( ) 524-8750
T 2400 ( ) 526-2862
Wailuku (Maui) S ( ) 244-3188
IDAHO IDAHO
===== =====
Boise T 2400 (208) 344-5876
Idaho Falls T 2400 ( ) 523-0126
Kellogg X 2400 ( ) 784-1111
Nampa X 2400 ( ) 466-0209
Pocatello T 2400 ( ) 233-9612
ILLINOIS ILLINOIS
======== ========
Champaign/Urbana (Champaign) X 2400 (217) 384-1938
Decatur T 2400 ( ) 429-0192
Effingham X 2400 ( ) 342-9772
Quincy X 2400 ( ) 223-6569
Springfield X 2400 ( ) 753-8631
Bloomington T 2400 (309) 827-3861
Macomb X 2400 ( ) 833-3530
Peoria T 2400 ( ) 637-4033
Rolling Meadows (312) 303-1540
Chicago 300 ( ) 750-0501
1200 ( ) 726-0350
T 2400 ( ) 346-2868
Deerfield S (708) 405-0406
Elgin ( ) 931-4550
Naperville ( ) 369-4394
T 2400 ( ) 983-9444
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Schaumburg ( ) 303-1540
Waukegan X 2400 ( ) 662-4171
De Kalb S (815) 756-8491
Freeport S ( ) 233-2621
Joliet X 2400 ( ) 722-0481
Kankakee X 2400 ( ) 933-3974
Morrison X 2400 ( ) 772-7251
Rockford ( ) 962-5062
INDIANA INDIANA
======= =======
Bluffton X 2400 (219) 824-4900
Elkhart X 2400 ( ) 295-1550
Fort Wayne 300 ( ) 456-4585
1200 ( ) 456-4471
T 2400 ( ) 745-0038
Gary X 2400 ( ) 884-6320
South Bend T 2400 ( ) 234-2931
Valparaiso X 2400 ( ) 462-7527
Anderson S (317) 643-1292
Indianapolis 300 ( ) 844-8392
1200 ( ) 844-8649
T 2400 ( ) 844-9180
Kokomo S ( ) 456-3246
Lafayette ( ) 742-1948
Muncie ( ) 289-6386
New Castle S ( ) 521-3904
Richmond S ( ) 962-8556
Greenwood (Whiteland) X 2400 ( ) 881-0596
Bloomington X 2400 (812) 332-4584
Columbus ( ) 378-1919
Crane S ( ) 854-7392
Evansville T 2400 ( ) 464-9376
Tell City X 2400 ( ) 547-6404
Terre Haute ( ) 235-6021
IOWA IOWA
==== ====
Burlington X 2400 (319) 754-8481
Cedar Falls T 2400 ( ) 233-7623
Cedar Rapids T 2400 ( ) 364-3136
Davenport T 2400 ( ) 324-0590
Dubuque X 2400 ( ) 556-7413
Belmond X 2400 (515) 444-3894
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Des Moines T 2400 ( ) 280-8861
Marshalltown X 2400 ( ) 752-6776
Carroll X 2400 (712) 792-5612
Sioux City ( ) 252-2917
KANSAS KANSAS
====== ======
Hesston X 2400 (316) 327-4171
Independence X 2400 ( ) 331-2120
McPherson X 2400 ( ) 241-0346
Wichita T 2400 ( ) 262-0415
Hays X 2400 (913) 628-1704
Leavenworth ( ) 682-3317
Topeka ( ) 234-0197
KENTUCKY KENTUCKY
======== ========
Bowling Green T 2400 (502) 781-3897
Louisville ( ) 589-3820
T 2400 ( ) 589-9561
Owensboro X 2400 ( ) 685-3125
Boone (Cincinatti, OH) (606) 371-1403
T 2400 ( ) 371-1925
Lexington T 2400 ( ) 253-1556
LOUISIANA LOUISIANA
========= =========
Alexandria T 2400 (318) 448-0996
Lafayette ( ) 237-7390
T 2400 ( ) 237-9501
Lake Charles T 2400 ( ) 474-9074
Monroe T 2400 ( ) 361-0031
Shreveport T 2400 ( ) 227-9592
Baton Rouge T 2400 (504) 292-8140
Mandeville X 2400 ( ) 626-1755
New Orleans ( ) 887-7335
T 2400 ( ) 887-6637
MAINE MAINE
===== =====
Augusta (207) 622-9341
Bangor (Brewer) ( ) 989-1418
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Brunswick ( ) 729-5106
Kennebunkport S ( ) 967-8642
Kittery X 2400 ( ) 439-3870
Lewiston S ( ) 784-4618
Portland ( ) 775-6593
MARYLAND MARYLAND
======== ========
Myersville (Hagerstown) X 2400 (301) 293-1920
Rockville T 2400 ( ) 340-4800
T 2400 ( ) 340-5096
T 2400 ( ) 340-5565
Salisbury X 2400 ( ) 860-5175
Towson (Baltimore) ( ) 583-7541
T 2400 ( ) 823-7630
MASSACHUSETTS MASSACHUSETTS
============= =============
North Adams X 2400 (413) 664-6787
Pittsfield ( ) 494-2351
Springfield T 2400 ( ) 781-5854
Attleboro T 2400 (508) 222-7550
Beverly S ( ) 927-7047
Fitchburg ( ) 345-7544
Framingham T 2400 ( ) 875-8248
Lawrence T 2400 ( ) 681-0501
Milford X 2400 ( ) 478-3160
Worcester T 2400 ( ) 757-3862
Cambridge (Boston) 300 (617) 868-2500
1200 ( ) 868-2830
T 2400 ( ) 868-3269
Lynn ( ) 598-7172
Quincy ( ) 471-4500
MICHIGAN MICHIGAN
======== ========
Ann Arbor T 2400 (313) 663-6866
Detroit 300 ( ) 862-0500
1200 ( ) 862-1040
T 2400 ( ) 345-9443
Flint T 2400 ( ) 785-8311
Mayfair (Farmington Hills) S ( ) 626-6570
Pontiac S ( ) 681-4291
Adrian X 2400 (517) 263-7587
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Bay City X 2400 ( ) 892-0261
Jackson X 2400 ( ) 750-4115
Lansing T 2400 ( ) 484-4999
Saginaw T 2400 ( ) 752-4195
Battle Creek X 2400 (616) 968-0275
Benton Harbor X 2400 ( ) 925-9645
Grand Rapids T 2400 ( ) 459-2205
Holland T 2400 ( ) 392-1986
Kalamazoo T 2400 ( ) 343-0333
Muskegon X 2400 ( ) 725-9255
Traverse City T 2400 ( ) 947-6251
Marquette T 2400 (906) 226-7551
MINNESOTA MINNESOTA
========= =========
Duluth S (218) 722-1855
Mankato S (507) 388-1605
Owatonna S ( ) 455-1224
Minneapolis 300 (612) 623-3536
1200 ( ) 623-0038
T 2400 ( ) 623-4951
St. Cloud S ( ) 253-9706
MISSISSIPPI MISSISSIPPI
=========== ===========
Aberdeen S (601) 369-6141
Bay St. Louis X 2400 ( ) 467-9228
Gulfport T 2400 ( ) 864-6294
Jackson T 2400 ( ) 948-3193
Meridian S ( ) 482-2655
MISSOURI MISSOURI
======== ========
Columbia T 2400 (314) 874-4164
Kirkwood (St. Louis) ( ) 821-9090
T 2400 ( ) 821-9099
Joplin X 2400 (417) 782-8989
Springfield T 2400 ( ) 881-2560
Kansas City (816) 472-4425
