QWKRR128 v5.1 Documentation - Part 3 of 4

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Selection Menu

When this is selected, you are offered several choices:

<A>ll	   <xxx>
<N>etmail	   <xx> (if the Netmail conference has been defined)
<E>mail	   <xx> (if the Email conference has been defined)
<P>ersonal   <xx/xx>
<V>ip	   <xx/xx>
T<W>it	   <xx/xx>
<M>arked	   <xx>
<U>nread	   <xx>
<H>eaders
<S>earch

1 Conference1 <xx>
2 Conference2 <xx>

To select an area or type of mail to read, use the cursor key to move to the option desired and press return. Alternatively, you can type in the letter or conference number and press return. QWKRR only displays the conferences that have messages. To see all of the conferences, press the spacebar.

The numbers in brackets next to the option shows the number of messages for that particular option. Some options show two numbers, such as: Personal <7/2> The two numbers denote the number of messages *TO* you (7), and the number of messages *FROM* you (2). These are always shown as <To/From>.

Message Conferences

After you have selected a conference, when you are reading messages, a '>' symbol appears to the left of the word 'Area:' in the message header to remind you that you are locked into this conference. All other modes of reading are *locked* to the selected conference, so if you decide to use <S>earch or to read messages from <V>ips, only the messages within the selected conference are searched.

To unlock the selected conference to read `ALL' again, return to the <S>election menu and choose "ALL". You should now see `All' in the Area field.

It's suggested that if you use the other menu options to read personal, marked, VIP, twit etc. or to search, that you first set the selected conference to "All".

Other Selection Menu Options

ersonal: Selecting this gives you the choice of reading messages <T>o you, <F>rom you or oth.
<V>IP and T<W>IT: These options allow you to read messages by those in either your VIP or TWIT lists. The options given are: <T>o <F>rom or oth
<M>arked: This option allows you to read messages marked during a previous reading session.
nread: QWKRR flags messages in the packet as you read them. Selecting nread will display any messages you've missed. The number displayed after the option tells you how many messages have not been read all the way through. A message is considered to be "read" when it has been displayed on screen in its entirety. The revious message option will take you to the previous UNREAD message, not the one you just read. If you wish to read the message you just read, you can access it by entering the Message Number directly. You should select ALL conferences before using this option.
<H>eader: This option displays the message headers, subject to the Conference selected. It lists to screen the Message number, two flags, the To, From, and Subject fields, plus the Conference name. Due to space ALL fields are truncated. The flags shown are `+' (read) and `M' (marked). When a page of headers has been listed, a short menu is displayed. Using the Header option also sets/resets all VIP and Twit flags according to your current VIP and Twit lists. The commands are:
<S>earch: This allows you to search through your mail for key words. When selected, it offers the choice of searching <H>eaders, <M>essages or oth. Once you've made this choice, you're prompted to enter a search string, which can be up to 57 characters. QWKRR's searches are not case sensitive, so if you search for Dog, it will find"DOG", "Dog", and "dog". When a match is found in a message, QWKRR will display it using the clock colour. It will only display the FIRST match found in a message. Message headers do not show any colour changes if a match is found in the header.

Netmail and Email

Although the QWK mail packet system was not designed to cope with the oddities of Netmail and Email, such messages can be sent with most BBS software. This is accomplished by first selecting the appropriate conference, and entering the necessary format as the first line of your text. Typical formats are shown below.

Because there are so many different formats required by mail doors, QWKRR has features that can help eliminate errors. To use these features you must first tell QWKRR define the Netmail and Email conferences that your BBS uses.

From the Options Menu, select <N>etmail or <E>mail. The list of conferences from the CONTROL.DAT file will appear. Cursor to the Netmail (or Email) conference and press return. If you didn't have a Netmail or Email message in your mail packet, you may need to press the spacebar so QWKRR will show all conferences from your CONTROL.DAT file. You MUST select the correct area(s) for both Netmail and Email; usually identified as Netmail, Matrix-mail, Email, InternetMail or something similar.

