Cream of the Crop 1/Cream of the Crop 1.iso/COMM/XRS502.ARJ/NEWIN501.DOC

Text File | 1992-05-29 | 24KB | 417 lines

Changes from XRS v 5.00 (With no "Mods") -=> v 5.01 "Wide Beta"

  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  These are listed in 'as-added' order - if you already have some  │
  │  or all of the 5 patch kits ("mods") applied to your copy, some   │
  │  of these may not really be "new" for you.  The items toward the  │
  │  bottom of the list were added most recently, and each revision   │
  │  has a "waterline" marker between changes so you can easily tell  │
  │  which changes were applied at each mod level and also between    │
  │  XRS 5 "Mod 5" and this new "Wide Beta" 5.01 version.             │
  └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘


A *Special* note to long-time XRS users:  (and v 5.0 "Mod 4"+ users!)

  Even if you have stuck with "Page View" (scrolling screen-at-a-time)
  message viewing since 'day 1', you likely want to try the new optimal
  viewing mode again: multi-screen messages are now displayed with all
  menubar options available at all times, etc. - see item #36 below!
  Also, item #36 has been greatly enhanced for 5.01, even if you have
  XRS 5.0 with "Mod 4" or "Mod 5" patches applied - read it again!



==== (Start of 5.0 Mod 1 & 2 Level Changes) ====

1) XRS "bottom-line" time clock uses the native language format and date
separator properly (again).

2) XRS doesn't give a "Security Error '0xbad'" exit on non-80-column width
screens for unregistered users.

3) If XRS is allowed to "auto-size" in a non-standard mode, it doesn't
mistakenly assume that it's back in 25-line mode when it returns to the
"normal" font.  For example, this would cause XRS to autosize from 37- or
40-line mode to 75-line mode and back to 37-line mode on my machine, but
place text and messages on exit as if the screen-size were 25 lines.

4) After entering the editor one time, hitting <ALT_F3> or <ALT_F5> when
no longer in the editor no longer causes bizarre results and/or hangs.

5) While in the "Color Palette" routine (via the <ALT_F7> hot-key) XRS
disables all interrupt function keys used by the internal text editor.
I also corrected the alignment of the color selection list for screens
wider than 80-columns.

6) The annoying 'flash-blink-flash' during "List View" display on slower
machines (when you <ESC> or <Enter> to the menubar) is mostly eliminated.
Also, the display of the "Saving Message Index" informational message is
before each message is displayed instead of afterwards, which contributed
added delay in the above sequence if you were using "Safe Mode".

7) The mouse cursor doesn't disappear (until you move the mouse or reset
it) immediately after a "Preprocess" routine is called.  Also, after doing
an <F8> (or "Auto...) Match/Tag the mouse cursor returns immediately.

8) In the TELOS-specific version (non-shareware), <ESC>aping out of a pick
list of one element during area selection for message reading doesn't cause
a screwy "Auto Cycle" instead of just dropping back to the main menu.

9) <ESC>aping out of message creation after selecting an area which is
either private-only or lets you choose (and you chose private) does not
make the next message private regardless of area.

10) Someone noted that multiple substitutions of the same element into a
macro or attribution line didn't work.  Well, I didn't intend for it to!
(since I couldn't think of any example where you would want to repeat the
same variable twice, but - I tossed in the code to handle it...)

11) Replies to messages for areas a user is not authorized to use (because
of security changes) are always marked private and put into the LOCAL area.

12) XRS doesn't display a phantom extra message at the end during "All Read
Chronological".

13) Fixed quoting (or export in quoted format) the last message.  A related
bug - taking forever to find the end of the next-to-last message was fixed.
These both only occurred if you used XRS-SORT.EXE or any of its variants,
because the "end-of-message pointer" fix routine for 'abnormal' mail
indices was not taking the final element in the unsorted list into account.

14) Fixed a bug which caused XRS to stop reading messages during "All Read
Chronological" when it hits the last physical message in a mailbag.  Again,
this only occured in sorted mailbags.

15) XRS doesn't "adjust" the SysOp-defined description for the first local
area used to be truncated to read only "LOCAL", and the forced remapping of
the first "local" group to group # 0 is gone.  SysOps should be sure they
offer all users access to at least one local area where they can leave
private messages, so users without access to netmail can send messages to
the SysOp (and other users).