T 2400 ( ) 474-1778
Maryville S ( ) 562-2721
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MONTANA MONTANA
======= =======
Billings T 2400 (406) 245-1122
Bozeman T 2400 ( ) 586-0816
Butte T 2400 ( ) 494-3320
Great Falls T 2400 ( ) 452-8517
Helena X 2400 ( ) 442-4630
Missoula X 2400 ( ) 549-9726
NEBRASKA NEBRASKA
======== ========
Kearney X 2400 (308) 234-6589
Lincoln T 2400 (402) 474-7084
Omaha 300 ( ) 344-0700
1200 ( ) 344-7840
T 2400 ( ) 345-6579
York X 2400 ( ) 362-2007
NEVADA NEVADA
====== ======
Las Vegas (702) 382-6810
2400 ( ) 385-5639
Reno ( ) 323-1671
2400 ( ) 322-0221
NEW HAMPSHIRE NEW HAMPSHIRE
============= =============
Concord X 2400 (603) 224-8024
Keene ( ) 352-8780
Manchester T 2400 ( ) 647-1603
Nashua T 2400 ( ) 889-3450
NEW JERSEY NEW JERSEY
========== ==========
Bernardsville (Basking Rdg) S (201) 766-0133
Boonton (Morristown) 300 (...) 263-5053
1200 (...) 263-8826
2400 (...) 263-1080
Bound Brook S ( ) 271-1340
Franklin Park (New Brunsw) 300 ( ) 422-0009
1200 ( ) 422-8359
T 2400 ( ) 422-1133
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Hackensack 300 ( ) 489-0220
1200 ( ) 489-0570
T 2400 ( ) 487-1553
Kearny T 2400 ( ) 997-7735
Perth Amboy S ( ) 442-7420
Rahway T 2400 ( ) 381-5044
Red Bank T 2400 ( ) 741-8490
Somerville (Raritan) S ( ) 722-1722
Westfield T 2400 ( ) 654-0115
Westwood (Hillsdale) S ( ) 666-1661
Atlantic City 2400 (609) 383-1998
Heightstown X 2400 ( ) 448-6110
Mrchntvll (Chrry Hll) T 2400 ( ) 486-1657
Moorstwn (Mrchntvll) T 2400 ( ) 234-9588
Pitman X 2400 ( ) 589-6874
Pleasantville (Atl. City) ( ) 641-2477
Princeton T 2400 ( ) 924-6960
NEW MEXICO NEW MEXICO
========== ==========
Albuquerque T 2400 (505) 843-7790
Carlsbad S ( ) 887-5564
Hobbs X 2400 ( ) 393-1771
Las Cruces T 2400 ( ) 527-1765
Roswell S ( ) 624-0020
Santa Fe T 2400 ( ) 982-4293
NEW YORK NEW YORK
======== ========
New York City 300 (212) 980-5450
1200 ( ) 980-5441
T 2400 ( ) 752-5505
Auburn T 2400 (315) 255-3391
Syracuse ( ) 478-7005
T 2400 ( ) 422-1244
Utica ( ) 797-6550
Amityville (West Babylon) T 2400 (516) 789-2450
East Hampton X 2400 ( ) 324-5002
Mineola T 2400 ( ) 294-9170
Port Jefferson T 2400 ( ) 473-5331
Amsterdam X 2400 (518) 842-4720
Glens Falls X 2400 ( ) 793-5603
Schenectady 300 ( ) 385-1931
1200 ( ) 385-0241
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T 2400 ( ) 385-3268
Binghamton (607) 772-8200
Corning ( ) 937-8391
Elmira S ( ) 734-3944
Norwich S ( ) 336-1856
Oneonta S ( ) 432-8622
Buffalo T 2400 (716) 882-0112
Niagara Falls ( ) 284-3771
Rochester 300 ( ) 546-7600
1200 ( ) 546-8200
T 2400 ( ) 454-4150
Elmsford S (914) 592-1774
Maybrook X 2400 ( ) 427-2848
Mt. Kisco S ( ) 241-8925
Nyack S ( ) 353-3492
Port Chester ( ) 939-6226
T 2400 ( ) 939-1725
Poughkeepsie T 2400 ( ) 454-0890
Woodstock X 2400 ( ) 679-8987
NORTH CAROLINA NORTH CAROLINA
============== ==============
Asheville S (704) 258-8396
Brevard S ( ) 883-8275
Charlotte ( ) 372-0500
T 2400 ( ) 377-6921
Gastonia S ( ) 867-1285
Hendersonville S ( ) 692-0517
Monroe S ( ) 289-5591
Newton S ( ) 465-2400
Salisbury S ( ) 637-6073
Burlington S (919) 227-9031
Burlington (Elon College) S ( ) 584-7025
Durham T 2400 ( ) 286-5507
Fayetteville ( ) 323-0968
Greensboro ( ) 275-0940
T 2400 ( ) 272-4724
High Point S ( ) 886-5038
N. Wilkesboro S ( ) 838-2461
Raleigh ( ) 834-5747
T 2400 ( ) 834-0932
Wilmington ( ) 763-3605
Winston-Salem ( ) 788-6727
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NORTH DAKOTA NORTH DAKOTA
============ ============
Fargo T 2400 (701) 280-1609
Underwood X 2400 ( ) 442-3261
OHIO OHIO
==== ====
Akron T 2400 (216) 535-1594
Alliance X 2400 ( ) 821-9980
Avon Lake (Lorain) X 2400 ( ) 933-4600
Canton X 2400 ( ) 453-3374
Cleveland 300 ( ) 362-8300
1200 ( ) 362-8350
T 2400 ( ) 362-2953
Elyria X 2400 ( ) 323-5902
Youngstown ( ) 743-2116
Mansfield T 2400 (419) 522-8707
Sandusky X 2400 ( ) 625-4746
Toledo T 2400 ( ) 255-6516
Dayton T 2400 (513) 223-7174
Mason S ( ) 398-5623
Middletown S ( ) 423-4996
Springfield X 2400 ( ) 323-3037
Troy X 2400 ( ) 339-2684
Boone, KY/Cincinatti (606) 371-1403
T 2400 ( ) 371-1925
Athens X 2400 (614) 592-3058
Columbus ( ) 263-5282
T 2400 ( ) 263-5574
Coshocton T 2400 ( ) 622-0011
Martins Ferry (Wheeling, WV) T 2400 ( ) 633-2959
OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA
======== ========
Duncan S (405) 255-8489
Oklahoma City ( ) 525-9512
T 2400 ( ) 528-8948
Bartlesville T 2400 (918) 336-1493
Tulsa ( ) 664-1090
T 2400 ( ) 628-1422
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OREGON OREGON
====== ======
Corvallis X 2400 (503) 752-0220
Eugene T 2400 ( ) 485-2343
Phoenix (Medford) X 2400 ( ) 535-7368
Portland ( ) 287-9045
T 2400 ( ) 249-8365
PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA
============ ============
Allentown T 2400 (215) 439-0278
Coatesville X 2400 ( ) 384-6050
Langhorne X 2400 ( ) 757-8719
Lansdowne (Philadelphia) 300 ( ) 284-9310
1200 ( ) 284-9343
T 2400 ( ) 284-0206
Norristown ( ) 277-4030
T 2400 ( ) 284-0206
Reading T 2400 ( ) 372-4751
