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EZ-Reader for the Qmail Door the MarkMail Door and the Tomcat! Door _______ ____|__ | (tm) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER * Version 1.35 * (September 2, 1991) * EZ-Reader is a copyright of Thumper Technologies, 1988-90 + Qmail is a copyright of Sparkware, 1988 + MarkMail is a copyright of Mark Turner, 1988 Table of Contents Distribution Notice........................................3 What is EZ-Reader..........................................3 Purchasing EZ-Reader.......................................4 Contacting the Author......................................5 Association of Shareware Professionals.....................5 Installing EZ-Reader.......................................6 Configuring EZ-Reader Archive...............................................7 Colors................................................8 Editor...............................................13 Flags................................................14 Hot Keys.............................................15 Paths................................................15 Replies..............................................16 Saving...............................................19 Taglines.............................................20 Using EZ-Reader Special Function Keys................................21 Selecting a Mail Packet..............................21 Main Menu Bulletins.......................................22 Exit............................................22 Files...........................................22 Mail............................................22 News............................................22 Save Marked Mail................................23 User Statistics.................................23 Selecting a Conference...............................24 Message Viewer Skipping threads................................25 Address Book....................................26 Bulk Marking of Messages........................26 Entering Messages...............................26 Mail Lists....................................29 Go Back.........................................29 Individual Messages.............................29 Killing Replies.................................30 Marking Messages................................30 Printing a Message..............................30 Quit Reading Messages...........................30 Replying to Messages............................30 Saving a Message................................31 -1- Changing the Thread Order.......................31 Command Summary.................................32 EZ-Reader Command Line Switches...........................33 EZ-Reader Tips............................................37 Switch!...................................................38 EZ-Reader Variables.......................................39 John Hancock..............................................40 Using the MarkMail Door...................................42 Using the Qmail Door......................................48 Thanks and Kudos..........................................55 -2- DISTRIBUTION NOTICE EZ-Reader is released as Shareware. Shareware is "try it before you buy it" software. You are allowed to try EZ-Reader for 30 days. After this trial period you are required to register (pay for) your copy of EZ-Reader. Registering the Shareware programs you use helps small companies and programmers turn out better and higher quality software at lower costs. Failure to register your Shareware programs discourages the development of useful programs. When you register this evaluation copy you will receive a copy of EZ-Reader that contains your own unique serial number, bypasses the registration information screen, and the ability to toggle the tagline on and off. EZ-Reader is fully functional. You are hereby granted a license to use and distribute this evaluation version of EZ-Reader. You must distribute EZ-Reader with it's entire documentation and without alteration. You may not charge for EZ-Reader in any way, except for the medium in which it is distributed. Any other use or distribution of EZ-Reader is expressly forbidden without the written consent of Thumper Technologies. WHAT IS EZ-READER EZ-Reader is a ShareWare program that reduces the amount of time needed to read and create messages on bulletin boards that run PC Board software with the Qmail or MarkMail doors. (Version 2 will support many more message formats!) EZ-Reader allows you to read and create messages off-line saving you time and money on long-distance phone bills. EZ-Reader is a total message management system allowing you to save messages for later retrieval. You can also view the news, new files and bulletins. Features: * The EZiest operation of any message reader available today. * Supports the Qmail message format. * EZ one key operations. * Uses your favorite editor so you won't have to learn a new editor. (If you don't have one, PC Magazine's TED editor is provided). * Shell to DOS at anytime. * On-line help screens. * Reconfigure EZ-Reader at anytime. * You can define and execute up to sixty-six (66) DOS commands and programs from within EZ-Reader. * Place replies in any conference. -3- * Sort messages four different ways. * Access to fifty taglines at a time. * Address messages to twenty (20) people. Unlimited number of addressees with mailing lists. * Edit and Delete replies. * On-line help screens. * Multiple mail packets. * Uses your communications program's upload and download directories. No need to move any files. * Works with floppy disks. * Address book, to keep those names, addresses, numbers, and comments. (For registered versions only) PURCHASING EZ-READER Included with the archive is a file named ORDER.FRM. Fill out and print this file. You can either fold the form into a letter sized envelope and drop in the mail or fax the information portion to the number listed on the form. Registration of EZ-Reader is $25. A new copy of EZ-Reader with your own serial number will be mailed to you within a week. The exception to this is if we are anticipating a new release. In the case of a new release, we will hold the registration up to two weeks. When you register you will receive all three flavors of EZ-Reader; the regular version, the 286 version, and the Junior version. You will also receive a password to the EZ-Reader update door. This door will allow you to upgrade your copy of EZ-Reader at any time. When a new version is available all you need to do is to call one of the six distribution sites, open the door, type your password, and download. The whole thing takes about five minutes at 2400 baud. The eight distribution systems are: Thumper's Den (918) 355-3113 (USR 9600 dual standard) (918) 355-4409 (Intel 9600EX V.32) Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Data Warp Premium BBS (713) 355-6107 (USR 9600 dual standard) Spring, Texas Executive Network (914) 667-4684 (USR 9600 dual standard) Mt. Vernon, New York Higher Powered BBS (408) 737-9447 (USR 9600 dual standard) Sunnyvale, Califronia Cheers (901) 373-5941 (USR 9600 dual standard) Memphis, Tennesee -4- City Bytes (604) 595-6234 (USR 9600 dual standard) Victoria, British Columbia, Canada MicroSellar (201) 239-1346 (USR 9600 dual standard) Verona, New Jersey Kandy Shack (714) 636-2667 (USR 9600 dual standard) Garden Grove, California CONTACTING THE AUTHOR The author of EZ-Reader is Eric Cockrell from Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you have questions, comments, or raspberries about EZ-Reader or E-mail in general you may contact him in one or more of several ways: 1) Via the EZ-Reader conference on these networks, Interlink, NorthAmerinet, RIME, and SmartNet. These networks a composed of Bulletin Boards who have banded together to share messages. The eight BBSs list above are all Interlink BBSs. Ask the sysop to point out the file that contains the list of Interlink BBSs. There should be one near you. 2) You may reach me at Data Warp Premium BBS. The number is listed above. Data Warp is a very good BBS run by Mike Meyer. You can either leave me a message in the Main Board or in the EZ-Reader conference. 