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MsgVu

for OS/2 and DOS
Operating Systems

User's Guide




Version 2.0
November 21, 1988






















(c) Copyright Dave Briccetti & Associates, 1985-1988. All rights
reserved.














TABLE OF CONTENTS


Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Examples of Calculating Memory Requirements . 2
Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Disclaimer of Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Obtaining a License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Product Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Distribution Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Problem Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Installing MsgVu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Location of Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Executable File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Initialization File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Environment Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Location of Initialization Directory . . . . . . . 5
Monochrome Monitor with Color Adapter . . . . . . . 5

Quick Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Starting MsgVu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Loading a File of Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Understanding the Screen Formats . . . . . . . . . 8
The Index Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Message Reading Screen . . . . . . . . . . 8
Understanding Navigation Functions . . . . . . . . 9
The Index Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Message Reading Screen . . . . . . . . . . 10
Exiting MsgVu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Saving, Deleting, Marking, and Sorting . . . . . . . . . 11
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Saving Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Deleting Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Marking Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Sorting Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Choose From Directory List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Find Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

MsgVu Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Command Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Command Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Operating Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
CHANGE SUBJECT (F5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21












DELETE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Deleting Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Delete One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Delete Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Delete Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Delete Marked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Delete Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Delete Duplicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
DOWN GROUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
EXIT ('x' OR Esc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
FILTER (F6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Message Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Filtering Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
To . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
From . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
FIND (F6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
HELP (F1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
LOAD FILE (Shift-F10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Building the Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Fast Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Regular Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Saving the Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
LOCATE ('l' OR Shift-F6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
MARK ('m') . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Mark One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Mark Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Mark Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Mark Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
PRINT ('p') . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
READ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
RESET FLAGS (Alt-F1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
SAVE FILE (F10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Deleted, Marked, and Filtered Messages . . . . . . 27
SAVE INDEX (Ctrl-F10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
SHELL (Ctrl-F1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
SORT (F2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Thread Order Sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
SPLIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
STATS (Shift-F1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
UNDELETE ('D') . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
UNMARK ('M') . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
UP GROUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

OS/2 Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Large Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Multitasking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Family Application Programming Interface . . . . . 29

Association of Shareware Professionals . . . . . . . . . . . 31












Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Programming Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Documentation Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Support Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32




























































1

Introduction



1. Function
MsgVu is a tool for managing files of electronic messages from
information services such as CompuServe, GEnie, and BIX, and
bulletin board systems such as RBBS, PC-Board, and Fido. With
MsgVu you can:

Read messages sequentially or by selecting them from an
index which shows the number, subject, sender, and
recipient

Sort message files by "thread," number, subject, sender, or
recipient

Delete selected messages

Print selected messages

Search for messages containing certain text

Extract selected messages and write them to new files


2. System Requirements

a. Operating System
MsgVu runs under DOS Version 3 or later, and all OS/2 versions.

b. Memory
MsgVu's memory requirements can be calculated using the following
formula:

Memory = Base Memory + Input Buffers + Header Size * Number of
Messages

Table I - Memory Requirements Information

Base Input Header
Version Memory Buffers Size

Regular 280,000 16,384 36
Fast 232,000 16,384 136






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Table I shows the values of the formula variables for the differ-
ent versions of MsgVu.


i. Examples of Calculating Memory Requirements
The memory required for the regular version to process 2,000 mes-
sages is calculated as follows:

Memory = 280,000 + 16,384 + 36 * 2000
= 368,384 bytes

For the fast version to process 2,000 messages requires quite a
bit more memory:

Memory = 232,000 + 16,384 + 136 * 2000
= 520,384 bytes

c. Display
MsgVu supports monochrome or color display adapters, as well as
the Enhanced Graphic Adapter (EGA) 43 line mode, and the Video
Graphics Array (VGA) 50 line mode.


3. Disclaimer of Warranty
This software and manual are sold "as is" and without warranties
as to performance of merchantability or any other warranties
whether expressed or implied. Because of the various hardware
and software environments into which this program may be put, no
warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered. The user
must assume the entire risk of using the program. Any liability
of the seller will be limited exclusively to product replacement
or refund of purchase price.