Butler S (412) 285-6914
New Kensington S ( ) 335-1818
Pittsburgh ( ) 572-7330
T 2400 ( ) 572-7320
Bloomsburg X 2400 (717) 389-1263
Carlisle X 2400 ( ) 245-9420
Harrisburg T 2400 ( ) 233-1465
Hazelton X 2400 ( ) 455-7561
Lancaster T 2400 ( ) 293-3234
Scranton X 2400 ( ) 348-2121
Selinsgrove X 2400 ( ) 374-1104
Williamsport ( ) 327-1858
York T 2400 ( ) 854-0225
Brookville S (814) 849-5289
Erie T 2400 ( ) 453-3641
State College ( ) 231-8010
PUERTO RICO PUERTO RICO
=========== ===========
Puerto Rico T 2400 ( ) 725-1200
RHODE ISLAND RHODE ISLAND
============ ============
Providence T 2400 (401) 351-0840
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SOUTH CAROLINA SOUTH CAROLINA
============== ==============
Aiken T 2400 (803) 649-7369
Anderson ( ) 225-4393
Charleston ( ) 722-2781
Clemson S ( ) 654-9232
Columbia T 2400 ( ) 254-6732
Florence ( ) 662-4519
Greenville ( ) 235-8871
T 2400 ( ) 235-5469
Greenwood ( ) 223-0107
Greer (Duncan) S ( ) 877-6660
Myrtle Beach S ( ) 448-2052
Spartanburg T 2400 ( ) 585-7952
Sumter X 2400 ( ) 773-9149
SOUTH DAKOTA SOUTH DAKOTA
============ ============
Rapid City S (605) 348-8545
Sioux Falls ( ) 336-0451
TENNESSEE TENNESSEE
========= =========
Bristol X 2400 (615) 968-7583
Chattanooga ( ) 265-2920
T ( ) 266-2107
Clarksville S ( ) 645-9691
Elizabethton X 2400 ( ) 543-3662
Jefferson City X 2400 ( ) 475-3808
Johnson City X 2400 ( ) 928-7196
Kingsport T 2400 ( ) 246-7444
Knoxville T 2400 ( ) 546-7595
Murfreesboro S ( ) 896-1764
Nashville ( ) 377-8900
T 2400 ( ) 377-6171
Oak Ridge X 2400 ( ) 481-3145
Brownsville X 2400 (901) 772-4500
Jackson T 2400 ( ) 423-4404
Memphis T 2400 ( ) 761-7884
TEXAS TEXAS
===== =====
Dallas 300 (214) 638-0123
1200 ( ) 638-1227
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T 2400 ( ) 634-0203
Longview T 2400 ( ) 753-4641
Sherman X 2400 ( ) 893-4648
Tyler T 2400 ( ) 595-2465
Bay City X 2400 (409) 244-3766
Beaumont T 2400 ( ) 838-2314
Bryan T 2400 ( ) 822-3067
Clute/Lk Jackson (Lk Jack) T 2400 ( ) 297-8895
Lufkin T 2400 ( ) 634-4054
Port Arthur X 2400 ( ) 985-2006
Txs Cty/LaMarque (Galveston) T 2400 ( ) 935-2161
Austin T 2400 (512) 476-6046
Brownsville ( ) 542-9175
Corpus Christi T 2400 ( ) 888-4421
Harlingen S ( ) 425-7183
Laredo X 2400 ( ) 727-7298
McAllen X 2400 ( ) 686-0060
New Braunfels X 2400 ( ) 620-0142
San Antonio 300 ( ) 225-8787
1200 ( ) 226-6513
T 2400 ( ) 271-0538
San Marcos X 2400 ( ) 392-4148
Victoria T 2400 ( ) 576-1123
Houston 300 (713) 620-7531
1200 ( ) 620-7500
T 2400 ( ) 620-7538
Amarillo T 2400 (806) 372-2403
Levelland X 2400 ( ) 894-1553
Lubbock T 2400 ( ) 763-2351
Pampa X 2400 ( ) 665-5705
Fort Worth (817) 336-0102
T 2400 ( ) 336-6209
Temple X 2400 ( ) 778-4840
Waco T 2400 ( ) 776-5860
Abilene T 2400 (915) 677-1994
Big Springs X 2400 ( ) 263-8459
El Paso ( ) 532-1631
T 2400 ( ) 533-9506
San Angelo T 2400 ( ) 949-0027
Seminole T 2400 ( ) 758-9283
Teminal (Midland-Odessa) ( ) 561-8322
T 2400 ( ) 561-5001
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: 138
UTAH UTAH
==== ====
Brigham City S (801) 734-9423
Clearfield S ( ) 773-9690
Pleasant Grove (Lindon) S ( ) 785-7273
Salt Lake City ( ) 363-5503
T 2400 ( ) 485-8110
VERMONT VERMONT
======= =======
Brattleboro (802) 254-8764
Burlington T 2400 ( ) 658-0110
VIRGINIA VIRGINIA
======== ========
Blacksburg T 2400 (703) 552-7668
Bristol X 2400 ( ) 466-5952
Fredericksburg X 2400 ( ) 371-4902
Harrisonburg X 2400 ( ) 434-7317
Herndon T 2400 ( ) 391-2150
Roanoke T 2400 ( ) 774-2427
Waynesboro T 2400 ( ) 949-7411
Charlottesville T 2400 (804) 971-3641
Chester S ( ) 748-6373
Lynchburg ( ) 528-3626
Newport News (Hampton) T 2400 ( ) 245-5131
Norfolk T 2400 ( ) 625-3079
Richmond ( ) 359-6940
T 2400 ( ) 359-6966
WASHINGTON WASHINGTON
========== ==========
Everett S (206) 355-2511
Olympia T 2400 ( ) 943-0641
Seattle 300 ( ) 286-6480
1200 ( ) 286-6560
T 2400 ( ) 286-6584
Tacoma T 2400 ( ) 272-2035
Vancouver X 2400 ( ) 693-3029
Kennewick T 2400 (509) 735-3579
Spokane T 2400 ( ) 534-1830
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: 139
WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA
============= =============
Beckley X 2400 (304) 255-5226
Charleston T 2400 ( ) 345-3150
Milton (Huntington) X 2400 ( ) 743-0552
Shepherdstown X 2400 ( ) 876-2537
Martins Ferry,OH (Wheelng Wv) (614) 633-2959
WISCONSIN WISCONSIN
========= =========
Appleton T 2400 (414) 739-0244
Green Bay X 2400 ( ) 432-4144
Milwaukee ( ) 475-0245
T 2400 ( ) 475-1627
Racine T 2400 ( ) 637-9721
Sheboygan T 2400 ( ) 457-5517
La Crosse T 2400 (608) 785-2810
Madison T 2400 ( ) 274-2459
Marinette X 2400 (715) 735-6604
WYOMING WYOMING
======= =======
Casper (307) 237-5201
Gillette S ( ) 686-2178
Sheridan S ( ) 672-5845
Aladdin User's Manual
Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: 140
Appendix B - The Aladdin Keyboard Macro Facilities
This section of this manual will cover Aladdin's keyboard
macro facilities, including the macro creation, status and
editing capabilities of the program.