3) I have PC Board up and running at (918) 627-0059. The best time to connect is during the day. EZ-Reader is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at: ASP Ombudsman 545 Grover Rd Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536 -5- INSTALLING EZ-READER For floppy disk users ───────────────────── Format a blank diskette and put your archiving programs (e.g. PKARC & PKXARC) on the diskette. Place the diskette with the EZ-Reader archive (SOURCE) in one drive and the formatted diskette (TARGET) in the second. Unarchive the EZ-Reader archive from the SOURCE to the TARGET. You should now have the EZ-Reader programs, your archive programs, and PC Magazine's TED editor (included with EZ-Reader) on your new EZ-Reader diskette. You can replace the TED editor with your own if you choose. Run the program INSTALL on the EZ-Reader diskette. There should be enough room for your editor and a couple of mail packets, depending upon their size. Keep your mail packets on the EZ-Reader diskette. To run EZ-Reader, place the EZ-Reader diskette in drive A: and a blank work diskette in drive B:. Then run the batch file EZ.BAT on the EZ-Reader diskette. For hard disk users ─────────────────── Create a subdirectory named EZ. (Or you can name it what you wish.) Simply unarchive the EZ-Reader archive into your EZ- Reader subdirectory. Run the INSTALL program. You may start EZ-Reader with the batch file EZ.BAT. -6- CONFIGURING EZ-READER ╔ CONFIGURE ╗ ║ Archive ║ ║ Colors ║ ║ Editor ║ ║ Flags ║ ║ Hot Keys ║ ║ Paths ║ ║ Replies ║ ║ Save ║ ║ Taglines ║ ╚═══════════╝ fig. 1 - CONFIG Main Menu If you ran the INSTALL program, you will alread have a default configuration file. Use CONFIG to make any changes you wish. If you did not run INSTALL, you will have to run the CONFIG or EZ-RDR programs from the EZ-Reader subdirectory. If EZ-Reader does not find a configuration file it will run automatically CONFIG for you. To select an option, move the highlight bar with the cursor keys and press <Enter>, <Space Bar>, or <+>. An alternate method is to press the key corresponding to the first letter of the desired option. (e.q. Pressing 'S' from the menu in figure 1 will execute the Save option.) Pressing <Esc> from any window will close that window. ┌───────────────────────────── ARCHIVE ──────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ ─────────────────────────── ARC files ─────────────────────────── │ │ Archive: PKARC U │ │ Unarchive: PKXARC /R │ │ │ │ ─────────────────────────── ZIP files ─────────────────────────── │ │ Archive: PKZIP.EXE -A │ │ Unarchive: PKUNZIP.EXE -O │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 2 - Archive Information Entry Window Archive ─────── The mail doors use a compression program to squeeze your messages into one small file. The most popular is Phil Katz's ZIP format. If you are not familiar with file compression, ask your Sysop which -7- compression program the mail door uses and which file on his/her BBS contains the compression programs. Then download that compression program file. Enter here the name and the options of the archiving programs you use. The name of the mail packet will be appended to these entries by the EZ-Reader when it becomes necessary to archive or unarchive the mail. There is enough space to put the complete path in each input field if the archiving programs cannot be found via the environmental variable PATH. Use <Esc> to close the window. EZ-Reader will check the mail packet and select the correct compression/uncompression program. If you need more memory to run the archiving programs you may use the Switch! feature. This requires you to place a '!' character as the first character in the command string. See the section on Switch! for more details. ┌─ COLORS ─┐ │ Messages │ │ Windows │ └──────────┘ fig. 3 - Colors Main Menu Colors ────── EZ-Reader allows you to define the colors for the message viewer and all of the windows. You are presented a colored table for EZ selection of color values and a copy of the actual message viewer screen or window. The values are updated immediately, allowing you to see exactly what the screen will look like. Use <Esc> to close the window. Message Viewer Colors ───────────────────── The screen shown in figure 4, will allow you to set the Message Viewer colors. Select the color values from the colored table for the message viewer. They will be updated immediately. Use <Esc> to close the window. -8- Message Header color: 7 Date: 12-04-88 (14:17) Number: 1234 Message 7778 of 9999 To: ADDRESSEE Refer#: 5678 FORWARD From: YOUR NAME HERE Read: YES √ * M ₧ Subj: MESSAGE SUBJECT Conf: (99) Conference name ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Message text area: Status Line BBS Name Here fig. 4 - Message Viewer Screen ┌── WINDOWS ───┐ │ Address Book │ │ Flag │ │ General │ │ Help │ │ Question │ │ Warning │ └──────────────┘ fig. 5 - Window Colors Menu Window Colors Menu ────────────────── The Window Colors Menu allows you to select a window and set it's colors. Use <Esc> to close the window. -9- ╔ CONFIGURE ╗ ║ Archive ║ ║ Colors ║ ║ Editor ║ ║ Flags ┌─ COLORS ─┐ ║ Hot Key│ Messages │ ║ Paths │ Windows │ ║ Save └──┌── WINDOWS ───┐ ║ Taglines │ Address Book │ ╚═══════════│ Flag │ │ General │ │ Help │ │ Question │ │ Warning │ └──────────────┘ fig. 6 - Fancy EZ-Reader Windows ┌──────── ADDRESS ────────┐ │ │ │ Window text color: 31 │ │ │ │ Window frame color: 031 │ │ │ │ Window title color: 028 │ │ │ └─────────────────────────┘ fig. 7 - Address Window Colors Address Window Colors ───────────────────── Set the colors of the Address Book. Even though you can change the colors with CONFIG, the Address Book is only available to registered users. Use <Esc> to close the window. ┌───────── FLAGS ─────────┐ │ │ │ Window text color: 31 │ │ │ │ Window frame color: 031 │ │ │ │ Window title color: 028 │ │ │ └─────────────────────────┘ fig. 8 - Flag Window Colors -10- Flag Window Colors ────────────────── Set the color of the window that allows you to set flags. The flags allow you to turn on the bells and whistles and the direction you read messages. Use <Esc> to close the window. ┌──────── GENERAL ────────┐ │ │ │ Window text color: 31 │ │ │ │ Window frame color: 031 │ │ │ │ Window title color: 028 │ │ │ └─────────────────────────┘ fig. 9 - General Window Colors General Window Colors ───────────────────── There are a good number of general purpose windows. Here is where you define the colors for the most used window. Use <Esc> to close the window. ┌───────── HELP ──────────┐ │ │ │ Window text color: 31 │ │ │ │ Window frame color: 031 │ │ │ │ Window title color: 028 │ │ │ └─────────────────────────┘ fig. 10 - Help Window Colors Help Window Colors ────────────────── This is the window in which help will be displayed when you ask for it. Use <Esc> to close the window. Question Window Colors ────────────────────── The Question window appears when EZ-Reader asks a Yes or No question. Use <Esc> to close the window. -11- ┌─────── QUESTION ────────┐ │ │ │ Window text color: 31 │ │ │ │ Window frame color: 031 │ │ │ │ Window title color: 028 │ │ │ └─────────────────────────┘ fig. 11 - Question Window Colors ┌──────── WARNING ────────┐ │ │ │ Window text color: 79 │ │ │ │ Window frame color: 079 │ │ │ │ Window title color: 076 │ │ │ └─────────────────────────┘ fig. 12 - Warning Window Colors Warning Window Colors ───────────────────── The Warning window appears when EZ-Reader cannot do something which you asked it to do. This is sometimes a serious message. I like white text with a white frame on a background of red and a bright red title on a red background (79, 79, 76). Use <Esc> to close the window. ┌──────────────────────────── EDITOR ──────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Editor: Q.EXE │ │ │ │ Options: @CONF@ │ │ │ │ Reply filename: REPLY. │ │ │ │ Message filename: MSG. │ │ │ │ Does the editor accept two files on the command line [Y/N]?: Y │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 13 - Editor Information Window -12- Editor ────── You can use your very own editor. The one you are already familiar with. There is no need to learn a new editor. The EDITOR field asks for the name of your editor. If your editor places options before the filename on the command line, put the options you choose on this line. The OPTIONS field is used for those editor options that appear after the filename on the command line when invoking your editor. Notice the @CONF@ in the OPTIONS field? This is an EZ-Reader variable. This variable will be substituted with the name of the conference that will contain the message you are creating. See the section on EZ-READER variables for more information. The REPLY FILENAME field accepts the name of the file in which your message or reply will be created by the editor. When you reply to a message, that message is placed in the file named in the MESSAGE FILENAME field. Answer with a Y to the question "Does the editor accept two filenames on the command line" if it does. Information from this screen will invoke your editor in the following manner when entering messages or when replying to a message with an editor that does not allow more than one filename on the command line: EDITOR REPLY_FILENAME EDITOR_OPTIONS And like this when replying to a message with an editor that does allow more than one filename on the command line: EDITOR REPLY_FILENAME MESSAGE_FILENAME EDITOR_OPTIONS ┌────────────────── FLAGS ────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Add sound effects: NO │ │ Read Direction: FORWARD │ │ Beep if personal message: NO │ │ Read previously read mail: NO │ │ Print header in reply: NO │ │ Output to video RAM: YES │ │ Erase the work directory: YES │ │ Auto-increment taglines: YES │ │ Enter info Before/After Message: YES │ │ │ │ Press the <SPACE BAR> to toggle options │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 14 - Flag Window -13- Flags ───── Flags or switches do a number of things for the operation of EZ-Reader. Use the <Space Bar> or <Enter> to toggle the options. Add sound effects ───────────────── When set to YES, EZ-Reader will beep on errors and add the window whistle. Read Direction ────────────── This allows you to read the messages either FORWARD or BACKWARD. Beep if personal message ──────────────────────── If this switch is set to YES messages addressed to you will beep. Read previously read mail ───────────────────────── When this is set to NO, EZ-Reader will initially skip over those messages you have already read. Once you are in a conference you may read any messages. Print header in reply ───────────────────── When