You will then be asked for the format that your BBS uses. An asterisk is used to represent the Netmail or Email address. Use the following examples as a guide:

Qmail, Maximus To:*
QSO/TBBS (Email) To:*
QSO/TBBS (Netmail) @*
EZQ, UQWK To: *
Cam mail @>*
Tomcat ->*
Rosemail @*
Valance Netmail: *

If you are unsure of what format your BBS uses because it's not listed, try the Qmail format, as this is the most common. If this doesn't work, check the documentation for the mail door that is used on the BBS.

The information for Netmail and Email is saved to the QWKRR boot disk using the name <bbs-id>.NET. This file is automatically loaded whenever QWKRR is run and the <bbs-id> matches that of the current mail packet. You only need define it once for each BBS you use.

Once this information has been defined or loaded, any message, whether it be a reply, entered, or forwarded into these conferences will automatically be treated as private Netmail or Email. Furthermore, with this defined you can select the Netmail or Email conference by entering an 'n' or 'e' at any of the conference selection prompts.

Entering messages via the automated routines is similar to any other message with a couple of exceptions. Rather than the public/private prompt, the message is assumed to be private. QWKRR will scan the last message read for a default destination address and display it as a prompt for entering or correcting the address. QWKRR uses the Origin line for Netmail, or Reply-to: line for an Email address. If it doesn't find an Origin or Reply-To: line, QWKRR will offer any other valid address it finds. If no address is given, the message will be treated as any other message.

UUCP Gating

Some users need to use Netmail in order to send Email, and QWKRR can help automate this process. If you define your Netmail conference first, then define the Email conference as the same as your Netmail conference, QWKRR will prompt with: UUCP address line (if required)

At this prompt, if you must use a Netmail gateway to send Email, type in the Netmail address and any address formatting. If you don't need to use this, just press return. It will then prompt for the Email format to use.

Note: When both the Email and Netmail conference are one and the same, QWKRR will prompt you for the style of message (and addressing) to use (<N>etmail or <E>mail) when entering, forwarding, or replying to messages in this conference. This prompt is bypassed if you press <N> or <E> to select the conference in the Selection menu instead of Cursoring to select the conference.

Email Comments

Do NOT use the To: field to enter Email addresses, use QWKRR's Auto-routines and enter the Email format required by your BBS system.

QWKRR truncates any text after the "@" symbol in the message headers, but due to it's transparent auto-net routines, you will always be able to see the entire address when sending Email, and it avoids the 25 character limit that occurs when using the To: field.

UQWK (an Internet QWK utility) treats single name Email entries as mail destined for local users. To avoid Email problems because of this quirk, QWKRR adds a "*" to the last position of the To: field when it encounters a single name entry. Most, if not all BBS's ignore the To: field when sending Email.

Address Book

To use this feature, you must define/setup at least one conference for Email or Netmail. QWKRR's Address Book is an ASCII text file named QS.ADDRESSES that's stored on QWKRR's boot disk. While there's no provision to access this file directly, it can be edited with QWKRR by importing it into a message, making changes and then writing it back to disk.

You can enter a "?" in the first position of the "To:" field and QWKRR will display the names in your address list using your message text colour for Netmail addresses and the message highlight colour for Email addresses. Cursor to the name of the person you want to send mail to and press return. If the mail is destined for a regular conference, QWKRR will insert the person's name in the To: filed. If you've opted to send Email or Netmail, the address is inserted into the message for you. If you're already in the Email or Netmail conferences (or entering or forwarding mail to these conferences), QWKRR will display only the appropriate names in your address book.

The Address Book is accessed by QWKRR on an "as-needed" basis. Whenever you enter a message in either the Netmail or Email conferences, QWKRR will scan the address book for a match to the name in the To: field and automatically enter the message with the address formatted on the first line of the message.

If QWKRR doesn't find a match to a name entered in the To: field, you will be prompted for a valid address, with a "best guess" address from the last message read displayed. If the address is correct, press return and QWKRR will ask if you want it added to the address book. If the displayed address is not what you want to use, you can edit the displayed text (press the spacebar to delete the offered address) and press return when finished.