Aladdin's keyboard macro facilities are capable of storing,
editing, deleting and playing back a total of 26 macro
definitions, each containing 1,024 characters. The 26 macros
correspond to the keystrokes [Alt-A] through [Alt-Z]. The [Alt-H]
key is a special case in that it can have a macro defined to it,
but if you are in the terminal mode's RTC (chat) mode the [Alt-H]
keystroke's definition is overridden by an internal macro which
is designed to locate and say "Hello" to everyone in the RTC room
which you are visiting.
All the keyboard macros which you have defined are stored in
the file ALADDIN.MAC, located in the same directory where the
Aladdin program files are located. The macros are loaded when you
run Aladdin, and they are saved automatically when you exit the
program.
The keystrokes which control the keyboard macro functions
are,
[Alt-F5] - Lists all possible macro keystrokes and
highlights those that have an active macro
definition.
[Alt-F6] - Begins a macro recording, optionally allows
to edit, overwrite or abort a macro
definition operation if the keystroke already
has a macro definition attached to it.
[Alt-F7] - Ends a macro recording and stores the defined
macro in memory.
[Alt-A] thru
[Alt-Z] - Plays back the macro for that keystroke, if
any.
These control keys are listed only on Aladdin's main menu
screen, but they are available anywhere in Aladdin.
1. Loading and saving the macro definitions
Aladdin loads the macro definitions automatically from the
file ALADDIN.MAC when you first start the program. Aladdin also
saves the macro definitions to the file ALADDIN.MAC when you exit
the program and return to DOS.
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2. Defining a keyboard macro
To define a keyboard macro, press and hold the [Alt] key and
press the [F6] key once, then release the [Alt] key. A small
window will appear on the screen asking you which keystroke do
you wish to define a macro for. The options are [Alt-A] through
[Alt-Z]. Note that you must press the full [Alt][Key] keystroke
which you wish to define. For example, if you wish to define a
macro for the [Alt-A] keystroke, press [Alt-F6] and then press
[Alt-A].
Aladdin will then check to see if the keystroke already has
a macro definition attached to it. If it does not, Aladdin will
immediately begin recording all keystrokes (up to 1,024) and will
put a flashing "M" on the upper left-hand corner of the screen to
let you know that it is recording a macro. Begin pressing any
keys which you want to record. Aladdin will continue to interpret
the keystrokes normally, so if one of the keys you press tells
Aladdin to do something it will do so.
3. Overwriting a macro definition
If there is already a macro definition for the keystroke
which you want to record a macro for, Aladdin will pop up a
second window that will ask you if you wish to overwrite the
macro definition with a new one, edit the current definition, or
abort the macro definition command. If you wish to overwrite the
existing macro definition, press the "O" key once. Aladdin will
proceed to record the macro as described in the paragraph above.
4. Editing a macro definition
If you wish to edit the existing macro, press "E". Aladdin
will then present you with the full-screen macro editor facility.
This facility is very similar to a text editor, except that it
presents keystrokes in "literal" form. For example, if one of the
keystrokes in the macro definition is the function key [F6], the
editor will show that keystroke as "[F6]" on the editing window.
The control keys available in the macro editor are as
follows:
[Enter] - Finish editing and save the macro definition.
[Esc] - Stop editing and restore the original macro
definition.
[Left] - Move the cursor one character position to the
left.
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Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
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[Right] - Move the cursor one character position to the
right.
[Up] - Move the cursor one line up.
[Down] - Move the cursor one line down.
[Ins] - Toggle insert/overwrite mode.
[Del] - Delete the keystroke at the cursor position.
[BkSp] - Delete the keystroke to the immediate left of
the cursor position.
[Ctrl-BkSp]
- Delete all keystrokes in the macro
definition.
[Scroll Lock]
- Toggle between command mode and literal mode.
In literal mode, pressing any of the keys
listed above will insert that key into the
macro, rather than executing the command.
5. Deleting a macro definition
To delete a macro definition, press [Alt-F6] to bring up the
macro keystroke definition selection window, select the existing
macro by pressing the keystroke to which it is assigned, then
select "E" to edit the macro. Press and hold the [Ctrl] key and
press then [BkSp] key once. All the characters in the macro
definition will be deleted. Press [Enter] to finish editing. The
macro facility will take a look at the macro and, seeing that it
is empty, will disable it.
6. Finding out which macro keystrokes are active
To find out which keystrokes of the available [Alt-A]
through [Alt-Z] have active macro definitions, press and hold the
[Alt] key, then press the [F5] function key once. A window will
open in the middle of your display that will show you which
keystrokes are active. The active keystrokes will be highlighted,
the inactive keystrokes will not.