4. Obtaining a License
This shareware product costs $30 for the DOS users and $35 for
OS/2 users.

Shareware is a method software developers use to distribute their
products which allows users to evaluate the products in their own
environments before buying.

If after your evaluation you decide to use MsgVu, please send
your license fee to:

Dave Briccetti & Associates
P.O. Box 1713
Lafayette, CA 94549-7013

A printed manual will be mailed free of charge to all registered
users who request it.


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Dave Briccetti is a member of the Association of Shareware
Professionals.


5. Product Support
MsgVu is supported on the IBM Communications forum and the TAPCIS
forum on CompuServe, and on Dave Briccetti & Associates RBBS at
415 945-1105. Dave Briccetti's CompuServe id is 74475,1072.

Telephone support for MsgVu is not available.


6. Distribution Restrictions
This full-featured, evaluation version of MsgVu may be copied and
distributed to others in its original, unmodified form.

Organizations wishing to distribute MsgVu are encouraged to do
so, provided that if a fee is charged it does not exceed $5, and
that persons to whom the product is distributed are clearly aware
that MsgVu is shareware.


7. Problem Reporting
Please report problems with MsgVu to Dave Briccetti on the Dave
Briccetti & Associates RBBS, CompuServe, Fax number 415 945-7436,
or at the postal mailing address given in the section Obtaining a
License on page 2.


8. About the Author
Dave Briccetti has been programming since 1975 and an independent
software developer and consultant since 1983. He worked on large
IBM mainframe computers from 1975 to 1985, and has been program-
ming on IBM microcomputers since 1983. He works now especially
with the C programming language and the DOS and OS/2 operating
systems. Dave would be interted in hearing about contract
programming opportunities for OS/2.
















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2

Installing MsgVu



1. Location of Files

a. Executable File
The executable file for MsgVu is one of the following: MSGVU.EXE,
MSGVUF.EXE, MSGVUB.EXE or MSGVUBF.EXE. It should be placed some-
where in the PATH, or in a directory from which it will be ex-
plicitly invoked.

b. Initialization File
MsgVu uses an initialization file called MSGVU.INI. It may be
placed in the same directory as the executable file, in a direc-
tory called INIT, or in the directory from which MsgVu will be
invoked.


2. Environment Settings

a. Location of Initialization Directory
If you place the initialization file in the INIT directory, then
you should execute the following command before running MsgVu:

SET INIT=\INIT

You may put this command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (OS2INIT.CMD
for OS/2 users).

b. Monochrome Monitor with Color Adapter
If you are using a color display adapter with a monochrome moni-
tor, MsgVu's screens may be easier to read if you issue the fol-
lowing DOS command before running MsgVu:

SET PNLMONO=Y















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3

Quick Tutorial


This tutorial, which is meant for the first-time user of MsgVu,
will introduce you to a few of the most common and basic MsgVu
functions.


1. Getting Started


a. Objectives

Starting MsgVu

Loading a File of Messages

Understanding the Screen Formats

Understanding the Navigation Functions

Exiting MsgVu


b. Starting MsgVu

Change to the drive and directory containing the MsgVu file
MSGVU.EXE

At the DOS prompt, type:

msgvu [Enter]

A title screen appears.

Press

[Enter]

to continue. The title screen disappears. MsgVu is now ready to
work with a file of messages.


c. Loading a File of Messages

Appearing now is the Index Screen. Since there are no messages
currently in MsgVu, the index is empty. There is a menu at the
bottom of the screen. There are three ways to provide a message
file name to MsgVu, and MsgVu is asking which of the three ways


7












you want to use. In this lesson we will use the simplest way:
"Filename - Type the name of the file to read."

Press

Enter

to select the "Filename" option.

Now MsgVu asks you for the filename of the message file that
you'd like to work with. We will use a sample file called
sample1.msg.

Type:

sample1.msg [Enter]

MsgVu now builds an index of the messages in the file.


d. Understanding the Screen Formats


i. The Index Screen

The full Index Screen appears again. Each row represents a
single message. Notice that the first row is highlighted. Using
this "highlight bar" you tell MsgVu where to do certain func-
tions.


ii. The Message Reading Screen

Press

[Enter]

to read message 1.