set to YES, EZ-Reader will print the message header information in the Message file you specify in CONFIG. See the section on configuring the Editor. Output to video RAM ─────────────────── When set to YES, EZ-Reader writes directly to video memory. If set to NO, EZ-Reader will use BIOS video writes. Erase the work directory ──────────────────────── If you have this option set to NO, EZ-Reader will leave the \WORK subdirectory. After erasing all the files that EZ-Reader knows are associated with a mail packet it will look for other files. If it finds other files (your editor's config file, John Hancock files, etc.) it will ask you if you want them erased. If you need to keep files in the \WORK directory, answer NO. If you have this flag set to YES, EZ-Reader will erase ALL of the files in the \WORK subdirectory and then remove the subdirectory itself. Auto-increment taglines ─────────────────────── When set to YES, EZ-Reader will cycle through your taglines. This -14- will give you a new tagline for each message. Enter info Before/After Message ─────────────────────────────── You can tell EZ-Reader to place the Message Information Window either BEFORE or AFTER you enter a message. ┌─────────────────────────── HOT KEYS ─────────────────────────────┐ │ <Shift> │ │ │ │ F1 DR │ │ F2 !QEDIT │ │ F3 TYPE NEWFILES.DAT >> D:\EZ\FILES │ │ F4 LIST D:\EZ\EZ-RDR.DOC │ │ F5 │ │ F6 │ │ F7 │ │ F8 │ │ F9 │ │ F10 │ │ │ │ <PgUp> - Previous Page <Esc> - Exit │ │ <PgDn> - Next Page │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 15 - Sample Hot Keys Window Hot Keys ──────── With EZ-Reader you can define and execute up to sixty-six (66) DOS commands and programs from within EZ-Reader. The Hot Keys available are the function keys F1 through F10 combined with <Shift>, <Ctrl>, or <Atl>, the keys A through Z and 1 through 0 combined with <Alt>. Each Hot Key is limited to 67 characters. If the first character in the command string is a '!' then EZ-Reader will use the Switch! feature to issue the command. See the section on Switch! for more information. Use <Esc> to close the window. Paths ───── This tells EZ-Reader where your files are. The EZ-READER field contains the EZ-Reader directory name. DOWNLOAD should contain the name of the directory your Communications program uses for downloads. This is where your mail packets should be placed. UPLOAD is the name of the directory your Communications program uses for Uploads. Your replies will be placed in this directory. The SAVE FILE is where copies of messages you select to archive will be placed. See the topic EZ-READER variables for more info on @CONF@. -15- ┌────────────────────────────── PATHS ─────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ EZ-Reader: C:\EZ\ │ │ │ │ Download: C:\GT\FILES\ │ │ │ │ Upload: C:\GT\FILES\ │ │ │ │ Save File: C:\EZ\@CONF@.TXT │ │ │ │ Address Book: C:\EZ\ADDRESS.BK │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 16 - Paths Window The ADDRESS BOOK field requires a complete filename, as shown in figure 16. Use <Esc> to close the window. ╔ CONFIGURE ╗ ║ Archive ║ ║ Colors ║ ║ Editor ║ ║ Flags ║ ║ Hot Keys ║ ║ Paths ║ ║ Replies ┌─ REPLIES ─┐ ║ Save │ Prefixes │ ║ Taglines │ Re-Arcing │ ╚═══════════└───────────┘ fig. 17 - Replies Window EZ-Reader v1.02 and after allows you to define your own type of prefix. Some people prefer to use the Addressee's initials, other don't. Now you have a choice. See figure 18. You can select to have the Addressee's initials (INITIALS), your own customized prefix (YES), or no prefix at all (NO). Figure 18 shows you the Prefix window. If you choose to use the Addressee's initials (INITIALS) the first character in the Prefix String is appended to the initials to create the prefix. If you choose a custom prefix (YES) you can enter up to three characters and they may be any character you choose. You can enter these characters with the <Alt> key and the numeric keypad. Examples are: « - <Alt> 1 7 4 » - <Alt> 1 7 5 ≥ - <Alt> 2 4 2 -16- ┌───────────────── PREFIXES ─────────────────┐ │ │ │ Add a prefix to replies: INITIALS │ │ Press the <SPACE BAR> to toggle options │ │ │ │ Prefix string (if not Initials): > │ │ │ │ Header divider character: = │ │ Header/Message divider character: - │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 18 - Prefix Window Replies ─────── Replies have caused a great deal of debate with EZ-Reader. Initially EZ-Reader kept a copy of the replies in the .QWK file (mail packet) and it always created a new .REP file. Then upon user request we gave the user the OPTION to choose keeping a copy of replies in the .QWK file or not. Then this was changed to allow more flexiblity in keeping and deleting replies. Now I have added a forth option for replies. The following discussion will explain the three questions associated with replies. The first question wants to know if you want to keep a copy of the replies in your .QWK file. There is really no need to keep your replies in the .QWK file unless you keep your mail packets. You can tell EZ-Reader to always put a copy of the replies in the .QWK file (YES). This is good if you keep mail and want to know what your replies were. But the disadvantage is that you could upload these replies more than once. You can tell EZ-Reader not to put a copy of the replies in the .QWK file (NO). Or you can have EZ-Reader ask you each time you finish reading the mail if you want to save a copy of the replies in the .QWK file (ASK). So your three possible answers are YES, NO, and ASK. The second question asks if you want to save your place, or insert a bookmark. This option will keep track of which messages you have read and which ones you have marked for saving. Each time you open the mail packet EZ-Reader checks for the prescence of .RD files. If they are not present then EZ-Reader will rebuild the indices. Should you ever see garbage when you read messages delete all of the .RD files from your .QWK file (mail packet). You have the same three options here, YES, NO, or ASK. -17- ┌───────────────────────────────── REPLIES ─────────────────────────────────┐ │ EZ-Reader allows you to keep a copy of your replies in your mail packet, │ │ in addition to the copy in the reply file. You can configure EZ-Reader to │ │ 1) always put a copy of the replies into the mail packet (YES) │ │ 2) never put a copy of the replies into the mail packet (NO) │ │ 3) ask you if you want to put a copy into the mail packet (ASK) │ │ Do you want to put a copy of the replies into the mail packet? NO │ │ │ │ EZ-Reader will save your place in the mail packet if you desire. You can │ │ tell EZ-Reader to save your place (YES), not to save your place (NO) or │ │ ask you if you want to save your place (ASK). │ │ Do you want EZ-Reader to save your place? YES │ │ │ │ When you select a mail packet to read, EZ-Reader unarchives the replies. │ │ There are four options available for unarcing your replies. Please refer │ │ to the file ADDENDUM.DOC for more information. │ │ 1) always extract the replies from the reply file (YES) │ │ 2) never extract the replies from the reply file (NO) │ │ 3) ask if you want to extract the replies from the reply file (ASK) │ │ 4) extract the replies only if they are newer than the mail packet (AGE) │ │ Take replies from the reply file? YES │ │ │ │ Press the <SPACE BAR> to toggle options │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 19 - Replies Window The third question wants to know if EZ-Reader should include the replies from the .REP file when you read a mail packet. There are four options to choose from. 1) YES - This option will always unarchive the replies from the .REP file when you open the mail packet. Replies from the .REP file will replace, in the work directory, any replies taken from the mail packet. This is helpful if you always delete the .REP file after uploading it to the Qmail door. 2) NO - This option will NOT extract your replies from the .REP file when you open your mail packet. If you have selected to keep a copy of your replies in the .QWK file (set in question #1), these will be used. Again this controls whether or not replies are taken from the .REP file when you open a mail packet. This is the file that is uploaded to the BBS via the Qmail or MarkMail door. 3) ASK - This option will always ask you if you want to unarchive the replies kept in the .REP file. If you aren't sure which of these four options to choose I would suggest using this one, until you get a better feel for how you use EZ-Reader and the Qmail or MarkMail doors. -18- 4) AGE - This option compares the date and time of the .QWK file (mail packet) and the .REP file. If the .REP file is newer then it is unarchived. Since EZ-Reader now archives the .REP file first it is possible to have a few problems with this setting. EZ-Reader gives you two minutes leeway when comparing the time. * * * C A U T I O N * * * Do not use this setting if the BBS packet is from a different time zone than the one you are in AND you have the archive command for ARC or ZIP files set to PKARC/PKZIP U (update). If you call a different time zone use the add (A) command instead of the update command for PKARC/PKZIP. This option is great if it takes more than one session to answer your mail. ┌─────────── SAVE CONFIGURATION ───────────┐ │ │ │ Do you want to save the changes [Y/N]? Y │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 20 - Exit Window Saving the Configuration File ───────────────────────────── To save the configuration file, select the Save option. This should be your last selection, since it will save the configuration file and exit the CONFIG program. The configuration file will be saved in the EZ-Reader directory you specified in the Path Window. Pressing the <Esc> key from the Main Menu (fig. 1) will make the window in figure 20 appear. Answering Y will save the configuration file and exit. Answering N will exit without saving the configuration file. Pressing the <Esc> key will return you to the Main Menu. ┌────────────────────── TAGLINES ───────────────────────┐ │ │ │ You can have up to 50 taglines with EZ-Reader. Each │ │ Tagline is limited to 45 characters. You will be put │ │ into your editor so that you may edit your taglines. │ │ │ │ < Press ANY key to continue > │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 21 - Tagline Information Window -19- Taglines ──────── EZ-Reader allows you to have up to fifty (50) taglines with a length of forty-five (45) characters at a time. When the screen in figure 21 is presented you can press <Esc> to cancel or any other key to enter taglines. You will be placed in the editor you have specified to enter your taglines. If you already have any taglines, the will be written to the file TAGLINES.DAT. When you exit your editor the taglines will be read into memory and saved in the configuration file. The file TAGLINES.DAT will be deleted. -20- USING EZ-READER EZ-Reader is a snap to use. All commands are assigned to single letters or function keys. EZ-Reader is setup to be easily operated from the cursor/numeric keypad. Preassigned Function Keys ───────────────────────── There are three function keys that are always operational, F2, F3, and F4. F2 will run the EZ-Reader CONFIG program. F3 will show you the Hot Keys. F4 will shell you to DOS. Selecting a Mail Packet ─────────────────────── Once you have run the CONFIG program all you need to do is run the EZ-Reader program named EZ-RDR. EZ-Reader will search your communication program's download directory for Qmail mail packets. When the packets are found they will be sorted by name and displayed on the screen. Simply move the highlight bar with the cursor keys and press <Enter>, <Space Bar>, or <+> to select the mail packet. EZ-Reader will unarchive the mail packet for you in a work subdirectory. You will be immediately put into the message viewer to read your personal mail. Bulletins Exit & save replies Files Mail News Save marked mail User stats fig. 22 - EZ-Reader Main Menu EZ-Reader Main Menu ─────────────────── The EZ-Reader Main Menu is shown in figure 22. There are seven options available in this menu. You can move the highlight bar with the cursor keys and select the option with <Enter>, <Space>, or <+> keys. An alternative method of selecting options is to press the key of the first letter of the option. (e.g. Pressing <M> will select the Mail option.) -21- BLT-1.0 BLT-2.0 BLT-9.0 fig. 23 - Partial Bulletins Menu ulletins ─────────── You can view all of the bulletins available for this mail packet. A menu of all the bulletins from every conference will be displayed as shown in figure 23. Move the highlight bar with the cursor keys and the bulletin will be displayed by pressing either the <Enter>, <Space>, or <+> keys. Use <Esc> to exit. <E>xit and save replies ─────────────────────── This option will start the exit procedure for EZ-Reader. If you have marked any messages for saving you will be asked now if you want to save them. <F>iles ─────── Choosing this option will display the file named NEWFILES.DAT, which contains the listing of new files for the bulletin board. You can page forward and reverse with <PgUp> and <PgDn>. The keys <Home> and <End> will show you the first and last pages of the file. <M>ail ────── This allows you to read the mail. You will be shown the menu shown in figure 26 where you can select the conference to read messages. <N>ews ────── The <N>ews command will display the message file. Since this is generally an ANSI file, the entire file will be listed to the screen. -22- ┌─────────────────────────── Save Message ─────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Filename: C:\EZ\SAVE.TXT │ │ │ │ <Esc> - Cancel │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 24 - Archive Filename Window <S>ave marked mail ────────────────── This option will save to a text file all the messages that have been marked in the Message Viewer. You will be prompted for the name of the text file. The archive window is shown in figure 24. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Statistics for ERIC COCKRELL, first name Eric, at 07-13-89 at 01:10. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── You are calling from : TULSA, OK Your business/data phone number is: 918 627-0059 Your home/voice phone number is : 123 456-7890 Your security level is : 75 and expires on 07-31-89 You last logged on : 07-13-89 at 00:05 You have called : 956 times You are currently in the : 0 conference You have downloaded : 360 files totalling 22439935K bytes You have uploaded : 261 files totalling 15980328K bytes You have : 90 minutes allowed per day You have used : 66 minutes this call and have : 24 minutes left You are allowed to download : 9999K bytes per day You have downloaded : 0K bytes today and have : 9999K bytes left ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── fig. 25 - User Stats Screen ser stats ──────────── You will be shown a screen, see figure 25, of all your stats kept by the Bulletin Board you have called. These are the stats at the time the mail packet was downloaded. These statistics are available only through the MarkMail and Qmail 3 doors. -23- READING MAIL ■Personal ■DSZ-Omen ■RockRoll Replies ■Graphics ■MainFram ■Main Board Doors ■Audio SysOps ■StarTrek ■ChitChat SoapBox French Classic ■Tech ■Writers Astronmy ForSale Qmodem Religion ■Program AI 1-2-3 fig. 26 - sample partial Conference Selection Menu Selecting a Conference ────────────────────── When you select the <M>ail option from the Main Menu shown in figure 22 you will be shown a list of conferences, see figure 26. The small box character indicates that the conference has messages, while the diamond character indicates the conference has bulletins. Use the cursor keys to move the highlight bar. The <Tab> key will move the cursor forward to the next conference that has mail. The <Shift><Tab> key will move the cursor to the previous conference with mail. You may select the conference with the <Enter>, <Space>, <+>, or <M> keys. There may be more than one page of conferences. You can get to these with the PgUp and PgDn keys. You can also execute any of the Main Menu options by simply pressing for the bulletins in that conference, <E> for Exit and save, <F> for Files, <M> to read that conference's mail, <N> for News, <S> to save all of the marked mail, and for User statistics. There are three other options that are available from the Conference Selection Menu. They are <A>dd, <D>rop, and <R>eset. They will allow you to add a conference, drop a conference, or reset the last read message pointer. Replies are generated for each of these actions and placed in the reply file (.REP file). You must upload the reply file for these to take effect. The Message Viewer ────────────────── All messages are displayed by the Message Viewer (figure 27). The message header at the top of the screen displays information about the current message. The left column tells the date the message was created, the Addressee, the Sender, and the Subject of the message. The middle column gives the message number, the number of the message that it refers to, whether or not the message has been read, and the name of the conference that contains the message. -24- Date: 12-04-88 (14:17) Number: 1234 Message 7778 of 9999 To: ADDRESSEE Refer#: 5678 FORWARD From: YOUR NAME HERE Read: YES √ * M ₧ Subj: MESSAGE SUBJECT Conf: (99) Conference name ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is where the text of your messages will be displayed. Status Information BBS Name Here fig. 27 - The Message Viewer Screen The READ field actually contains five pieces of information. The first piece indicates whether or not the message has been read by the Addressee and will be either YES or NO. The second piece tells whether or not you have read this message using the symbol √. The third piece of information, *, indicates that you have replied to the message. The forth symbol, M, shows the message has been marked for saving. The last symbol, ₧, indicates that the message is private. The right-hand column tells which message of the messages in the current conference your are reading. You will also see the direction you have choosen to read messages (FORWARD or REVERSE). The last line is used as a status line, giving you helpful information. The name of the Bulletin Board the mail packet is from is displayed on the right end of the status line. The text of the message will be displayed in the middle of the screen, nineteen lines at a time. You can read forward through the messages with the keys <+> or <=>. To read the messages in reverse use the keys <-> or <_>. The <Space> key will page through the current message. When you reach the end of the current message, pressing the <Space> key will take you to the next message. The <Enter> key will advance to the next message. Below is a list of the other available commands along with descriptions. <Ctrl><PgDn> Skip to next thread ──────────────────────────────── This command will take you to the beginning of the next thread. -25- <Ctrl><PgUp> Skip to previous thread ──────────────────────────────────── This command will take you to the end of the previous thread. <A> Address Book ──────────────── The Address Book allows you to keep track of people you exchange messages with. There are fields for address, phone number and notes. ┌──────────────── BULK MARKING ────────────────┐ │ │ │ <F5> All TO FRANK MASON │ │ <F6> All FROM BRIAN HILLIS │ │ <F7> All SUBJ ANSI.SYS │ │ <F8> To Mark all messages in this conference │ │ │ │ <Esc> - Cancel │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 28 - Bulk Marking Window Bulk Marking for Archiving ────────────────────────────── Bulk marking allows you to mark messages in the current conference for archiving. You can mark messages by Addressee, Sender, Subject, or all the message in the conference. The window in figure 28 will be displayed. This is a toggle option and any messages that are marked when you press will become unmarked. <E> Enter a Message ─────────────────── You can enter a message at anytime while in the Message Viewer. The screen in figure 29 will be displayed. You will be required to enter information for who the is addressed to and the subject of the message. You can make it private if you wish and you can send more than one copy (figure 31). Fill in the TO field with the name of the person you want to send the message to. If you leave this field blank, EZ-Reader will address the message to ALL. You can also press <F5> to bring up the address book (in registered versions only). You can select a name from the address book and it will be placed in the TO field for you. Next fill in the SUBJ field. It may be lower case. It's always a good idea to make sure that the Subject of the message does in deed reflect the contents of the message. -26- ╔═════════════ Message Information ═════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ From: ERIC COCKRELL ║ ║ ║ ║ To: ║ ║ ║ ║ Subj: ║ ║ ║ ║ Conf: 3 Tech ║ ║ ║ ║ Private: N Send Copies: N ║ ║ ║ ║ Current tagline: ║ ║ Coming soon to a BBS near you! ║ ║ ║ ║ <F1> - Help ║ ║ <F5> - Address Book <F6> - Add Tagline ║ ║ <F7> - Tagline ON <F8> - Pick Conference ║ ║ <F9> - Accept/Edit <Esc> - Exit/Cancel ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════╝ fig. 29 - Message Information Window ┌── Conf ──┐ │Graphics │ │Doors │ │StarTrek │ ╔═════════════ Message Information ═════════════╗ │French │ ║ ║ │Writers │ ║ From: ERIC COCKRELL ║ │Qmodem │ ║ ║ │AI │ ║ To: ALL ║ │QNet │ ║ ║ │HST │ ║ Subj: EZ-READER V1.23 ║ │Consult │ ║ ║ │Telix │ ║ Conf: 39 EZReader ║ │Medical │ ║ ║ │Travel │ ║ Private: N Send Copies: N ║ │Windows │ ║ ║ │Photo │ ║ Current tagline: ║ │Desqview │ ║ A programmer's work is never done. <Sigh!> ║ │AT_and_T │ ║ ║ │EZReader │ ║ <F1> - Help ║ │Unix │ ║ <F5> - Address Book <F6> - Add Tagline ║ │WordProc │ ║ <F7> - Tagline ON <F8> - Pick Conference ║ │Virus │ ║ <F9> - Accept/Edit <Esc> - Exit/Cancel ║ │Politics │ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════╝ └──────────┘ fig. 30 - Message Information Window with conference select window -27- You can either enter the Conference number or press <F8>. If you enter the number directly the name of the conference will be printed to the side. If you press <F8>, you will be presented a list of conferences as shown in figure 30. Use the cursor keys and <PgUp>/<PgDn> keys to find all of the conferences. Press <Enter> to select that conference. You can select to make the message private by placing a 'Y' in the PRIVATE field. You can select tagline with the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys. Pressing <F6> will let you enter a new tagline. You can enter up to fifty taglines. Once you reach this 50 tagline limit, pressing <F6> will ask you if you want to modify the current tagline. ┌──────── Carbon Copies ────────┐ │ 1) ERIC COCKRELL │ │ 2) SALLY SMALL │ │ 3) #BETAS │ │ 4) │ │ 5) MARK TEER │ │ 6) │ │ 7) │ │ 8) │ │ 9) │ │ 10) │ │ 11) │ │ 12) │ │ 13) │ │ 14) │ │ 15) │ │ 16) │ │ 17) │ │ 18) │ │ 19) │ │ 20) │ │ Esc-Cancel F9-Accept │ └───────────────────────────────┘ fig. 31 - Carbon Copies Window You can send up to twenty copies by placing a 'Y' in the SEND COPIES field. Press <F9> to accept the information. There are twenty (20) TO fields in the Carbon Copy window shown in figure 31. EZ-Reader will send a copy of the message to everyone listed in the fields. It will stop on the first blank field, so make sure that there are no blank fields between names. In figure 31 the addressee MARK TEER will not receive a copy of the message, because of the blank field before his name. -28- MIKE MEYER CATON FENZ JONATHAN WINTERS SALLY SMALL JOHNNY BIG fig. 32 - Sample Mail List Mail Lists ────────── The mail list is a special option available with EZ-Reader. A Mail List is a simple ASCII text file that contains the names of addressees you wish to send a copy of the message to. Each line should contain only one name. They need not be upper case, as EZ-Reader will convert them to upper case. You tell EZ-Reader to use a Mail List by placing a '#' as the first character in the field. The rest of the field is the name of the Mail List located in the EZ-Reader directory. In figure 31 field 5 tells EZ-Reader to use the file named BETAS located in the EZ-Reader directory as a Mail List. Every person listed in the file will receive a copy of the message. An example Mail List is shown in figure 32. You could in effect put up to twenty Mail Lists containing an infinite number of addressees into the TO fields. The use of Carbon Copy and Mail Lists should be limited to private messages only. Private messages are not normally sent over echoed conferences. Ask your Sysop which conferences support private or receiver only messages. <G>o back ───────── This command takes you back one message without altering the direction you are reading the messages. Individual Messages ─────────────────────── This command will list all the header information from messages in the conference as shown in figure 33. A √ on the left indicates that you have read the message. An M shows that the message is marked for archiving. The * symbol shows that you have replied to this message. The next four columns are ordered by the fields Message Number, TO, FROM, and SUBJ. Move the highlight bar with the cursor keys and press <Enter>, <Space>, or <+> and that message will be displayed. An alternate key is the <Ins> key. -29- ┌───────────────────────── INDIVIDUAL MESSAGES ───────────────────────┐ │√M* 1000 ERIC COCKRELL BERNIE JONES EZ-READER │ │√M 1001 ERIC COCKRELL MIKE MEYER GRASPRT FILE WANTED │ │√ 1002 ERIC COCKRELL BERNIE JONES EZ │ │√ 1003 ERIC COCKRELL RICKY LACY QUICK C │ │√ 1036 ERIC COCKRELL JIM STANDLEY REXX LANGUAGE │ │√ 1037 ERIC COCKRELL JIM STANDLEY SAY BAD THINGS ABOUT│ │√ 1045 ERIC COCKRELL KEN BELL SAY BAD THINGS ABOUT│ │√ 1070 ERIC COCKRELL STUART HAYES EZ-READER 1.00 │ │√ 1076 ERIC COCKRELL STEVE SVOBODA REPLIES │ │ <Esc> - Cancel <PgUp> - Previous Page <PgDn> - Next Page │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 33 - Individual Message Window <K> Kill a Reply ──────────────── You can only kill a reply. The reply will remain in the message file but will be marked deleted and will not be placed in the message base when you upload your replies to the bulletin board. This is a toggle command so that you may unKill deleted messages. <M> Mark a Message for Archiving ──────────────────────────────── This allows you to mark an individual message for archiving. This works exactly like the ulk command above. An M will be placed in the READ field of the header when the message is shown. <M>ark toggles the marked message On and Off. Print the Message ───────────────────── The rint command will print out the message you are currently viewing. The output goes to device LPT1:. <Q> Quit Reading Messages ───────────────────────── This will allow you to quit reading messages. <Esc> will do the same thing. <R> Reply to a Message ────────────────────── When you reply to a message you will see the window in figure 29. The difference between <E>nter and <R>eply is that the fields will be automatically filled in for you. Any reply to a private message will default to a private message. You may change them if you wish. The message you are replying to, will be placed in the Message file -30- you named in the CONFIG program. You can import this file into your reply. If you are in the Replies conference when you press <R> you will be able to edit an already existing reply. The original reply will automatically be killed. All killed replies will be squeezed out when EZ-Reader archives the reply file. ┌────────────────────────── Save Message ──────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Filename: C:\EZ\SAVE.TXT │ │ │ │ <Esc> - Cancel │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ fig. 34 - Save Message Window <S> Save the Message ──────────────────── The <S>ave command allows you to save the message. Unlike the ulk and <M>ark commands the <S>ave command will immediately save the current message you are reading. The window in figure 34 will appear so that you can enter the name of the file to