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Copyright (c) 1990 GE Information Services
Page Number: 143
Index
Aladdin Terminal Mode . 3, 81
^A . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Aladdin work files . . . . 24
^Z . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Aladdin, RoundTable and
24 hour format . . . . . 110 Script Setup . . 29
43-line screen . . . . . . 17 Aladdin's script editor . . 95
7bit/8bit Indicator . . . . 85 Aladdin's software
7bit/8bit status l i b r a r y
indicator . . . . 84 directory . . . . 25
9. Begin-Edit/End macro . . 30 Alias . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Aborting a file transfer . 92 Always pick up mail? . . . 18
Aborting a reply . . . . . 44 ASCII character 13 -
Access charges C a r r i a g e
savings . . . . . . . 6 Return . . . . 104
ACK . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 ASCII character set . . . . 90
Add a script . . . . . . . 95 ASCII text file . . . . . . 89
Adding a free-form Attached file . . . . . . . 62
d o w n l o a d Auto pass 1 days . . . . . 24
request . . . . . 55 Auto pass 1 options . . . . 23
Adding a RoundTable . . . . 20 Auto-save Messages? . . . . 25
Additional surcharges . . . 76 Automated operations . . 100
Address list file name . . 18 Automatic access tool . . . 27
A L A D ? ? ? . E X E Automatic pass . . . . 31, 81
Self-extracting Automatic Pass 1 . . . . . 52
distribution Automatic pass 1 or 2 . . 100
archive . . . . . 10 Automatic passes 1 and 2 . 35
Aladdin copyright notice . 82 Automatic Xmodem? . . . . . 18
Aladdin distribution kit . 95 Average cost of each
Aladdin GEmail Menu . . . . 28 call . . . . . . 77
Aladdin GEnie/Modem/Optio Average duration of each
n s call . . . . . . 77
configuration Background color . . . 19, 20
screen . . . . . 13 Banner
Aladdin Main Menu 27, 32, 50, new GEnie services,
59, 70, 80 announcement
Aladdin Miscellaneous of . . . . . . . 5
Operations BASIC's GOSUB command . . . 99
screen . . . . . 29 Baud rate . . . . . 3, 16, 33
Aladdin Options . . . . . . 18 BBS Nickname . . . . . . . 14
Aladdin phone number Begin ASCII capture . . . . 81
field . . . . . . 14 Begin-Edit/End macro -
Aladdin RoundTable [Alt-F6/Alt-F7]
Editing screen . 20 . . . . . . . . 30
Aladdin screen colors Begin/End ASCII Capture . . 88
configuration Billing activity . . . . . 78
screen . . . . . 13 Billing filename . . . . . 19
Aladdin Script Language 5, 9, Billing history . . . . 29, 76
95, 97 Billing history screen . . 84
Aladdin Setup Screen 76, 117 Billing information . . 19, 80
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Billing rate . . . . . . . 76 random letters . . . . 74
Blackjack . . . . . . . . . 9 random words . . . . . 75
BLANKS OK/BLANKS OFF CHDIR . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Indicator . . . . 86 Check for new files . . 23, 25
Blanks OK/Blanks OFF Check for new messages 23, 34
s t a t u s Checkbook . . . . . . . . . 3
indicator . . . . 84 Checking the library for
Blocks re-sent . . . . . . 92 new files . . . . 51
Blocks Received . . . . . . 92 Checking your mail . . . . 60
Borland Language Products Checksum . . . . . . . . . 90
RoundTable . 8, 22 Choosing files from the
Break character . . . . 15, 52 main file list . 55
Break signal . . . . . . . 25 Choosing files to
BRO NOR command . . . . 33, 34 download or
Browse all new messages . . 33 browse . . . . . 52
Browsing the long Christensen, Ward
descriptions of inventor of Xmodem
each file . . . . 51 file transfer
Bulletin Board . . . . 7, 33 protocol . . . . 90
Bulletin Board (message) Closing the capture file 112
section . . . . . 32 Club Door Bulletin . . . . 49
Bulletin Board System Club door welcome
(BBS) . . . . . . 10 message . . . . . 33
BYE command . . . . . . . . 34 Colors
Bytes Received . . . . . . 92 setting . . . . . . . 19
Calling during a COM1 . . . . . . . . . . . 16
prime-time COM2 . . . . . . . . . . . 16
period COM3 . . . . . . . . . . . 16
billing indicator . . 82 COM4: . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Canada Command line arguments
access to GEnie . . . 3 Aladdin . . . . . . . 11
Cancelling a category . . . 40 Command mode . . . . . . 115
Capture incoming text to Command terminator . . . . 16
a file . . . . . 88 Command-line arguments
CAPTURE ON/CAPTURE OFF /1 . . . . . . . . . . 12
Indicator . . . . 86 /2 . . . . . . . . . . 12
Capturing text . . . . . . 86 /7 . . . . . . . . . . 11
Carbon copy . . . . . . . . 67 /D### . . . . . . . . 11
Carrier detect . . . . . . 85 /DV . . . . . . . . . 12
Case-sensitive matching . 104 /k . . . . . . . . . . 11
Categories . . . . . . . . 7 /ls . . . . . . . . . 11
Category title . . . . . . 43 /mr . . . . . . . . . 11
CC list . . . . . . . . . . 61 /NC . . . . . . . . . 12
CD (Carrier Detect) /NOEMS . . . . . . . . 12
signal . . . . 103 /NOSOUNDS . . . . . . 12
CD (Carrier Detect) /SAVEMAIL . . . . . . 12
signal line . . . 2 /V . . . . . . . . . . 11
Change password . . . . . . 71 /X . . . . . . . . . . 11
Changing your password 29, 74 Commenting of script
frequency . . . . . . 75 commands . . . . 97
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Communications . . . 1, 3, 5 Dial command . . . . . . . 16
Communications buffer . . 105 Directory
Communications port . . . . 3 software library . . . 8
Communications screen . . . 82 Disconnecting the call
Composing new mail manually . . . . 83
messages . . . . 46 Display
Composing new messages . . 46 supported . . . . . . 2
Computer keyboard buffer 118 Display a message . . . . 108
Computer's internal Display of script
clock . . . . . . 82 commands . . . 108
Configuration information Display the scrolled
saving . . . . . . . . 14 text . . . . . . 84
Configuration Number . . . 14 DOS . . . . . . . . . . 30, 31
Configuring the Aladdin DOS operating system . . . 30
Software . . . . 13 Download All New Mail . . . 62
Connect charges . . . . . . 76 Download all new
Connection message . . . . 16 messages . . . . 33
Context-sensitive help Download and upload
facility . . . . 27 files . . . . . . 90
Control characters . . . . 97 Download filename . . . . . 91
COPY . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Download or upload files 113
Cost of downloading a Download/browse display
file . . . . . . 53 screen . . . . . 53
CRC . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Downloaded mail path . . . 18
Creating new topics . . . . 48 Downloading . . . . . . . . 91
Credit card . . . . . . . . 3 Downloading files that
Ctrl-A through Ctrl-Z . . . 97 are attached to
Cyclic Redundancy Check . . 90 messages . . . . 18
Data bits . . . . . . . . . 3 Downloading the full
Data Terminal Ready . . . . 85 description of
Database file . . . . . . . 36 a file . . . . . 53
Date parameter selection Downloading/uploading
process . . . . . 38 files . . . . . . 31
Day of the week . . . . . 106 Downloads
DAYS BACK field . . . . . . 55 Default path . . . . . 25
Default condition of a Dropping to DOS
topic . . . . . . 38 Temporarily . . . 30
Default download path . . . 18 DTR (Data Terminal
Default path and Ready) . . 87, 116
filename . . . . 55 DTR (Data Terminal Ready)
Default prompt character . 15 signal line . . . 2
Default to insert? . . . . 18 Dumb terminal . . . . . . . 81
DEL . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 ECHO Indicator . . . . . . 85
Delete a script . . . . . . 96 ECHO status indicator . . . 84
DELETED: prefix . . . . . . 48 Edit or delete
Deleting a free-form replies/new
d o w n l o a d topics . . . . . 48
request . . . . . 55 Edit/Delete Mail . . . . . 69
Deleting a RoundTable . . . 21 Editing a RoundTable . . . 21
Demonstration version . . . 32 Editing file upload or
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s e a r c h messages . . . . 60
operations Files not released in
. . . . . . . . 58 o r d e r o f
Editing screen . . . . . . 48 upload . . . . . 55
Editing the script file . . 95 Finding specific dates
Editor Options . . . . . . 18 within the
Efficiency factors . . . . 93 b i l l i n g
EGA . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 display . . . . . 80
mode, suppresion of . 11 First message of a topic . 42
EGA or VGA display card Fix garbled prompt . . . . 82
and monitor . . . 17 Floppy disk . . . . . . . . 2
Electronic bulletin Flush Notifies . . . . . . 88
board . . . . . . 7 Foreground color . . . 19, 20
Electronic conferences . . 5 Forward a message . . . 46, 65
Electronic mail system . . 5 Forwarding messages . . . . 46
Electronic rooms . . . . . 8 Free memory . . . . . . . . 31
Electronic shopping trip . 5 Free-form Downloads . . . . 56
Empty script . . . . . . . 95 Free-form file download . . 55
Entertainment . . . . . . . 5 Garbage characters on the
Erase a file . . . . . . 111 screen . . . . . 83
Execution of a script . . . 98 Garbled prompt . . . . . . 2
EXIT command GE Mail Address . . . . . . 15
returning to Aladdin GE Mail Options . . . . . . 18
from DOS after GEmail . . . 1, 5, 27, 34, 60
p r e s s alternative to
[Alt-F10] . . . . 31 F e d e r a l
Exiting Aladdin . . . . . . 30 Express . . . . . 28
Extended keys . . . . . . 119 alternative to U.S.
