QWKRR128 v5.1 Documentation - Part 2 of 4

QWKRR128 Home | Upgrade Notes | Files | FAQs | Docs | Source

Documentation: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Mail Reading Commands

At the end of the message (or if you press the stop key), the Read Menu will appear:

<N>ext <P>rev <Msg#> <A>gn <R>ply <F>wd e<X>pt
<G>rb <S>tr <M>rk <#>pt <Q>uit

<H>ide Hide.

Hide or Display any text that matches text in the QS.HIDELIST file. This option is available but not shown.

<R>ply Reply.

Enter a Reply to a message. See REPLYing to a Message.

<F>wd Forward.

(Registered Only) This allows you to reply to a message but forward the reply to another message area. This can be used to reply via Netmail to a message in a Fido area or to reply in Private mail to a Public message. Options are the same as reply except that a message area must be selected first.

e<X>pt Export.

(Registered Only) This will prompt for the file type (ASCII/Petascii) format before saving the text of the message. If QWKRR detects what it thinks is a UUencode or Base64 file, it will offer an additional prompt: <D>ecode. See the section concerning Exports and Imports for further detail.

<G>rb Grab.

(Registered Only) This option exports the message to a file called <bbs-id>.<date> in the User drive. If this file exists, the new message will be appended to the previous grab without any prompts. This is intended as a "quick-save" option to bypass the filename and file type prompts. Example: RodsMail.0230

<S>tore Store.

(Registered Only) Saves the text of the current message to the USER disk in a MESSAGES.DAT format, but using the name SMALL.DAT. This is useful if you wish to store the message for later replying and have no further need for the entire MESSAGES.DAT file. Note: To access this SMALL.DAT file you must scratch the original MESSAGES.DAT file and rename the SMALL.DAT to MESSAGES.DAT, retaining the CONTROL.DAT file on the disk.

<M>rk Mark.

Mark/unmark messages. This allows you to mark messages for later reading or replying in conjunction with the <M>arked option on the Selection menu. If you have marked a message an M in the flags shows this. The keys toggle the Marked status so pressing '*' or 'M', or the joystick fire button marks an un-marked message or un-marks a marked one.

<Msg#>

You can enter any message number directly and the corresponding message will be displayed. Messages that are read by inputting a number are displayed with a `#' next to `Area:' in the message header. Entering a message number will display that message irrespective of the Conference or Selection mode setting.

<#> Print

This key will print the current message to your printer.

<Q> Quit

Returns you to the Opening Menu.

Options for Registered Users

Other options available only on Registered versions are: SHIFTED E, F and R. These work in the same way as Enter, Forward and Reply except that you have the option to change your name in the From: field to an alias.

The Editors

There are two editors used for entering information into QWKRR128, the Line Editor and the Full screen editor.

Line Editor

The line editor is used when entering file names, To:, From: and Subj: fields, taglines, twit, VIP and any other single line input.

If a default is offered but not required then pressing the space bar before any other input will clear the field. This will allow you to enter new data or a null input for the operation to be aborted.

• Left and Right cursor keys operate in the usual sense.


• Cursor up or the Home key will move the cursor to the start of the string.


• Cursor down or Shift/Home will move the cursor to the end of the string.

In some cases (Taglines, Twits, VIPs) entering an asterisk (*) as the only character on the line will cause the entry to be listed as `Undefined' and ignored by the program.

Full Screen Editor

The Full Screen Editor is used to enter message text when Entering or Replying to messages or when editing macros.

The ALT key toggles insert mode on and off. The mode is shown by the cursor, which is an Underscore in overstrike mode and a block in Insert mode. This setting is saved with the DEFAULTS file.

The DELETE key functions as a dual backspace and delete key depending on the location in the text and the state of the Insert Mode.

The Cursor keys operate as you'd expect with the following enhancements when pressed with the Commodore or Control key:

    Up - Page (screen) up.	  Left - Top of page (same as home).
  Down - Page (screen) down.	 Right - Bottom of page. (screen).

The Shift-<RETURN> key press will break a line at the cursor position and the DEL key (when on the first character position on a line) will join the current line to the line the previous line.