save the message to. EZ-Reader will remember the name of the file for you. To print marked messages enter PRN as the filename. ┌────────── THREADS ──────────┐ │ │ │ <F5> Sort by Subject │ │ <F6> Sort by Addressee (TO) │ │ <F7> Sort by Sender (FROM) │ │ <F8> Sort by Message Number │ │ │ │ <Esc> - Cancel │ └─────────────────────────────┘ fig. 35 - Thread Order Window <T> Thread Order ──────────────── You can change the order in which the messages are threaded with the <T>hread command. Figure 36 shows the options of sorting the messages. Simply press the function key beside the desired sort option. -31- Summary of Commands in the Message Viewer + View the next message = View the next message - View the previous message _ View the previous message <Enter> Go to the next message <Space> Page through the message and go to the next message when we reach the end of this message <Esc> Quit reading the messages A Address Book (available in registered copies only) B Bulk mark multiple messages E Enter a new message G Go back one message I Select an individual message to look at K Kill a reply M Mark the message for archiving P Print the current message Q Quit reading messages R Reply to the message you are reading S Save the current message T Change the Thread order <Ctrl><PgDn> Jump to the start of the next thread <Ctrl><PgDn> Jump to the end of the previous thread -32- EZ-READER COMMAND LINE SWITCHES EZ-Reader has a number of switches available from the command line. Each switch acts as a toggle. So if you normally have the sound on you can turn it off with a command line switch without having to rerun CONFIG or run CONFIG from within EZ-Reader. These changes are kept by EZ-Reader. The switches are case sensitive. List of Flags/Switches ────────────────────── a - Automatically increment the tagline b - Beep on errors and window whistle d - Direction to read the mail h - Put Header in the reply file m - Book Mark flag (arc the book mark) n - Notify of personal message p - Pack mail & replies q - Quick entry of messages r - Reread already read mail t - Tagline switch u - Unarc replies from .REP file v - Direct video writes w - Remove or leave the Work subdirectory A - Message Information Window after a message is entered B - Message Information Window before a message is entered P - .QWK file has already been unpacked. Don't arc .REP S - Sysop flag AutoIncrement Taglines Swtich ───────────────────────────── The -a switch turns on and off the Auto Incrementing Tagline feature of EZ-Reader. Beeps Switch ──────────── You can toggle the beeps with the switch -d. Beeps are for errors, window whistle, etc. Direction Switch ──────────────── You can reverse the direction that you normally read messages with the -d switch. Header Switch ───────────── The -h switch will toggle the flag that tells EZ-Reader to include the Header of a message in a reply. -33- BookMark switch ─────────────── The -m switch will toggle the flag that keeps the Bookmark file in the .QWK file. THIS SWITCH WILL ONLY TOGGLE BETWEEN YES AND NO. ASK or YES toggle to NO. NO toggles to YES. Notify Switch ───────────── There is a seperate sound switch to notify you of your mail. This rings you when a message addressed to you is displayed. The switch for notify is -n. Quick Message Entry ─────────────────── You can go directly to inputting of messages with the -q switch. This option skips the opening screen and allows you enter messages only. You will be required to enter the name of the Qmail packet to place the messages in. Pack Replies Switch ─────────────────── This switch toggles the option to keep a copy of the replies in the .QWK file. The switch is -p. THIS SWITCH WILL ONLY TOGGLE BETWEEN YES AND NO. ASK or YES toggle to NO. NO toggles to YES. Reread Switch ───────────── You can toggle the Read switch with -r. You can tell EZ-Reader whether you want to reread messages or to not reread messages. The -r switch will toggle this option. Modify Tagline After Entering Message Switch ──────────────────────────────────────────── EZ-Reader 1.04 and after allows you to modify the tagline after you have entered your message. This option was requested by several users who wanted to add a new found diddy to the end of the message. Replies from .REP File Switch ───────────────────────────── The switch -u toggles the option to unarc the replies from the .REP file. THIS SWITCH WILL ONLY TOGGLE BETWEEN YES AND NO. ASK or YES toggle to NO. NO toggles to YES. -34- Direct Video Writes Switch ────────────────────────── This switch toggles the Direct Video Write flag. The flag is -v. The default of EZ-Reader is ON, write directly to video memory. Unarced Switch ────────────── EZ-Reader will run in as little as 200K if you manually un-arc and arc your own files. A .BAT file is included in this archive. The switch for this is -P (Uppercase P). Work Directory Switch ───────────────────── With the -w switch you can toggle the flag that tells EZ-Reader to keep or remove the work directory. Sysop Switch ──────────── Some Sysops have been having trouble with EZ-Reader recognizing them as Sysops. This is because the name reported in the CONTROL.DAT file is different than the name they use to read the mail (i.e. MIKE vs. MICHAEL). To force the Sysop flag to ON use the -S (Uppercase S) switch. Examples ──────── Say you normally have all the sounds and beeps and whistles associated with EZ-Reader turned on. But it's late at night and your wife and/or baby is asleep. (You make up one.) To turn toggle these off you can enter this: EZ-RDR -bn If you want to quickly enter messages and nothing else you can enter: EZ-RDR -q If you normally read messages in the forward direction, but you want to reverse the direction and reread previously read messages you can do that by entering: EZ-RDR -d -r -35- Say you only have 200K to run EZ-Reader. You can execute the following .BAT file. The two arguments are for the .QWK file (without the extension) and the .REP file (without the extension). There is no need for the second argument if the .QWK and .REP files have the same name. echo off if (%1)==() goto HOWUSE pkxarc /r %1.QWK EZ-RDR -P pkarc u %1 *.rd *.ndx %1.MSG if (%2)==() goto ONEARG pkarc u %2.REP %1.MSG goto END :ONEARG pkarc u %1.REP %1.MSG goto END :HOWUSE echo Usage: ER mail_packet_name reply_file_name echo : with no extensions :END -36- EZ-READER TIPS EZ-Reader will only display 200 lines of a message or a new file listing. So if you have a NEWFILES.DAT file that is more than 200 lines long, and you have Vern Buerg's LIST program, you can assign the following command to a Hot-Key, say <Alt><F>: LIST NEWFILES.DAT You can also have the EZ-Reader documentation on-line by assigning the following command to a Hot-Key, say <Alt><H>: LIST C:\EZ\EZ-RDR.DOC -37- SWITCH! Switch! is a product of Curtis Cooper. It was later sold to South Mountain Software and they call it Hold Everything. Switch! allows you to swap all but 12K of EZ-Reader to either disk or EMS. This gives archivers, editors, and Hot-Keys an extra large portion of memory in which to operate. Any command string that is passed to DOS for execution can be passed through Swtich! first. Simply make the '!' character the first character in the command string. Switch! will take over and swap all but 12K of EZ-Reader to disk or EMS and then pass the rest of the command string to DOS. -38- EZ-READER VARIABLES EZ-Reader supports six seperate variables. The first three variables may be used in any program command string (Hot Keys, Editor, PKZIP, etc). @TO@ is replaced with the name of the person in the TO field of the current message. If you are not in the message viewer then EZ-Reader uses the last message you have read. @FROM@ is replaced with the name of the person in the FROM field of the current message. If you are not in the message viewer then EZ-Reader uses the last message you have read. @CONF@ is replaced by the name of the conference in which the current message or the last message read resides. Conference 0, or the Main Board, will be named MAIN. This variable makes it extremely easy to have multiple tagline files to use with Dan Moore's John Hancock. @CONF@ is also active in the Save File command. The next three variables are valid only in the tagline. @DAY@ is replaced with the day of the week the message was created (e.g. MONDAY). @DATE@ is replaced with the date the message was created. @TIME@ is replaced with the time the message was created. variables. The day of the week will be substituted for the @DAY@ variable, today's date for the @DATE@ variable, and the time for the taglines. The variables must appear in upper case. -39- JOHN HANCOCK John Hancock is an add-in product by Dan Moore. John Hancock allows you to have multiple tagline files. Each tagline may be up to 50 characters. Place all of your JH files into your EZ-Reader subdirectory. When you run EZ-Reader it will copy all of the neccessary JH files into the work directory. You must call JH like this: D:\ez\jh D:\ez\ or like this D:\ez\jh D:\ez\ez.tag The first method tells JH to load the default tagline file from the EZ subdirectory on drive D. The second method tells JH to immedialtely load the tagline file EZ.TAG from the EZ subdirectory on drive D. JH must be run before your message is complete. The EZiest way to run JH is from a batch file used to call your editor. This is how I have mine set up. Editor: !ed