Extracting a previously Mail . . . . . . 28
marked block of altternative to
text to a file . 79 United Parcel
Extraction process . . . . 10 Service (UPS) . . 28
Extraction to a file . . . 78 attached file . . . . 18
File description . . . . . 57 checking during pass
File descriptions . . . . . 36 1 or 2 . . . . . 29
File Reader - [Alt-F8] . . 30 GEmail address . . . . 5, 39
File sizes . . . . . . . . 53 GEmail command mode . . . 117
File transfer . . . . . . . 91 GEmail Electronic Mail
File transfer efficiency . 92 System . . . . . 60
File transfer elapsed GEmail Menu . . 28, 50, 59, 96
time . . . . . . 93 GEmail message . . . . . . 61
File transfer errors . . . 92 GEmail message components
File transfer est. time body of the message . 61
left . . . . . . 93 CC list . . . . . . . 61
File trasnfer last error main addressees . . . 61
message area . . 93 maximum size of body
File types ("X" or "7") . . 53 of message . . . 62
File upload dates . . . . . 53 optional attached
File verification . . . . . 57 file . . . . . . 61
Files attached to recipient list . . . . 61
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s e c o n d a r y character . . . 116
addressees . . . 61 GEnie/Modem/Aladdin
specifying multiple O p t i o n s
addresses . . . . 61 configuration
subject field . . . . 61 screen . . . . . 33
GEmail message queue . . . 63 GEnie/Modem/Options
Genealogy . . . . . . . . . 5 Configuration
General Electric Screen . . . . . 25
Information Give Aladdin a nudge . . . 83
Services . . . . 1 Half duplex . . . . . . . . 3
General Electric Half-Duplex Mode . . . . . 85
Information Hang up . . . . . . . . . . 81
S e r v i c e s Hang up the phone . . 30, 87,
(GEIS) . . . . . 5 114, 115
General Electric Network Hard disk . . . . . . . . . 2
for Information Hard Disk Installation . . 10
Exchange . . . 1, 5 Hayes modems . . . . . . . 14
General Mode Indicator . . 86 Hayes Smartmodem . . . . . 2
GEnie Hayes Smartmodem 2400
list of services . . . 29 reset string . . . . . 16
GEnie Access Number Header field section . . . 45
Listing . . . . . 14 Help! . . . . . . . . . . . 27
GEnie account . . . . . . . 2 hot key . . . . . . . 27
GEnie Client Services . 6, 76 Hiding your password . . 109
GEnie file keyword search Hot key . . . . . . . . . . 31
algorithm . . . . 57 IBM PC RoundTable . . . . . 33
GEnie information IBM-PC . . . . . 1, 2, 6, 16
service . . . . . 1 IBM-PC RoundTable 10, 22, 25, 71
GEnie mail . . . . . . . . 36 Ignoring topics
GEnie mailbox . . . . . . . 28 permanently . . . 38
GEnie message editor Incremental files
command database . . . . 56
*ACC, add carbon Information . . . . . . . . 5
c o p y Input archive file . . 18, 25
recipients . . . 67 INPUT.TXT
GEnie MOVE command . . . . 71 incoming text
GEnie Network storage . . . . . 25
local access point . . 33 Installation of the
GEnie page number . . 22, 114 Aladdin Program
GEnie product index . . 71, 72 Software . . . . 10
sorting the display . 74 Intensity Control . . . . . 20
GEnie representative Intensity option . . . . . 19
customer service . . . 3 International network
GEnie RoundTables . . . . . 6 services . . . . 3
GEnie User Manual . . . . . 5 Interrupting an operation
GENIE.LST . . . . . . . . . 71 break character . . . 15
filename, holds Invoke Aladdin's Script
GEnie product Menu . . . . . . 95
index . . . . . . 22 Invoking an Aladdin
GEnie's default prompt Script . . . . . 95
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KEEP . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Mark a block of text . . . 78
Keyboard buffer . . . 105, 118 Mark status . . . . . . . . 36
Keyboard scan code . . . 119 Mark topics found by "C" . 36
KEYWORD field . . . . . . . 54 Marked topics . . . . . . . 23
Keyword(s) . . . . . . . . 39 Marking a block of text . . 79
Last file date . . . . 25, 26 Maximum RoundTables . . . . 28
Last message in a topic . . 38 Message display screen . . 43
L H A R C f i l e Message number . . . . . . 43
archive/compres Message reply . . . . . . . 64
sion utility . . 10 Message reply header . . . 64
Libraries Messages waiting . . . . . 34
software . . . . . . . 8 Microsoft Product Support
Line noise . . . . . . . . 2 RoundTable . . . 22
List defined macros - Minimum Hardware
[Alt-F5] . . . . 30 Requirements . . 1
List of existing topics . . 36 Miscellaneous Operations 22, 29
Local access numbers . . . 3 Miscellaneous Options
Local echo . . . . . . . . 3 Menu 50, 59, 70-72,
Local GEnie access 80, 97
number . . . . . 14 Mnemonic access code . . . 71
Log off . . . . . . . . . . 81 Modem . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3
Log Off from GEnie . . . . 87 connection . . . . . . 33
Log on . . . . . . . . . . 81 dialing string . . . . 14
Log On to GEnie . . . . . . 87 No connection . . . . 17
Log on to RoundTable BBS . 35 Reset command . . . . 16
Log on to RoundTable RTC . 35 s u c c e s s f u l
Logging on to the connection
RoundTable RTC . 52 messages . . . . 16
Login procedure . . . . . 109 Modem reset string . . . . 11
Login prompt . . . . . . . 33 Modem setup . . . . . . . . 2
Long distance fees . . . . 15 Modem switch settings . . 116
Long file description . . . 57 Modems . . . . . . . . . 115
Long screen EGA . . . . . . 17 Modifying the display
Look Back mode . . . . . . 84 colors . . . . . 19
Macro Facilities . . . . 141 Moving from RoundTable to
Macros RoundTable . . . 49
defining . . . . . . 142 Moving the cursor up and
d e l e t i n g a down . . . . . . 36
definition . . 143 MS-DOS . . . . . . . . . . 1