Message 1 appears.

The header of the message is at the top left corner of the
screen.

At the top right of the screen is the "Index Window." This win-
dow shows the index information of the current, preceding, and
following messages, in order to help you keep track of where you
are in the file. Since you are now reading the first message in
the file and there are no preceding messages, the area above the
highlighted bar is blank.



8












Press

Esc

to return to the index.


e. Understanding Navigation Functions


i. The Index Screen

Press

Cursor Down

The highlight bar moves down to message #2.

Press

Cursor Up

The highlight bar returns to message #1.

Press

PgDn

The second page of the index appears. Message #22 is now the top
message on the screen.

Press

PgUp

The beginning of the index appears again.

Press

End

The highlight bar moves to the last message on the screen, mes-
sage #21.

Press

Home

The highlight bar moves to the first message on the screen, mes-
sage #1.

Press

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Ctrl-PgDn

The highlight bar moves to the last message, #60.

Press

Ctrl-PgUp

The highlight bar returns to the first message, #1.


ii. The Message Reading Screen

Within the message reading screen, the up and down arrows have
the same function, that is, to move to the next or previous mes-
sage.

Press

[Enter]

to read message #1 again.

Press

CsrDn

to read message #2.

Press

Esc

to return to the index display.


f. Exiting MsgVu

Press

Esc

to exit MsgVu.









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2. Saving, Deleting, Marking, and Sorting

a. Objectives

Saving Messages

Deleting Messages

Marking Messages

Sorting Messages


b. Saving Messages

Let's practice saving to a file.

Start MsgVu.

Load the file SAMPLE1.MSG as you did before.

Press

F10

On your screen now is a menu asking you which method you want to
use to save the messages.

Press

Enter
temp1.msg [Enter]

The messages in SAMPLE1.MSG have now been written to file
TEMP1.MSG.


c. Deleting Messages

From the index display, cursor down to message #4.
Press

F3

to tell MsgVu that you would like to delete that message.


Now save this file to TEMP2.MSG.

Press

F10

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Enter
temp2.msg [Enter]

The messages are saved to file temp2.msg.

Now load the file back to verify that the messages were deleted.


Press

shift F10
Enter
temp2.msg [Enter]

Notice that message #4, the message you deleted, was not saved.


d. Marking Messages

From the index display, move the cursor to message #2.

Press

F4

to mark the message.

Save to file temp3.msg.

Using Shift-F10, load file temp3.msg. Notice that only message
#2, the message you marked, was saved.


e. Sorting Messages

Load file sample2.msg.

From the index display,

Press

sn

to sort the messages in numerical order.

Let's try another sort order.

Press

ss

To sort the messages in alphabetical order by subject.

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3. Choose From Directory List

This option lets you select the name of the file from a directory
list.

Press

shift-F10
d
*.* [ENTER]

You now see all of the files in the current directory.
Move the cursor to sample1.msg and press Enter. The sample1.msg
file is loaded.


4. The Find Command

Load sample3.msg.

MsgVu's find command will help you find text within messages.

Press

F6

to select the Find option. You see at the top of the screen
"Search for messages with ALL of the following strings:", and the
word "all" will be highlighted.

Press

space

and you will see that it changes to "Any". When "All" is
selected, MsgVu will mark find all messages containing every text
string you enter. When "Any" is selected, MsgVu will find all
messages containing any of the text strings you enter.

Press

Crsr-down

The cursor moves into the next field. This is where you type a
text string to search for.

Press
apple [Enter]
orange [Enter]
[Enter]

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[Enter]


Now you are on the "Ignore case ?" option. Answering yes to this
means that MsgVu will find the text strings regardless of upper
or lower case. For example, let's say you were to search for the
word "To", and you answered yes to the "Ignore case ?" option.
MsgVu would mark the messages that contained "To", "TO", "to",
and "tO". Answering "no" to the "Ignore case ?" question would
result in only messages containing "To" to be marked.

Press

y

and the search begins.

You are now in the index.