Full Screen Editor Menu

The full screen editor has a menu that is brought up by pressing either the Commodore or Control keys. This gives the following options:

<S>ave <A>bort <help> i<M>port e<X>port

<Q>uote <V>iew <R>ead <W>rite <#>print

These options are selected by holding down either the Commodore Logo (C=) or Control keys and pressing the desired option. Due to an oddity in the C128 operating system Control-Q does not work so you must use C=Q to quote. In addition to this, note that:

<A>bort can only be selected with Control-A
<S>ave can only be selected with C=S.

This is to help avoid accidental operation. It is recommended that you get into the habit of using the C= as this works with all functions except <A>bort.

Some commands, specifically i<M>port, e<X>port, <C>opy and <W>rite, are disabled in Unregistered versions.

Pressing the HELP key will display a list of ALL the editor commands and functions.

You will notice that when either the Logo or Control keys are pressed a tagline is displayed in the bottom window of the screen. This will be either a tagline from your tagline file, or the last read tagline, depending on the current tagline mode.

The message editor features a side window containing the
following:

• One hour message timer that is zeroed whenever a new message is started.


• Current line and column cursor position.


• Buffer Counter.

When the buffer counter reaches zero you will be given a warning. You may enter approx. 500 bytes after this warning, but you run the risk of corrupting your message or crashing the program. Enter data after this warning at your own risk.

QWKRR currently limits the column width of the editor to 72 characters. This helps to avoid the possibility of your BBS reformatting your messages when uploaded.

Full Screen Editor Commands

These commands are used in conjunction with the CONTROL or C= key.

<I> Insert Line

This allows you to insert blank lines into the middle of a block of text.

<D> Delete Line

You can delete a line that is either blank or contains text. The line the cursor is on is deleted and text below scrolled up.

<U> Undelete Line

Restores a single line that has been previously deleted with the Delete line command. This is faster than cut and paste for copying single lines.

<Y> Block Delete (Cut Text)

Pressing Control-Y or C=Y starts the Block delete sequence. This selects the line the cursor is on as the start line with a note in the Menu line saying 'Delete from line xx to line xx'. As you move the cursor down the second line number changes. Pressing C=Y or Control-Y again deletes the selected block. Pressing any key other than cursor movement or <RETURN> cancels the operation.

Note: You cannot delete "backwards".

The TO line must be greater or equal to the FROM line.

<P> Paste

Complementing the Block Delete function is the Paste function. Selecting C=P or Control-P will paste the result of the previous Control-Y in at the cursor location. If a Control-Y has not been carried out this may cause strange effects as the buffer is not initialised before the first use. The paste buffer is limited to about 10k. If you cut text larger than this the excess lines will be lost. There is no warning as to this occurring.

You can freely paste between different replies.


You can paste text between different mail packets if you use the <O>pen command to open a new mail packet.

i<M>port Import

(Registered Only) This allows you to import a text file into your message or, to attach a file to your message. See the section on Import/Export for further details.

e<X>port Export

(Registered Only) Exports the message being created to the USER disk. See the Export/Import section for more details.

<W>rite Write

(Registered Only) Saves the created message to the USER disk without the header information. (Export without the message header). Useful if you type a message and wish to keep a copy for later use, or if you wish to use QWKRR as a generic text editor.

<Q>uote Quote.

This enables you to quote back to the person some of their own message so that they've got SOME idea of what you are referring to. On selecting <Q>uote one line of the original message will be listed in a window. The following menu will appear:

Select: <up-arrow> <down-arrow> <Return> <Q>uit

Pressing <ENTER> or <RETURN> will enter this line as a quote in your message preceded by the original author's initials and a `>' sign so that it is recognisable as a quote. The cursor keys will move you up or down a line. Pressing `Q' will return you to your message. The Quoted text will appear inserted in the message in the line below the cursor.

Quoted text will wrap when it extends past the right hand margin. It does this by breaking any line longer than 72 characters into half.

To help make manual formatting of quoted text easier, the F8 and Line Feed keys will generate a " xx> " text string. The xx is updated according to each new reply.

You can change the quote initials used by typing *F8 and a space. An asterisk (*) will appear. Type the initials you wish to use. QWKRR will use these characters for the quote initials for the current message.

<R>ead Read

Read a text file from disk. This has no effect on the message being written. Useful for checking file contents prior to importing.

<V>iew View

Allows you to View a message you are writing in the same format as it will be read, complete with page breaks & colourised text.

<#>print Print

Prints the created message to the printer.