The same name can appear twice within the Address book, one in Netmail format and one in Email format. For instance, you can have:

Rod Gasson=3:800/409.128

Rod Gasson=rgasson@videocam.net.au

When you send Netmail or Email, only the appropriate address is used.

Generally it's best to *not* add addresses to the book, mainly because QWKRR WILL use the defined address for the name. For instance, if you have a name defined as "bgasson=bgasson@one.com" in the address book, and bgasson moves to a new address of "bgasson@two.com", QWKRR will still use the original definition until you manually edit the address book.

Exports and Imports

UUencodes and Base64 Files

UUencodes and Base64 files are a convenient way to send/receive program files via Email or the echoes. An encoding scheme is used that converts all program data into a printable format. Both provide similar (but incompatible) encoding. UUencodes are preferred in Fidonet, while Base64 is the preferred method with Email. Such coded programs can be identified because you will see something like:

Sample UUencode:

begin 640 sample.prg
M`1P,'`4`F2`B$Y,B`$@<"@"9("+#3TY'4D%454Q!5$E/3E,L(%E/52=612!$
>14-/1$5$(%1(12!304U03$4@4%)/1U)!32XB````
`
end

Sample Base64 attachment:

---
Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="sample2.prg"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="sample2.prg"
Content-MD5: cPV4sRVm32Qe9yZQtSA2zA==

ARwMHAUAmSAiE5MiAEgcCgCZICLDT05HUkFUVUxBVElPTlMsIFlPVSdWRSBERUNPREVEIFRI
RSBTQU1QTEUgUFJPR1JBTS4iAAAA

-----

When you e<X>port a message and QWKRR finds what appears to be a UUencoded or Base64 file in the message it will offer you the option to Decode this data.

If you accept this option QWKRR will attempt the decode. It is up to you to be sure that it is a genuine uuencode or Base64 file to be extracted; trying to decode a non-genuine code may cause unforeseen problems. If a coded message has been truncated (or split across several messages) you may still get the prompt to decode them, but the resultant file will be junk.

QWKRR is easily fooled into thinking it has a valid coded file even though it may not be so. It detects a UUencode by looking for the text string "begin " followed by 3 digits and another space. Any text that follows is used as the default filename. It does NOT check for the "end" directive, but will 'end' the decoding process when this 'end' text is found, or at the end of the message, whichever comes first. For Base64 files, QWKRR looks for a text string of either "BASE64" or "base64" ... if this file were in a message for example, QWKRR would try to tell you that it is a decodable message, when obviously this isn't the case.

Quoted-Printed attachments (described below) can be decoded to disk, screen or printer. When replying to such messages, you can decode the file to disk, then import it into the reply editor if you wish.

Exporting Files

Once you've selected e<X>port (or <W>rite if you are editing a message), QWKRR will check for encoding, and will then prompt you with a short menu:

<A>scii etscii <D>ecode <Q>uit

Note: the <D>ecode options will only appear if QWKRR finds a Uuencode or Base64 file.

You will be prompted to enter a file name. The default name offered is the last one used (or `filename' if no previous name has been specified). If using the decode option, QWKRR will offer the name that appears within the UUencode or Base64 file. A check for pre-existing files is made and if found, you have the option to <R>eplace it, <A>ppend to it or <Q>uit. A blank line will abort the process. Entering a '$' will display the disk directory. To abort the directory listing, press the stop key.

If <A>ppending, the current file type is honoured. (NOTE: It is possible to append to a PRG file if the name matches. Use with caution).

If you select <D>ecode and QWKRR found what it believes to be a Quoted-Printable file, you are further prompted whether you want the file decoded to disk, screen or printer. This prompt will also appear if you blank out the file name for other decodes.

Importing Text and Files

While in the full screen editor, the i<m>port command allows you to put text directly into the editor or to attach it so that it will be appended to the message as QWKRR creates the outgoing REP packets. This way, if the file won't fit into QWKRR's editor, you can still include it in your message.