Options: /Mc:\pe\mail.mac @CONF@ Reply: REPLY.TXT Message: MESSAGE.TXT Does your editor accept two filenames [Y/N]? N EZ-Reader will take these options and assemble them like this: !ed REPLY.TXT /Mc:\pe\mail.mac @CONF@ ││ │ │ └──────────────┐ ││ │ │ Substitute conference name ─┘ ││ │ └─ Editor options ││ └─ Name of the reply file │└─ Name of editor batch file └── Use Switch! EZ-Reader calls the batch file ED via Switch!. My ED.BAT file looks like this: @echo off pe2 %1 %2 if exist d:\ez\%3.TAG goto FOUND d:\ez\jh d:\ez\ goto END :FOUND d:\ez\jh d:\ez\%3.TAG :END -40- My editor, pEdit, is called with the first two arguments, REPLY.TXT (%1) and /Mc:\pe\mail.mac (%2). Then the batch file checks to see if there is a tagline file that belongs to the current conference (%3). If the conference tagline file exists, then John Hancock is called and the conference tagline is loaded immediately. If there is not conference tagline file, then John Hancock is called with the default. Bonus Programs ────────────── As of the date of the documentation, Dan Moore will send you a copy of RobbinEZ when you register John Hancock. The current registration price is $10. This may change, so consult the John Hancock documentation for further details. Dan may discontinue the distribution of RobbinEZ also. Again consult the John Hancock manual. RobbinEZ is a companion program to John Hancock which allows you to steal other peoples taglines. To use RobbinEZ you first need to <S>ave a message, call RobbinEZ, and finally delete the Saved file. I save the message with the tagline I want to steal with the <S> command. I give it a new name in my work directory. Then I call RobbinEZ form the Hot Key Alt-R that I have setup. When I hit Alt-R, EZ-Reader runs a batch file called JHSTEAL.BAT. JHSTEAL.BAT looks like this: @echo on d:\ez\robbinez jhsteal.txt d:\ez\jhsteal.tag del %1 │ │ File that contains the │ tagline you want to └ Puts stolen tagline in this steal tagline file RobbinEZ places the stolen tagline, from jhsteal.txt, in the tagline file jhsteal.tag in the subdirectory EZ on drive D. -41- HOW TO USE THE MARKMAIL DOOR The MarkMail door allows you to transfer messages between your computer and the host computer running PC Board. The MarkMail door supports archived QMAIL format. The MarkMail door is much faster than the Qmail door. EZ-Reader gives you the added ability to REPLY to messages OFFLINE and upload them through the MARKMAIL message door to the board. EZ-Reader will help you save on those long distance charges. Type the PC Board command OPEN from the Main Command line prompt. You will be presented with a list of available doors. Select the MarkMail door. When the door is opened you'll see the MarkMail door opening screen. And then the MarkMail door command line will appear as shown in figure 36. (85 min. left) MarkMail Command? fig. 36 - MarkMail Door Command Line Configuration Menu 1. Select Transfer Protocol. Currently: none 2. Toggle Receiving Bulletins. Currently: Off 3. Toggle Receiving Your Own Messages. Currently: Off 4. Toggle New Files Scan. Currently: On 5. Toggle QMail Deluxe Reader Menu. Currently: Off 6. Set Maximum Size of MESSAGES.DAT. Currently: Unlimited 7. Set Conferences, Message Pointers. 8. Set All Pointers to the High Message. Enter your Selection or [Enter] to Return: fig. 37 - MarkMail Door Configure Menu You will need to tell the MarkMail door two things; 1) What download/upload protocol to use and; 2) Which conferences to choose messages from. To do this we need to type the command C for configure at the MarkMail command line. You will see the screen shown in figure 37. You can also toggle on and off any of the other options. You can tell MarkMail to send you all the new bulletins, new files, and whether or not you want to receive copies of your own messages. You won't need to download the QMail menu. -42- 1. Zmodem (DSZ Forsberg) 2. 1K-Xmodem-G (Full Flow) 3. Ymodem Batch 4. 1K-Xmodem (Old Ymodem) 5. Xmodem-CRC Current Protocol: none Enter Selection for Protocol, [Enter] for no Change: fig. 38 - Upload/Download Protocol Menu Upload/Download Protocol ──────────────────────── Select option 1. You will have a choice of the protocols Zmodem, 1K-Xmodem-G (Full Flow), Ymodem Batch, 1K-Xmodem (Old Ymodem), and Xmodem-CRC. You will see the menu shown in figure 38. Select 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Data Warp Premium BBS Conference Listing Page 1 of 2 * = All Mail # = Your Mail 0 *Main Board 12 Pascal 23 *PCBDoors 34 Travel 1 *SysOps 13 *C-Lang 24 StarTrek 35 Windows 3 Tech 14 Networks 25 France 36 PhotoSIG 4 #Buy-Sell 15 Legal 26 Writers 37 Desqview 5 Language 16 *Qmail 27 Qmodem 39 *EZReader 6 Hardware 17 TeleComm 28 AI 40 Unix 7 Investor 18 *Comedy 29 *EZ-Beta 41 WordPerf 8 *Warped 19 Space 30 USRModem 42 Virus 9 Basics 20 Hayes 31 Consultg 43 Politics 10 DataBase 21 DSZ-Omen 32 Telix 44 *InterLnk 11 DeskTop 22 Graphics 33 Medical 45 MainFram Enter Your Choice or [L]ist, [N]ext Page? 22 Graphics is currently Unselected Select for [N]one, [A]ll, or [Y]our Mail: A Graphics Selected for All Mail High Message in that Conference is: 3106 Your High Message is: 1574 Input new Pointer or [Enter] for No Change: 3100 Pointer set to: 3100 fig. 39 - Selecting Conferences -43- Selecting Conferences ───────────────────── You will need to tell the MarkMail door which conferences you wish to receive mail from. You can select and de-select conferences by entering the conference number. A sample screen is shown in figure 39. When you select a conference you will be asked if you want [N]one, [A]ll, or [Y]our mail from that conference. You will also be given the option of setting the High Message pointer. You can see the sample session in figure 39. An * next to the conference name indicates that it has been selected and you will receive mail from that conference. A # indicates that you will receive only mail addressed to you from that conference. Resetting High Messages ─────────────────────── There may be times when you will want to go back and receive messages that have already been sent to you. This mainly occurs when you have lost a mail packet for whatever reason. Select option 7 from the Configuration menu. Then reselect the conference you want reset. Type in the new High Message pointer when it asks. An alternate method is to upload an the .PNT file from an old mail mail packet. Simply extract the .PNT file from the old mail packet and compress it into a .REP file, then upload to the door. Downloading Your Messages ───────────────────────── You can select not to download messages sent by you if you choose. This will help save on long distance charges. Choose option 3 from the Configuration menu to turn this flag ON and OFF. Scanning New Files ────────────────── You can also toggle ON and OFF the option of downloading a listing of the new files from the board. The New Files are those files which have been upload to the bulletin board since your last call. Exiting Configure ───────────────── To exit the configure portion of the door simply press <Enter> at the command line. You are now ready to upload and download messages via the MarkMail door. The options available in the MarkMail door are listed below. -44- [C]onfigure Door [D]ownload Messages [U]pload Replies [O]perator Page [Q]uit to BBS [G]oodbye, Logoff (83 min. left) MarkMail Command? d fig. 40 - MarkMail Door Options User Name: ERIC COCKRELL Last Date on: 12/17/89 Messages per Conference: 100 Last Time on: 10:56 Maximum this Session: 300 Scanning New Files... Scanning Messages, Ctrl-K to Abort... High Last Your Total Conf Name Msg Read Msgs Msgs ----------------------------------------------------------------- 0 Main Board 16905 16848 2 41 1 SysOps 9131 9123 0 8 4 Buy-Sell Y 15140 15073 1 1 8 Warped 2171 2168 0 3 13 C-Lang 8028 8000 0 28 16 Qmail 8250 8238 0 11 18 Comedy 4891 4889 0 2 23 PCBDoors 1938 1935 0 3 29 EZ-Beta 1335 1332 3 3 39 EZReader 10054 10002 15 51 44 InterLnk 5474 5456 0 17 63 NetUsers 6460 6433 0 26 68 Sports 1731 1731 0 0 74 Sharware 6680 6647 0 33 79 Parents 1101 1101 0 0 89 RoboComm 1364 1359 0 5 97 MM-Rnet 1230 1218 1 12 107 Outdoors 18 15 0 3 109 Heritage 10 2 0 8 Total Messages: 255 Personal Messages: 22 New Files Found: 2 Do You Want to Receive this Packet, [Y]es, [N]o, [G]oodbye When Done? y -45- Zip'ing your Messages Now, Please Wait... Protocol Type: Zmodem (DSZ Forsberg) Packet Size: 103472 Bytes Packet Time: Download was Successful! Updating Message Pointers... fig. 41 - Sample Message Download Session Downloading Messages ──────────────────── Press the D key to download your messages. The MarkMail door will scan the conferences you have selected and pull out all the public messages and all messages addressed to you. A sample run is shown in figure 41. The file you receive will have a filename of the bulletin board you have called and an extension of .QWK. (67 min. left) MarkMail Command? U Ready to receive DATAWARP.REP using Zmodem... fig. 42 - Sample Upload Session Uploading Messages ────────────────── Selecting option U will tell the MarkMail door that you are going to upload some messages. The name of the upload file should have a filename of the bulletin board you are calling plus an extension of .REP. A sample upload session is shown in figure 42. Paging the Sysop ──────────────── You can page the Sysop if he/she is available with the O command. This will allow you to ask any questions you might have while you are still in the door. Quiting or Returning to PC Board ──────────────────────────────── Type the letter Q to return to PC Board. -46- GoodBye or Logging Off ────────────────────── Type the letter G to log off and hangup. -47- HOW TO USE THE QMAIL DOOR The Qmail door allows you to transfer messages between your computer and the host computer running PC Board. The Qmail door indicates that it supports three types of message formats, simple TEXT format, archived TEXT format, and archived QMAIL forma). But it actually supports ONLY the archived QMAIL format. EZ-Reader gives you the added ability to REPLY to messages OFFLINE and upload them through the QMAIL message door to the board. EZ-Reader will help you save on those long distance charges. Type the PC Board command OPEN from the Main Command line prompt. You will be presented with a list of available doors. Select the Qmail door. When the door is opened you'll see the Qmail door opening screen. And then the Qmail door command line will appear as shown in figure 43. (118 min. left) Command? fig. 43 - Qmail Door Command Line Configure the Qmail door. 1. Change your upload/download protocol (currently UNDEFINED) 2. Configure your Qmail packet. 