16) Fixed a bug which caused messages after being XRS-Sort'ed in "All Read
Chronological" to be displayed at random if no "ToYou" or "NewOnly" filter
was on.

17) "All Message Read (Chronological)" is now called "All Message Read
(Sequentially)" instead.  This distinction is because the messages are no
longer chronological if they have been XRS-Sort'ed.

18) CONFIG.XRS allows you to "Hide Mouse" out of the default center of the
viewport, 'hiding' it in the lower right-hand corner instead.  Note that
this will cause the mouse cursor to seemingly disappear until you move it.
(and will do so each time the mouse is re-initialized, like when you exit
from the <F10> DOS shell - until you move it again)

19) The "DOS Critical Error Handler" has been enhanced to make it a little
more obvious and center the actual error message as interpreted from DOS -
flashing in a single-border window with the active "Abort, "Retry", "Fail",
"Ignore" selection in a double-bordered window.  Note that during a DOS
critical error, no interrupt routines can be called, so the mouse is not
active at that point (if you have a mouse you must still select an option
with keyboard).  To allow for screen resizing, the portals for both the
error message and "Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail" windows must be built in
advance, and now will always appear on lines 6 and 12 of the display
regardless of screen-size.  Also, the default is pre-selected as "Retry"
instead of "Abort".  In this case (and in any DOS Critical Error Handler!)
"Abort" means just that - blow XRS out of the water without cleaning up!

20) XRS now accepts up to ten "Twit" phrases, which match the To:, From:
and Subject: lines using a "proximity" search, so if a twit keyword you
give is found anywhere in the three fields, the message will be twitted.
If you twit "Bill", for example, you twit all messages to or from anyone
named Bill, with a lastname containing "bill" plus any that happen to have
a subject that contains the letters 'bill' in order.  If you use a complete
name, messages to or from that person (or with their name anywhere in the
subject) are skipped - if you use a topic, be sure it isn't too short and
likely to match a lot of names or other similar subjects.


==== (Start of 5.0 Mod 4 Level Changes) ====  ("Mod 3" was 'internal' only)

21) A new meta-symbol "%b" is available for macros and attribution lines
that uses the AREA: name - as opposed to '%a' which uses its description.

22) The first group marked local or starting with the word "Local" is the
one selected to remap mail for areas no longer available, or on boards
where the user does not have access to the mail normally, but it is found
outside the selected areas because the name matches exactly.  Previously,
this was only the first group which started with the word "Local"...

23) "Read-Only" groups show on the message read area selection list.  (but
you cannot enter a message)

24) "No Reply" areas are supported.  These areas allow read access but no
quote or reply, and allow you to originate new messages as well.  This is
not currently possible with output of any XRS door, but XRSDoor 2.06 will
support it if the SysOp choses to make the "Read-Only" bit mean "No Reply".

25) If you reply to a private message, the default is private again.

26) You can mark messages for deletion (actually done with "XRSlice.Exe").
The C_Worthy "MenuBar()" source-code was modified to allow the entries in
the menubar to appear one character closer together to make more room.

27) XRS recognizes two new BBS types: "TAG", and "MK".

28) Output to LPT2: or LPT3: also gets a "Form Feed" at end if enabled,
and exporting messages from the mail reading MenuBar to a printer other
than LPT1: is performed to the proper device instead of STDPRN (LPT1:).
Also, XRS checks the status of printer devices before attempting any I/O.
If the printer is unavailable, you will be told and your request ignored.
If it is offline or out of paper, you will be informed and then you can
cancel or retry the output.

29) The long-standing bug in the C_Worthy library (which still isn't fixed
in the 2.03 version!) which causes areas to appear marked that should not
(especially after you hit the bottom of the message and <PAGE_UP>, etc) is
finally found and fixed.  This bug only affected the internal editor.

30) XRS highlights all displayed "kludge" lines in blue.  Also, previously
if "^aEID:" or "^aMSGID:" lines were in the text, they were not displayed
(and now they are).  The XRS-specific "FROM-ADDRESS:" kludge in netmail is
also highlighted in whatever you have set in the "In a message..." color.