<T> Top

Takes you to the top of the message. (As does SHIFT-HOME)

<B> Bottom

Takes you to the bottom of the message.

<$> Directory <@> DOS commands <O> Options

These function the same as in the READ menu.

<A>bort Abort (Control-A)

This aborts the reply option and returns you to the message you were reading when you selected the REPLY option.

<S>ave Save (C=S)

This Saves the message to your REPLY disk as a USR file with a file name <bbs-id>.Rxxx. The <bbs-id> is extracted from the CONTROL.DAT file and the extension '.Rxxx' is a 3-digit number starting from 001. Example: RodsMail.R001

The program will check for the existence of an existing series of replies and increment the number to the next highest before saving. These <bbs-id>.Rxxx files must be consecutively numbered so do NOT delete these files. Use the Kill option in the Edit Reply Menu if you wish to not send them. When you select to Zip or Link replies these files are analysed and linked together in the desired format deleting the individual files as they are processed to save disk space.

<C>opy Copy

(Registered Only) Selecting this option Saves the existing message and then prompts you to select another conference area and enter the header data (To: and Subj: fields)

You can then make any desired changes and <S>ave or <C>opy the message. You can Copy a message as many times as you wish. This is particularly useful to send the same Netmail to several different people, or to send the same message via a public echo and Netmail.

Entering a Message

When you select <E>nter from the main menu, you will be shown a list of conferences contained in the CONTROL.DAT file. Use the cursors keys to move to the name of the conference you wish to enter a message into, and press return. Use ESC or select an empty field to abort. After a conference has been selected you are prompted for the Addressee's name and a message subject. You can then compose your words of wisdom.

REPLYing to a message

On selecting <R>eply (or shift-R) when reading mail, the program will set up a message header for you with your name in the From: field, the author of the current message in the To: field and the current subject in the Subject field.

If you use Shift-R, you will also be prompted for the From: name. This defaults to your registered name, but you can enter an alias or handle here if you wish.

The cursor will be over the name in the To: field so you can edit it if desired. If responding to the original recipient of the message, you can press the F2 key or type:

"*a *b " (without the quotes) in the To: field and QWKRR will automatically enter the person's name. You must type a space after "a" and "b" to trigger QWKRR's automatic macro feature. F4 or "*c *d " will insert the original senders name.

If you don't need to change the "To" field, just press <RETURN> and you will be moved to the Subj: field to edit. If no change is required, you can press <RETURN>.

In previous versions, if you left the To or Subject field blank QWKRR would use default text consisting of: "To: All" or "Subj: Nothing in particular". QWKRR v5 allows you to leave these fields blank if desired.

Once you've edited the Subject field, you'll be asked whether or not to flag the message as Private. When ENTERing a message the default is usually public. When REPLYing the default is the same as the message that you are replying to.

WARNING - Flagging your reply as Private here will not always ensure it is posted on the BBS as private, if it is in a Public Message Only area it may be re-flagged to public by the BBS, causing potential embarrassment. Some BBS's may reject messages that are inappropriately flagged for a particular area, the MKQwk mailer does this by re-posting the message to the sender in private mail. Other doors will trash the message. Most will simply re-flag them.

After the header information has been updated, the cursor will be in the body of the message, starting your message automatically for you with two words, the Intro (default `Hi') contained in the DEFAULTS file and the first part of the addressee's name. See the section on Intro's for info on how to change this.

If sending Email or Netmail, the required formatting for your BBS (as defined from the Options menu) will be visible on the first line of the message. The Intro will appear below this text.

Editing Your Replies

Selecting e<D>it reps from the Opening Menu allows you to edit your replies before packing them for uploading.

When you select this option one of the reply messages will be loaded from disk and displayed with the Tagline it was saved with shown in the lower window. Generally this is the last message saved.

Pressing any key will bring up the Edit Menu:

<rep#> <A>gain <K>ill <E>dit <N>ext <P>rev <Q>uit

These options provide for:

<rep#>

Type the number of the reply you wish to review or edit.

<A>gain

Re-display the current reply;

<K>ill

Kill (delete) the current reply. This message/file is NOT deleted but flagged as "killed".

NOTE: You must not delete the individual reply files as this will upset the Zipping or Linking process and later replies will not be sent out.

To UnKill a message (Registered ONLY) you must Edit it, re-selecting the Conference area, To:, From: etc. and re-save it.