3. Select Conferences. 4. Reset high messages. 5. Toggle downloading your own messages (currently OFF). 6. Toggle scanning the new files list (currently OFF). Please select your choice (1-6)? fig. 44 - Qmail Door Configure Menu You will need to tell the Qmail door four things; 1) What download/upload protocol to use; 2) What type of mail packet you wish to receive (remember that the Qmail door supports only the QMAIL format); 3) Which conferences to choose messages from; 4) Whether or not you want to receive messages from you as a part of your download; and 5) Whether or not you want a listing of new files. To do this we need to type the command C for configure at the Qmail command line. You will see the screen shown in figure 44. -48- G. Ymodem-G. X. Xmodem/CRC. Y. Ymodem. Z. Zmodem. Please select your choice? fig. 45 - Upload/Download Protocol Menu Upload/Download Protocol ──────────────────────── Select option 1. You will have a choice of the Ymodem-G, Xmodem/CRC, Ymodem, or Zmodem protocols. You will see the menu shown in figure 45. Select G, X, Y, or Z. 1. Your messages prepared in a TEXT format. 2. Your messages prepared in a TEXT format and ARCHIVED. 3. Your messages prepared for the Qmail reader system. Please select your choice? fig. 46 - Qmail Packet Formats Menu Configure Qmail Packet ────────────────────── Select option 3. Since this is the only format supported by the Qmail door. Selecting Conferences ───────────────────── You will need to tell the Qmail door which conferences you wish to receive mail from. You can select and de-select conferences by entering the conference number. A sample screen is shown in figure 47. An * next to the conference name indicates that it has been selected and you will receive mail from that conference. -49- Select conferences for the Qmail door. * = selected conferences. Q = QNet conferences. 0. Main Board * 14. Network 28. AI 1. SysOps 15. Legal 29. QNet 2. Yell 16. Qmail * 30. HST 3. IBM 17. Comm * 31. Consult 4. ForSale 18. Comedy * 32. Telix 5. Program * 19. Space 33. Medical 6. Hardware * 20. Hayes 34. Travel 7. Invest 21. DSZ-Omen 35. Windows 8. Media 22. Graphics * 36. Photo 9. Basic 23. Doors 37. Desqview 10. DataBase 24. StarTrek 38. AT_and_T 11. DTP 25. French 12. Pascal * 26. Writers * 13. C-Lang * 27. Qmodem Please select your choice (L=LIST)? fig. 47 - Selecting Conferences Menu Reset high messages thru the Qmail door. * = selected conferences. Q = QNet conferences. 0. Main Board * 14. Network 28. AI 1. SysOps 15. Legal 29. QNet * 2. Yell 16. Qmail * 30. HST 3. IBM 17. Comm * 31. Consult 4. ForSale 18. Comedy * 32. Telix 5. Program * 19. Space 33. Medical 6. Hardware * 20. Hayes 34. Travel 7. Invest 21. DSZ-Omen 35. Windows 8. Media 22. Graphics * 36. Photo 9. Basic 23. Doors 37. Desqview 10. DataBase 24. StarTrek 38. AT_and_T 11. DTP 25. French 12. Pascal * 26. Writers * 13. C-Lang * 27. Qmodem Please select your choice (L=LIST)? 1 Main Board high message is #1793 You last read message #1776 ENTER your new high message? 1776 fig. 48 - Changing the Last Read Message -50- Resetting High Messages ─────────────────────── There may be times when you will want to go back and receive messages that have already been sent to you. This mainly occurs when you have lost a mail packet for whatever reason. Figure 48 shows a sample session of changing the last read message. Configure the Qmail door. 1. Change your upload/download protocol (currently Zmodem) 2. Select conferences. 3. Reset high messages. 4. Toggle downloading your own message (currently OFF). 5. Toggle scanning the new files list (currently OFF). Please select your choice (1-5)? 4 Configure the Qmail door. 1. Change your upload/download protocol (currently Zmodem) 2. Select conferences. 3. Reset high messages. 4. Toggle downloading your own message (currently ON). 5. Toggle scanning the new files list (currently OFF). Please select your choice (1-5)? 4 fig. 49 - Toggle for Downloading Personal Messages Downloading Your Messages ───────────────────────── You can select not to download messages sent by you if you choose. This will help save on long distance charges. Figure 49 shows an example of toggling ON your personal messages. Scanning New Files ────────────────── You can also toggle ON and OFF the option of downloading a listing of the new files from the board. The New Files are those files which have been upload to the bulletin board since your last call. -51- Configure the Qmail door. 1. Change your upload/download protocol (currently Zmodem) 2. Select conferences. 3. Reset high messages. 4. Toggle downloading your own message (currently ON). 5. Toggle scanning the new files list (currently OFF). Please select your choice (1-5)? 5 Configure the Qmail door. 1. Change your upload/download protocol (currently Zmodem) 2. Select conferences. 3. Reset high messages. 4. Toggle downloading your own message (currently ON). 5. Toggle scanning the new files list (currently ON). Please select your choice (1-5)? 5 fig. 50 - Toggling New Files Scan Exiting Configure ───────────────── To exit the configure portion of the door simply press <Enter> at the command line. You are now ready to upload and download messages via the Qmail door. The options available in the Qmail door are listed below. C = Configure Qmail D = Download waiting messages G = GoodBye - logoff and hangup U = Upload replies Q = Quit Qmail fig. 51 - Qmail Door Options Downloading Messages ──────────────────── Press the D key to download your messages. The Qmail door will scan the conferences you have selected and pull out all the public messages and all messages addressed to you. A sample run is shown in figure 52. The file you receive will have a filename of the bulletin board you have called and an extension of .QWK. -52- Scanning now...please wait... Maximum number of messages Last use 11-19-88 allowed per conference......... 200 at 09:32 Total number of messages allowed per call............... 400 Last Msgs Message Base High Msg # of Msgs Msg Read Found ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Main Board.................. 1,793 528 1,776 13 5. Program................ 152 118 152 0 6. Hardware............... 768 494 768 0 12. Pascal................. 268 213 268 0 13. C-Lang................. 358 274 356 2 16. Qmail.................. 1,011 501 1,011 0 17. Comm................... 764 501 763 1 18. Comedy................. 791 501 790 1 22. Graphics............... 363 170 363 0 26. Writers................ 305 144 305 0 29. QNet................... 328 201 209 119 Messages found......... 136 Personal msgs found.... 3 Bulletins found........ 5 New files found........ 12 Do you wish to receive this packet (Y or N)? Y Archiving your messages now... Prepare to download 56K bytes Starting Zmodem transfer of DATAWARP.QWK now. fig. 52 - Sample Message Download Session Uploading Messages ────────────────── Selecting option U will tell the Qmail door that you are going to upload some messages. The name of the upload file should have a filename of the bulletin board you are calling plus an extension of .REP. A sample upload session is shown in figure 53. Quiting or Returning to PC Board ──────────────────────────────── Type the letter Q to return to PC Board. -53- GoodBye or Logging Off ────────────────────── Type the letter G to log off and hangup. (116 min. left) Command? U Ready to receive DATAWARP.REP using Zmodem... fig. 53 - Sample Upload Session -54- THANKS and KUDOS To my wife, Momi (like mommie with a long O) - Who is pregnant and patient. Thanks for doing without me the past few weeks while I was writing this program. To my Mother- and Father-in-Law - On whose blazing 8 MHz 8088 I used to write EZ-Reader. To Mike Meyer of the Data Warp Premium Bulletin Board - Who was a beta tester/bug squisher. Who let me use his board as a distribution site of the beta and production releases of EZ-Reader. The number is (918) 455-5544 and highly recommended. To the other Beta Testers - Caton Fenz, Jonathan Winters, Bernie Jones, and James Ling. And a special thanks to Mark "Sparky" Herring - The man who gave us the Qmail door to begin with. -55-