Importing Text into Messages

While in the editor, select i<m>port. The User directory will be displayed. Cursor to the file you want to import and press return. Several options will be displayed on the bottom menu. Choose either <A>SCII or etscii as the file type, and the file will be imported with the appropriate conversion. The imported section of the message has a header and footer added automatically to delineate it from the rest of your message. Text import automatically aborts when the buffer fills, but can also be aborted by pressing the stop key.

Attaching Files

Attached files do not appear within the reply, but are added during the process of creating the outbound packet. The file attachments get copied, encoded, and stored in the Reply directory and are named <BBSid>.Fxxx. The number of the attachment is for QWKRR's internal use only and does not relate to the reply it's intended for. Only one file attach can be included in each message. If for some reason you define more than one, only the last will be used.

To attach a file to a message, the file should be in your User directory. In the message/reply where you want this attachment, use the i<M>port command and select the file to be attached as described above.

The Attach options are: uencode ase64 <T>ext <R>aw

UUencodes & Base64 are used for sending binary files via Email/Netmail.

uencode: Creates a UUencode of the selected file and attaches it to the reply.
ase64: Encodes the selected file as a Base64 (application/octet-stream) attachment.
<T>ext: Creates a quoted-printable attachment. Use this when sending text files that have 'illegal' (or formatting) characters. Unlike Base64 and UUencodes, this format only encodes "non-text" characters, leaving the text readable.
<R>aw: Attaches the file as-is without any changes made to the file. Useful for attaching a long text file to a reply, or when/if you choose to use encoding methods not supported by QWKRR.

NOTE WELL: QWKRR makes no checks or conversions to any of the data in a <R>aw attached file. It *is* possible to attach a binary/program file to a message/reply with this mode. QWKRR will quite happily include such a file, BUT I can guarantee another processor somewhere along the line will trash the message or mail packet. Such files should be attached using the ase64, uencode, or quoted-printable <T>ext options instead.

It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that no part of a <R>aw attachment includes 'illegal' characters. (for example, *all* Fidonet systems will truncate any message when it finds a null character (chr$(0)), so you'd better be sure that there are no such nulls in a <R>aw attach. Also, it is up to you to ensure that any such attaches don't cause a message to exceed any size limits imposed by the mail door.

Taglines Menu

The Taglines menu is available either by selecting <T>aglines via the options menu, or pressing the F7 key from most menus.

<N>ext rev <L>oad <S>ave <E>dit <$> <Q>uit <C>apture <M>ode

There are 3 taglines always available. These are `none' (no tagline), the last read tagline, and the internal tagline `Offline read 'n' reply with a C128'. If the program is unregistered then the internal one is the only one used.

NOTE: It is possible that the last tagline read is not a true tagline as some people tend to use tagline format (prefixed by "...") as their signature, or may use "..." as emphasis in a message. QWKRR will only allow the capture of the last occurrence of the "..." prefix in each message.

Taglines also support the use of CMD subdirectories. The current directory path is saved with the Q.DEFAULTS file. Set the drive and path of your choice with the <T> command and or from the initial drive selection screen and then save the Q.DEFAULTS file. This will allow you to have a whole disk or partition of taglines that can be accessed from anywhere on your CMD device or additional disk drives.

<T> Tagline Drive: (Not shown in the menu) Allows you to redefine the Drive and Path setting for the Tagline Drive. Taglines have a filename format of QT.<-name->.<xxx> where <-name-> can be any text up to 8 characters long and <xxx> is a number between 000 And 999, with taglines with the same <-name-> having consecutive numbers starting from 000. Note the leading zero is necessary. Ten taglines, numbered 0 to 9, can be saved in each file. The last tagline read can be <C>aptured.
<N>ext rev: The Next and Previous commands will load the Next or Previous Tagline file in the series with the current QT.<-name-> prefix provided the naming rules above are adhered to.
<L>oad: Asks for a filename to load, offering the current file as default. Selecting <space> to clear the field will only clear the filename extension not the QT. prefix. If you wish to change directories or drives use <T> first then <L>.
<S>ave: Saves the current set of taglines. This will offer the current file name as default and if it exists will ask you to confirm that you wish to replace it.; Please note that when you save a tagline file, the current tagline "mode" (explained below) is saved within the tagline file and will be used automatically the next time the file is loaded.
<E>dit: Allows you to edit any of the numbered taglines, 0 to 9.
<$> Directory: Displays the list of tagline files available on the specified drive, partition or sub-directory.
<Q>uit: Returns you to the previous menu.
<C>apture: This lets you add taglines to your collection. It asks for a number (0-9) and will automatically copy the 'Current' tagline to the specified position.
<M>ode: This allows you to choose how you want the taglines to change.