<E>dit

(Registered Only) Edit the current reply. The program will display a list of conferences for you to select. The first choice listed is "Current". If you select this, all header information is retained, including the conference area, From, To, and Subject of the message. If available, you will be asked if you wish to reload the original message to allow further quoting.

If you select a specific conference name, you will be prompted for each header field (the From, To and Subject). If you do not wish to make any changes in these fields, press return at each prompt. You will be asked if you wish to change the Public/ Private flag, and if you want to reload the original message for further quoting.

All editing can be carried out in the same manner as the message was originally entered with the same menu options available allowing Editing, Copying, Printing and Writing of the message. Taglines will be buffered as the `last read' Tagline for re-use. This can be replaced from a tagline file in the usual manner if desired. Netmail and Email will have the formatting recognised and use the previous address as the default.

<N>ext & <P>revious

Move through the reply files.

<Q>uit

Return to the Opening Menu.

Packing the Mail

QWKRR creates individual files for each reply rather than a single .REP file. Once you have read and replied to your mail, it's time to join these together and upload the final packet to your BBS.

NOTE: If you have not finished with your replies then do not pack them at this stage. QWKRR will allow you to add additional replies to the packet in a future session. Packed reply packets cannot be added
to.

From the Read menu, press <Q> to quit to the Opening Menu then <Q> again to take you to the Exit Menu. This menu offers:

<B>asic <Z>ip replies <L>ink replies QP<A> boot <O>pen New <Q>uit

Selecting any of these keys (except <O>pen and <Q>uit) with the Shift key causes the function to be carried out but with a warm re-boot when the program exits.

<B>asic

Exits to basic, saving an updated Index file.

<Z>ip

ZIP Stores the messages, linking them into a single file, <bbs-id>.REP, using the file name provided by the CONTROL.DAT file producing a .REP file ready to upload to your BBS. This is the recommended option for the majority of QWKRR users. Note this file name is in upper/lower case as determined by your BBS. The packer included in the QWKRR program is STORE only and is capable of zipping an entire disk minus one block.

<L>ink replies

Links the individual reply files into a single file called <bbs-id>.MSG ready to be packed with an external packer such as CS-DOS. You must NOT change the name of the *.MSG file prior to archiving it. Before uploading the packed file, rename it to <bbsid>.REP

Example: RodMail.MSG should be archived, and the resulting archive should be named: RodMail.REP

QP<A> boot

This will <L>ink the replies as above, and will then attempt to load and run the program called QPA. This is a stand-alone Archiving utility that will create a ARC stored archive with the filename of <bbs-id>.REP. Prior to selecting this option you should:

Ensure that the QPA program has been set up and saved (as "QPA") with your disk drive arrangement.
Make sure the QPA program is on the same disk (or directory) as QWKRR128.

CS-DOS users can rename the CS-DOS "shell" program to QPA and have CS-DOS automatically run instead (or any program for that matter). Refer to the section (above) on <L>inking replies for further information if you elect to use CS-DOS to pack your replies.

<O>pen New

This allows you to open a different mail packet, if you have one on another disk or CMD partition. It takes you to the Opening Device prompts for you to select the Messages, Replies, Taglines and User devices.

<Q>uit

This command is NEVER a Quit to Basic command but allows you to move back to the previous menu.

Both <L>ink and <Z>ip delete the individual message files as they are processed allowing the reply files to occupy all but one block of the REPLY disk and still allow a successful result.

NOTE: When you upload your reply packet, if you are required by the term program to type in the name of the file to upload, be sure to type the filename in upper/lower case as it appears in your disk directory. For example, if the filename is RodMail.REP, typing rodmail.rep will result in a "file not found" message.

Uploading your Reply packet

If in doubt of which packing method to use for your replies, Zip is the preferred option and works for about 99% of QWKRR users. Before you upload the packet to the BBS, note the name of the .rep packet. This can be in either upper or lower case - or in mixed case (BBSID.rep, bbsid.rep and BBSid.rep are all possible combinations, depending on how the BBS you use has set up the BBSid in the control.dat file. If using a term program or protocol that requires you to type in the name of the file, be sure to type it exactly as it appears in your disk directory.

Additional QWKRR Menus

Options Menu

Pressing the <O> key from most menus brings up a full screen menu that is made up of several sub-areas. These are Colours, Printer, Misc., Files, and Formatting. A short disk menu is shown at the bottom of the screen.