editing an existing Multi-player Blackjack . . 5
definition . . 142 Multiple configuration
editor control keys 142 setups . . . . . 14
listing active Multiple GEmail
keystrokes . . 143 addresses . . 46, 66
loading . . . . . . 141 Multiple GEnie accounts
overwriting an configuration of . . . 14
existing one . 142 NAK . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
saving . . . . . . . 141 NEW command . . . . . . . . 34
Mail waiting . . . . . . . 35 New messages . . . . . . . 38
Mailbox . . . . 33-35, 62, 107 New messages pending . . . 43
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New services available on Place-marker . . . . . . . 97
GEnie . . . . . . 73 Pre-configured prompt
New topics and messages . . 43 character . . . 114
News of the day . . . . . . 33 Prime-time . . . . . . . . 15
NewsGrid items . . . . . 115 Prime-time rate . . . . . . 76
Nickname . . . . . . . . . 5 Printing a message . . . . 66
Non-prime-time . . . . . . 15 Printing the current
Normal prompt character . 114 message . . . . . 47
NumLock . . . . . . . . . . 19 Private replies . . . . . . 45
On/Off-line Indicator . . . 85 Product index . . . . . . . 22
One-time notices . . . . . 49 Program version numbers . . 58
Online charges . . . . . . 1 Programming . . . . . . . . 5
Open a new topic . . . . . 40 Prompt
Opening screen . . . . . . 11 GEnie, login . . . . . 3
Operating system . . . . . 2 Prompt Character . . 15, 114
Optional attached file . . 62 Public data network . . . . 15
Output archive file . . 18, 25 Puerto Rico
OUTPUT.TXT access to GEnie . . . 3
output text archive Pulse dialing . . . . . . . 16
file . . . . . . 25 Quick Access Keys . 50, 59, 70
Packets of data . . . . . . 92 RDY Indicator . . . . . . . 85
Page numbers . . . . . . . 71 Read and Reply to Mail . . 63
on GEnie, meaning . . 22 Read and reply to
Parity messages . . . . 43
communications . . . . 3 READ command . . . . . 34, 35
Pass 1 . . . . . . . . 23, 29 READY prompt message . . . 93
Pass 2 . . . . . . . . . . 29 Real Time Conference . . . 8
Password . . . . . . . 14, 33 Real Time Conferencing . . 28
changing of . . . . . 14 Receive files . . . . . . . 91
protection and Recipient list . . . . . . 61
safeguarding Reply to old topics . . . . 36
of . . . . . . . 6 Reply to the current
Password maintenance . . . 71 message . . . . . 44
Path and/or file name . . . 93 Replying to messages . . . 48
PC-DOS . . . . . . . . . . 1 Review billing history . . 71
Pending actions . . . . . . 36 Role-playing games . . . . 5
Pending messages . . . . . 43 Rooms
Perform Automatic Pass 1 Real Time Conference
or 2 . . . . . . 35 Areas . . . . . . 8
Perform pending Root directory . . . . . . 10
operations . . . 34 RoundTable . . . . . . 1, 27
Performing multiple batch file directory . . . . 25
downloads . . . . 51 RoundTable Bulletin
Performing pending Board . . . . . . 34
operations . . . 52 RoundTable Configuration
Perpetual billing screen . . . 20, 32
history . . . . . 71 RoundTable Editing
Personal address file . 46, 65 Screen . . . . . 22
Personal address list . 18, 68 RoundTable Files . . . . . 24
Phone line . . . . . . . . 2 RoundTable Menu 32, 36, 50, 51
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RoundTable Menu Keys . . . 28 109, 115, 119
RoundTable name . . . . . . 23 {string} argument . 103,
RoundTable Options . . . . 17 106, 108, 111, 113,
RoundTable Real Time 114, 116, 117
Conference {text} argument . . . 98
area . . . . . . 35 {time} argument . . 110
RoundTable Setup Menu . . . 71 {verb} argument . . 104
RoundTable Software ALARM . . . . . 107, 109
Library section BEEP . . . 108, 111, 113
menu . . . . . . 59 CALL . . . . . . . . . 99
RoundTables . . . . . . . . 5 CAPTURE . 103, 111, 121
RSCARDS Multi-Player case-sensitive
Blackjack area . 29 matching . . . 104
RTC . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 CLEAR Command . . . 108
RTC (Real Time COMMANDMODE . . . . 115
Conferences) . . 8 CURRENTLINEHAS
RTC Indicator . . . . . . . 86 Condition . . . 103
RTC Mode . . . . . . . 8, 83 DATAWAITING
Running charges . . . . . . 76 Condition . . . 105
Running charges display . . 82 DAYOFWEEK Condition 106
Save all incoming debugging aid . . . 108
messages . . . . 25 display of script
Saving a message . . . . . 47 commands . . . 108
Saving incoming text . . 111 ECHO . . . . . . . . 108
Scan code . . . . . . . . 119 ELSE . 101, 106, 111-113,
Script Configuration . . . 26 118, 120, 121
script delimiters . . . . . 97 ENDCAPTURE . . . 103, 111
Script editing mode . . . . 95 ENDIF . . 101, 106, 107,
Script editor . . . . . . . 96 111-113, 115, 118,
Script file name . . . . . 18 120, 121
Script identification ENDSCRIPT 98, 107, 111,
number . . . . 100 112, 115, 120, 121
script labels . . . . . . . 97 ERASEFILE 103, 111, 112, 121
Script language . . . . 18, 95 EXIST Condition . . 106
"HAS" verb . . . . . 104 GETKEY . . . . . . . 119
"IS" verb . . . . . 104 GETSTRING 98, 103, 104, 120
{condition} GOTO 98, 103, 105, 118, 120
argument . 101, 107 HANGUP . . . . . . . 115
{day} argument . . . 107 HIDE . . . . . . . . 109
{digit} argument . . 98, IF . 101, 105, 106, 109,
104, 119, 120 111-113, 115, 118,
{direction} 120, 121
argument . . . 113 KEYWAITING 105, 110, 119
{filename} argument 113 K E Y W A I T I N G
{keyword} argument . 118 Condition . . . 105
{label} argument . . . 99 label . . . . . . . . 98
{promptstring} LOG . . . . . . 103, 111
argument . . . 117 LOG OFF . . . . 107, 113
{seconds} argument . 110 LOG ON . . 102, 107, 113