31) XRS supports AREA: tags up to 60 bytes (per the coming FTS-0004.002)
and 40 bytes description for the "SysOp-defined description" for each
area.  (the old limits were 37 and 32 bytes)

32) The "Search/Tag/Mark" routine doesn't leave an extra "x lines scanned"
off to the right side if/when you "Hide" the search.

33) If you want XRS not to turn on the "ToYou" filter automatically (and
therefore not show you messages to you first instead of in sequence), you
can put "ToYou Off" into CONFIG.XRS which causes XRS not to turn it on.

34) If you hit <F7> to Unmark (UnRead) All messages while the "To You"
filter is on, only messages that are to you are unmarked.

35) XRS offers the "Repack/Delete/Both/Neither" and other exit options if
you are using an external bundler.

36) Part of this was in v 5.0 "Mod 4", but has been enhanced for 5.01:
"List View" mode has undergone a major "overhaul".  During message view
mode, the spacebar acts the same as "Page_Down", any non-scrolling key you
hit is considered to be a command key (such as "Next", "Quote", "Reply",
"Back", etc) and passed to the underlying menubar routine after terminating
message view mode.  If the key you hit isn't a valid option for the
menubar, then you will get a beep - and need to select another (valid)
option (in other words, XRS makes no attempt to 'validate' the keystroke,
merely passing it to the "menubar" routine - this allows me to have foreign
native language support without needing to 'know' which keys are valid).
Also, in "List View" mode, a 'place-holder' appears onscreen to show if an
incomplete screen is displayed when you hit "PageDown".  It shows you where
to start reading new material, just like in "Page View" mode.  XRS builds a
'fake' menubar just like it would show for each particular message.  This
currently only recognizes English "Capital" letters, i.e. 'A'..'Z' - if
someone will provide me with a proper subset of the high-ascii foreign NLS
characters in the IBM character set that are "Capital" letters, I'll put
them in the hit list for the foreign NLS users, just in case you're using
an "odd" (for English) hot-key (otherwise, the foreign Capital letter
won't be highlighted!).  Note that the pseudo-menubar *is* "hot" but not
really "live" in the sense that you cannot move the highlighted selection
as you could with the left and right arrow keys if the message were less
than a single screen-full.  This also means if you want to select an item
from it with the mouse, you must hit the right button first!  (and then
click on the option with the left button...)



==== (Start of 5.0 Mod 5 Level Changes) ====

37) During Color Cascading of matched text on monochrome screens, the
color doesn't fade to black (and stay there).



==== (Start of 5.01 "Wide Beta" Changes) ====

Finally...
  Michael Barnes' XUC ('eXpress Userlist Compiler') is fully supported!

38) Full support for the XUC format (normally "USERFILE.XUC") user name
list file is included.  XRS searches USERLIST.XRS first, then the XUC
USERFILE.XUC (if it exists, or you may specify an alternative name with
path if needed - otherwise USERFILE.XUC should be in current directory)
followed by up to two user-specified "USERLIST xxxx" in 'FidoUser.Lst'
format files.  To specify a different filename for the XUCList (if any)
use "XUCList Z:\PathName\FileName.Ext" in CONFIG.XRS - this file will
override USERFILE.XUC even if that file exists in the current directory!
If XRS finds multiple exact name matches in the XUC format user namelist
they will be displayed and you will have to select a destination address.
Also, if you place the new parameter "XUC" into your 'CONFIG.XRS' file,
XUC will be called immediately after a preprocess function is called.
This allows you to specify XRS*Sort as a preprocess for new mailbags,
and have XUC automatically accumulate all new names and addresses in
each new mailbag.  Note that the "new" condition is just as before:
either a newly unpacked mailbag is opened, or "Force New" appears in
your 'CONFIG.XRS' file already.