The options menu is also available from most menus (*except* the reply editor) via the F2,4,6 & 8 keys.

Colours: The colour choices that can be defined are:

0 = background

1 = Border

2 = Header text

3 = header data

4 = Message text

5 = Message and hidelist highlight

6 = Clock and Search highlight

7 = Taglines

8 = Origin lines

9 = QWKRR128 identifier

Colour Comments: Selecting the appropriate key toggles through the available colours for that option. Monochrome monitor users should note that this area maybe useful to you, particularly, the 'header data' should contrast the 'header text' selections or you will be unable to operate the disk drive selections easily at start-up.

• Message and hidelist highlight is any quoted text, which is any line that has ">" in the first 5 places.


• Taglines are any lines that start with "...".


• Origin lines are any lines that start with " * Origin:".


• QWKRR128 identifier is any line with "QWKRR128 V" starting in the 5th character position.

Any text that's the same colour as the background colour will not be displayed as part of the message. This can be used as a method of stripping Taglines / origin lines etc. if you wish as your read your mail. Tagline addicts can set all colours except taglines to the background colour and read nothing but taglines ;-). This is a display function only. Text sent to disk or printer remains unaffected.

VD<C> Sync

Sets the vertical position of the screen.

Screen Hei<G>ht.

Set the number of lines displayed on your monitor. This defaults to 28 lines for PAL and 26 for NTSC.

NOTE:
These commands are in effect at the initial disk drive set-up screen so if your NTSC screen is unreadable toggle <C> or <G> until the screen stabilises. The default *should* be OK for the majority of systems.

<J>oystick

Either Joystick port can be selected. However, due to Kernal conflicts only port#2 is recommended. If you have problems with entering numbers or letters in the line editors, make sure this port #2 is selected.

Printer Choices:

This lets you set up various printer options, such as ASCII (Epson emulation) or Petascii (CBM compatible) via the serial port, or Centronics (ASCII) via a parallel cable (such as GEOcable) in the user port. The serial options also allow you to set the Printer device number (4-7) and the printer or interface's secondary address (0- 31). Selecting the Centronics option will allow you to toggle linefeeds on/off. The printer is initially set to device #4 and a secondary address of #7.

<I>ntro on/off

This option takes you to a menu to define the Intro that's used whenever you reply to or enter a message.

<B>ragline on/off

(Registered Only) This determines how often the QWKRR ID line is attached to the message. If On (or in Unregistered versions) the ID line will appear on every message, if OFF, the Tearline will only be used every 5th or 6th message. When editing a message, a "+" is displayed next to the word "TAG" on the menu line indicates that the Bragline is set to ON.

T<E>earline

This option allows you to select the three character prefix to the ID line. There are several to choose from.

Note: If using a PCBoard BBS for your mail, use only the tearlines that begin with one or two spaces. Otherwise, taglines in your replies will be wrapped to the next line by the
BBS.

<T>aglines, T<W>it, <V>ip, and <M>acros

These options each take you to individual menus.

<N>etMail and <E>mail Formats

The <N> or <E> in the Options menu is where you define the Netmail and Email formats. See the section on Netmail for notes on this. Shown below these prompts are the Netmail or Email conference names, if you've defined the conference and formatting.

C<h>aracter Set

This option allows you to load a different character set to use
with QWKRR.

Options Disk Menu

<L>oad

This option allows you to reload the Q.DEFAULTS file. This file contains all the information contained on this screen including the filenames for Character Sets, Macros, Taglines etc. and their associated flags. Note that tagline modes are saved with the individual tagline files and not in the Q.DEFAULTS file.

Pressing `l' will do a normal load. Pressing SHIFT-L will force a full re-load of all defaults, not only the Q.DEFAULTS file as detailed below but also all the identified files as is done when QWKRR first initialises itself.

The Q.DEFAULTS file is stored on the QWKRR boot drive and it's automatically overwritten whenever a new save is performed.

<S>ave

Saves the current configuration in the Q.DEFAULTS file.

<$> Dir

Displays the current USER directory

<@>DOS

Access to DOS commands. See DOS Information for more details.

<Q>uit

Self-explanatory.

QWKRR128 Home | Upgrade Notes | Files | FAQs | Docs | Source

Documentation: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4