{state} argument . . 108, LOG ONTO . . . . 112, 113
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MAILFOUND Condition 107, 109 keywords,
MONITOR . 105, 110, 118 u p l o a d e r
NOTE 100, 105, 106, 108, or upload
111-113, 118, 120, 121 date . . . . . . 51
ONLINE Condition . . 103 Searching the billing
PAUSE . . . . . . . 110 information . . . 80
PERFORM . . . . 100, 111 Searching the topic list . 39
QUOTES . . . . . . . 115 Selecting a block of
RETURN . . . 99, 100, 107 text . . . . . . 78
scope of a label . . . 99 Selection parameters . . . 37
SCRIPT . . 98, 107, 111, Send ASCII file . . . . 81, 89
112, 115, 120, 121 Send Mail . . . . . . . 62, 67
SEND . . . . . . 116, 120 Sending a file . . . . . . 93
SENDCOMMAND . . 104, 116 Sending a spreadsheet . . . 28
SENDLINE 103, 109, 112, 116 Sending/Receiving Mail . . 34
SENDSPECIALCOMMAND 115, 116 Shopping . . . . . . . . . 5
SETSTRING . . . 98, 104 Shopping mall . . . . . . . 5
SNAPSHOT . . . . 103, 112 Short description of a
STRING Condition . . 104 file . . . . . . 53
SUCCESS . . . . 103, 107 Single quote "'" . . . . 115
SUCCESS Condition . 102, Smartmodem . . . . . . . . 2
107, 110, 111, 113, Software exchange . . . . . 5
116, 117, 120 Software Library 8, 23, 32, 52
TRUE or FALSE Software library indexes . 24
result . . . . 101 Software Library listing . 52
user-defined string 104 Software library numbers . 57
user-defined Software Library section 49,
subroutines . . . 99 51, 52
WAITFOR . 103, 109, 112, Software Library
113, 117 Settings . . . . 25
WAITFORDATA . . . . 118 Sorting the RoundTable
WAITFORDATA STOP . . 112 List . . . . . . 22
WAITFORKEYPRESS . . 118 Special delimiting
WAITFORPROMPT 103, 116, 117 characters . . . 97
WAITUNTIL . . . 103, 110 Special modem dialing
XMODEM . . . . . 103, 113 characters . . . 14
XMODEM1K . . . . . . 113 Special one-time notices . 49
Script Language Command Special save (Ctrl-S) . . . 66
{text} argument . . . 98 Special save of a message
Script Language Syntax to a file . . . . 47
Guidelines . . . 97 Start a new topic . . . . . 40
Script languages . . . . . 27 Start new topics . . . . . 28
Script menu . . . . . . . . 97 Starting a new topic
Script number . . . . . . . 95 w i t h i n a
Script window . . . . . . . 98 category . . . . 8
Scripts . . . . . . . . . . 95 Starting Aladdin . . . . . 11
Search for a service . . . 73 Status line . . . . . . . . 82
Search string field . . . . 80 Status messages and
Searching for a file . . . 54 fields . . . . . 82
Searching for files by Status of a file . . . . . 53
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Browse . . . . . . . . 53 Touch-tone dialing . . . . 16
download . . . . . . . 54 Transfer files . . . . . . 90
Keep . . . . . . . . . 53 Transfer speed . . . . . . 92
STAY indicator . 83, 86, 114 True break . . . . . . . . 15
Stay on-line when done . . 82 Tymnet . . . . . . . . . . 15
Stellar Emperor . . . . . . 5 Unauthorized use of your
Stop bit . . . . . . . . . 3 GEnie account . . 75
Store all new messages . . 23 Unignore command . . . . . 38
Subject field . . . . . 46, 61 Unread messages . . . . . . 36
Summary of the month's Upcoming Real Time
b i l l i n g Conferences . . . 49
activity . . . . 77 Update topic list . . . . . 42
Supress "snow"? . . . . . . 17 Updating the GEnie
Sysop . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Product Index . . 73
System clock . . . . . . 110 Upload date . . . . . . 25, 52
System Operator (SysOp) Upload keywords . . . . . . 57
System Operator . . . 7 Upload request paths and
Technical advice . . . . . 6 filenames . . . . 56
Telenet . . . . . . . . 15, 76 UPLOADER field . . . . . . 55
Telephone company . . . . . 2 Uploading a file . . . . . 56
Temporary password . . . . 3 Use usual marks? . . . . . 17
Terminal emulation . . . . 5 Use Zmodem? . . . . . . . . 17
Terminal Menu . . . . . 50, 70 User ID . . . . . . . . . . 33
Terminal mode . 9, 27, 29, 35, User ID string . . . . . . 14
52, 81 User identification
Terminal Mode menu 91, 97, 113 number . . . . . 3
Terminal Mode screen . . . 81 User-defined automated
Terminal program . . . . . 3 tasks . . . . . . 95
Terminate the call . 30, 115 User-defined string . 98, 104,
Terminate the session . . 114 119, 120
Text editor display User-defined subroutines . 99
color . . . . . . 20 VGA . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Text editor window . . . . 95 mode, suppresion of . 11
Text mode . . . . . . . . . 17 Video 7 VEGA VGA video
Time of day . . . . . . . 110 card
Time-out (seconds) . . . . 19 supression of
Time-out value . . . . . . 19 EGA/VGA mode
Timeout period . . . . . 117 of . . . . . . . 11
Topic header . . . 41, 43, 45 Video Options . . . . . . . 17
Topic index . . . . . . 40, 42 View GEnie banner . . . . . 88
Topic subject . . . . . . . 41 View Notifies . . . . . . . 87
Topic subject header . . . 40 View your billing
Topic subject/content history . . . . . 77
"mutation" . . . 38 Viewing the Club Door
Topic titles and Bulletin . . . . 49
summaries . . . . 33 Xmodem Download (CRC) . . . 81
Topics . . . . . . . . 7, 36 XMODEM File Download and
automatic pass 1 Upload (CRC) . . 90
options . . . . . 23 XMODEM file tranfers . . . 90
Topics with new messages . 17 XMODEM file transfer
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protocol . 90, 113
Xmodem Upload (CRC) . . . . 81
XON/XOFF Indicator . . . . 86
YYMMDD format . . . . . . . 39
Zmodem Downloads . . . . . 93
ZOO
file archive and
compression
program . . . . . 10
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