39) XRS has a built-in auto-lookup for names (and address) which uses
both the existing (up to three) UserList.XRS format files plus the XUC
format file Michael Barnes designed.  If XRS 'sees' "USERFILE.XUC" in
the current directory, it will automatically use it whether or not you
specify it, or you can name your XUCList in the CONFIG.XRS parm file:
"XUCList X:\SOMEPATH\XUC_FILE.NAM" (but XRS only reads one XUC format
userlist!).  The order of search: USERLIST.XRS (if it exists), followed
by USERFILE.XUC (or whatever you specify for "XUCList") next, then up
to two optional files named in "UserList xxx" parameters (if any).  The
auto-lookup search is triggered by typing from two to six characters of
the *LAST* name and hitting <INSERT>.  Instead of clearing the name
field (which it still does if there is one or more than six letters!),
it creates a pick-list of names which match the two-to-six characters
you typed, and you may either select one (if so, be certain to pick the
one with the correct address if this is netmail, the address you pick
will be used automatically without prompting!) - or hit <ESC> to return
to the name entry prompt and try again.  You should remember that using
this method causes XRS to search all files regardless of whether an
exact match is found or not (unlike the auto-address lookup), so if you
have two or more very large lists, XRS may take a moment to do a binary
search of all applicable files and present a list.  Picking a name from
the list which results from the search both sends the message to that
receipient and also uses the netmail address picked (if you are sending
netmail) automatically without later prompting for an address.  If no
pop up list appears after searching, (XRS goes back to the name prompt)
there were no matches found at all in any of the user namelist files.
The actual lookup is "hot" - meaning that if you type "RAT" and hit the
<INS> key, after the list pops up with your choices, hitting more keys
will narrow the search (i.e. typeing "LED" at this point would hilight
one of my addresses, because I'm the only one in the nodelist starting
with "RATLED").  This doesn't change the list content, but rather moves
the pointer in the list to best match what you type.  The entries in a
name pick-list are marked as follows: "1" = Primary USERLIST.XRS file,
"2" = Secondary USERFILE.XUC, "3" = First user-specified UserList file
(from CONFIG.XRS) and "4" = Secondary user-specified UserList file.  If
any user namelist file is > 30K the search is quickly narrowed using a
trisecting binary search and no more than 8% of the file is read total.
(which should result in excellent lookup response times even when all
four lists are searched!)  You can then easily narrow the search by
typing one or several more characters until you find the correct name,
and then hit <ENTER> to complete the process.  XRS uses a "caseless"
sort here, so 'homrighausen' doesn't show up somewhere before all the
'A' names, etc <grin>...  (in other words, names are sorted caseless)

40) The "ColorList()" routine I customized from C_Worthy to handle the
visually scrolling list which now allows "hot" access to command keys
if you us "Optimized View" mode (try leaving out "Page View" even if
you have been using it since day 1!) now actually scrolls a full page
up or down instead of (x - 1) as before.  (in other words, you don't
have to skip over the first line each time you page down - and if less
than a full new page is displayed, a visual marker as described above
in feature update #43 is on-screen to show which line you last read)

41) Color cascade shouldn't "stall" as often when there are many items
highlighted onscreen at one time. (like more than a dozen...).

42) Repacking a mailbag retains the original file's date & time stamp.
It will actually "Deja vu" the files, repacking them with the original
timestamp even if they have already been repacked with an intermediate
time somewhere along the way (if you reopen and repack an old mailbag
it will regain its original timestamp, for example).

43) Other C_Worthy-based programs seem to have settled on using the
(normally green) 'Help' palette for the bottom-line help.  If you want
this instead of the 'Normal' palette put "Help Palette" in CONFIG.XRS.

44) Under OS/2 2.0, XRS recognizes and uses virtual EMS and/or XMS.

45) XRS doesn't leave little chunks of UMB's allocated sometimes.

46) You can <ESC>ape out of the <J>ump list to the previously viewed
message.  This only works correctly if you immediately <ESC>ape after
popping up the <J>ump list before entering other positioning commands.

47) Messages marked for deletion are tagged with '≡' in <J>ump list.

48) You can mark/unmark messages for deletion using the <DEL> key in
the <J>ump list.  When they are marked for deletion, they are marked
read - if they are unmarked for deletion, they are also unmarked read.

49) XRS now prompts you asking permission to call XRSlice to delete
all messages you marked for deletion (if any).  This (along with the
three other new features above) allows you to use XRS as a database
type message system when used in conjunction with programs from Rudi
Kusters' "XCS" system of programs.  The prompting for this occurs
immediately after prompting for permission to write messages tagged
for archive only if you have "Always" in your "CONFIG.XRS" file.