NOTE: this information is saved with each individual tagline
file, not in the Q.DEFAULTS file.

The choices are:

Off:

Taglines are Off. No tagline will be used.

Rotate-Key:

Rotates the current taglines 0 through 9 then Current, Default, None and back around again each time the C= or CTRL key is pressed.

Rotate-Reply:

Rotates as above but only changing when a message is saved.

Random-Key:

Selects a tag at random with each press of the C= or CTRL keys.

Random-Reply:

Selects a tag at random each time a message is saved.

Manual:

This will display the tags for you to choose from. You can also access the Tagline menu to load a different file or change modes.

Twit and VIP Menus

Ever want to read mail from only those people you respect? Or have you ever wished you could skip reading mail from certain people so your mail reading is a more pleasant experience? QWKRR v5 has two similar facilities that allow you to do this.

The VIP option allows you to read (or Highlight) messages from those people you deem as important. The list of names for VIP purposes are defined in files with the prefix "QV." and accessed through either the Options Menu or with the F5 key.

The Twit option lets you to define lists of people that you want to ignore. The only time you will see twit messages (depending on your settings with this option) is when you browse Twits in the Selection menu. The list of names are saved in files with the prefix "QW." and accessed through the Options Menu or with the F3
key.

VIP and Twit Mode Flags are stored in the Q.DEFAULTS file. These can be set to Highlight (VIP) or Ignore (TWIT) messages To, From or Both.

Each twit or VIP file can contain up to 10 names, and the names can be either partial or full, e.g. `Mark' will `VIP (or `twit') anyone with Mark as part of their name. The names are NOT case sensitive as QWKRR will convert your input to match the same "rules" that is used to format the names in the to/from fields. You can have more that one Twit or VIP file.

When you select either T<W>it or <V>ip from the <O>ptions Menu, a list of up to ten names will be displayed along with a menu. The names can be full names like 'Joe Bloggs' or part names like 'Roy' if you wish to match a range of people.

The menu for each of these lists consists of:

<L>oad <S>ave <E>dit <$> <Q>uit <R>eset Flags <M>ode

Load, Save, Edit, $ (directory) and Quit all work the same as in the Taglines menu EXCEPT that QWKRR expects your QW. (twit) or QV. (VIP) files to be on the QWKRR boot drive.

<R>eset Flags: The <V>ip and T<W>it flags in the message headers are set as messages are indexed, read or while in the list <H>eader mode, and only cleared when you select this menu option OR list <H>eaders from the Selection Menu. If you wish to use a different <V>ip or T<W>it file, or edit the existing ones you will need to reset the flags to make it work correctly. If not reset, any messages read or indexed will remain flagged as Twitted (or VIP) even though the names may no longer be in the list.
<M>ode: As with taglines, the Twit and VIP Mode Flags are saved in the Q.DEFAULTS file. The available modes are:; VIP: Highlight- To Highlight- From Highlight- Both

TWIT: Ignore - To Ignore - From Ignore - both

When you select <V>ip from the Selection Menu, only messages to or from VIP names will be displayed. When you select T<W>it from the Selection Menu, only messages from Twits are displayed. You'll notice that any names identified as VIP or Twits are shown in a different colours in the message header. When reading messages normally, any messages from/to (or both) twits are ignored and not displayed at all, depending on your Mode setting.

Note that if you use the Twit list, there will be times when you select a conference to read and see "Last Message" on the bottom of the screen - QWKRR is doing it's job, and not showing you messages from Twits.

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

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