50) Another hand-optimization of the overlay structure leads to lower
run-time memory requirements than any previous 5.0x version, and also
makes some operations a little quicker.

51) Under OS/2, TCXL 5's "UMB" support seems to either be freakin' out,
or OS/2 is feeding it bad dope!  (I get wierd things like "12K largest
block" but "4K total free" and can't allocate any UMBs)  For the time
being, UMB support is disabled under OS/2.

52) Marking messages Read/Unread (or Tagged/Untagged for export, or
Marked/Unmarked for deletion) matches the message area as well as the
message number.  This is not significant to most users - but QWK users
have multiple message areas (XRS supports 1024) with duplicate numbers
in each area allowed, unlike the "Hudson-style" message base XRSDoor
exports messages from (which like the underlying database doesn't have
duplicate message numbers at all).  Under this condition (reading a
QWK format mailbag with multiple messages having the same message
number), XRS was picking the first "hit" on the message number to
toggle Read/Tagged/Delete on and off instead of continuing the search
until both message number and area matched.

53) I have documented cases of XRS losing it's mind as far as to what
version of DOS (or OS/2) it's running under when it has been restarted.
This is undoubtedly the result of Borland's C++ 3.0 "exec...()" bug I
have already reported (and they supposedly fixed...) before.  I sent in
another 'bug bitch report' to Borland on CompuServe, but haven't heard
back yet.  For the time being, I have to drop back to DOS if it (the
_osmajor._osminor setting) is really whacked - you can restart XRS
yourself with <F3> or <UP>.  Sometimes even this is "fatal" and locks
up your machine - I'm afraid I really can't do a thing about it!  This
is also the culprit in the few cases where XRS reported "DOS 3.0 or
higher required" on restart...  I can sometimes tell when it's going to
happen before it happens, and if I'm certain re-executing XRS will
cause the problem, I don't offer to "Restart XRS?" at all for now.

54) XRS calls the DOS shell slightly differently when swap/spawning,
and also calls external programs slightly differently if there are no
parameters being passed when swapping is enabled.  Hopefully this will
cure problems with wierd parameters and/or environments being "lost".

55) XRS allows for funky (and incorrect!) replacement DOS command
interpreters that do not delete all files with one or two characters
during a "DEL ??.MSG" call.  (It does so by deleting "?.MSG", checking
for more messages and nuking them.)  This should work in every case!

56) Ralf Brown issued a new version (4.1) of his "SpawnO()" swapping
routines.  This fixes several things I have reported and had to work
around before: No "blown" environments any more, the "SET TEMP=" and
"SET TMP=" environment variables are not "burned in" (or rather out)
and in fact if you swap-to-disk (have either no or not enough EMS or
XMS memory), they are used instead of the drive in a "Swap X" parm.
You can even override "all the above" (for disk swapping) by using a
new "SET SWAPDIR=xxx" parameter - which may contain multiple drives
(listing multiple directories on the same drive doesn't make much
sense: if there's not enough space in one dir, there's not going to
be space in another on same drive!).  Example: "SET SWAPDIR=F:\;C:."
will try the root of the F:\ drive first, and if not enough space is
available, will use the current directory on the C: drive instead.


Changes from original XRS v 5.01 -=> May 3rd, 1992 edition v 5.01

57) Under certain conditions, if you used the <ALT_F10> hot-key exit out
of XRS, it was possible XRS would forget to deallocate a set of several
UMB memory blocks on a '386 or higher processor (if you allow the UMB
support).  This was rare, but could happen in several different places.
I now keep a doubly linked-list chain of UMB's allocated in memory and
purge any leftovers in the "exitproc()" routine properly - no matter if
you are in the editor (or wherever) and hot-key out with <ALT_F10>.  I
walk the linked list and free anything that would previously have been
left "hanging" (until you rebooted).  I added UMA block information to
the "HeapWalk" hidden routine which pops up if you hit <F2><F2> (since
it really is part of the heap!).  Information on any HeapXpander memory
is also shown in the HeapWalk routine.

58) Ralf Brown fixed the "SpawnO()" swapping functions so that the _PSP
isn't destroyed during swapping.  XRS can now safely restart any time
and no longer skews the _osversion.