Press

PgUp

to move to the top of the index. Notice that there are 2
messages flagged with an "F". One of these messages contains the
text "apple", and the other contains "orange".

Press

F6

to invoke Find again. Change Any to All and press Enter once for
each field. The search begins. You are now back at the index.
Notice that now there are no messages flagged with an "F". This
is because no single message contains both "apple" and "orange".


















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4

MsgVu Command

1. Command Syntax
Here is the syntax of the MSGVU command:

msgvu [infilename] [outfilename/prn]
[/43] [/50] [/a] [/b:n] [/c] [/e] [/fdate:date-
range] [/fto:tostring] [/ffrom:fromstring]
[/fsection:sections] [/h:host] [/i] [/ki:n]
[/ko:n] [/kt:n] [/l] [/n:idxconv] [/p] [/r]
[/s:sorttype] [/t:tostring] [/x] [/y]


2. Command Parameters
All command parameters are optional. If you specify more than
one parameter, separate the parameters by a space.

The command parameters are described as follows:


infilename

specifies the name of the file containing the messages
to be indexed. MsgVu will prompt for the name of an
input file if you don't specify one here.


outfilename/prn

specifies the name of the file into which the processed
messages are to be written, or prn if the messages are
to be directed to the printer. Use outfilename/prn only
if you also provide infilename.


/43

requests MsgVu to run in 43 line mode. An Enhanced
Graphics Adapter or compatible adapter is required to
use this option.


/50

requests MsgVu to run in 50 line mode. A Video
Graphics Array is required to use this option.





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/a

requests MsgVu to run in automatic, non-interactive
mode. In automatic mode, MsgVu performs all processing
without any interaction with you. MsgVu reads the
input file, sorts it if you have specified /s, deletes
duplicate messages if you have specified /c, and writes
the processed messages to the output file if you have
specified outfilename/prn.


/b:n

specifies the maximum number of consecutive blank mes-
sage lines MsgVu is to display. Any consecutive blank
lines over the maximum are suppressed.

Examples: /b:0 suppresses the display of all blank
lines in messages, and /b:2 allows the display of up to
2 consecutive blank lines.


/c

specifies that MsgVu is to delete duplicate messages
(see the section entitled "Deleting Messages" on page
21).


/fdate:daterange

specifies a date range filter (see "Message Filtering"
on page 22). daterange has the syntax YYMMDD:YYMMDD.

Example: /fdate:870101:870131 sets a filter so that
only messages for January 1987 are processed.


/fto:tostring

specifies a message recipient filter (see "Message
Filtering" on page 22). tostring is a string of charac-
ters which may appear in the "To" field of the message
header. If tostring contains spaces, enclose tostring
in quotation marks.

Example: /fto:"John Doe" sets a filter so that only
messages containing "John Doe" in the "To" field are
processed.




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/ffrom:fromstring

specifies a message sender filter (see "Message Filter-
ing" on page 22). fromstring is a string of characters
which may appear in the "From" field of the message
header. If fromstring contains spaces, enclose
fromstring in quotation marks.

Example: /ffrom:Sysop sets a filter so that only mes-
sages containing "Sysop" in the "From" field are pro-
cessed.


/fsection:sections

specifies a section numbers filter (see "Message
Filtering" on page 22). sections has the syntax
n[,n[...,n]].

Example: /fsection:1,4,6 sets a filter so that only
messages in sections 1, 4, and 6 are processed.


/h:host

MsgVu adapts itself to the electronic communications
system you are using by way of a parameter file called
MSGVU.INI. As distributed, this file contains informa-
tion which describes several information and bulletin
board systems. The default host is initially set to
CIS (CompuServe). You may use /h to override the de-
fault host name.

Example: /h:RBBS specifies that the messages to be
processed come from host RBBS.


/i

specifies that when you sort messages by subject, MsgVu
is to ignore the case of the subject. By default,
MsgVu recognizes the case of the subject. If you use
this option, sorting by subject takes longer.


/n:idxconv

specifies the two templates by which MsgVu will derive
the filename extensions for the primary and secondary
index files. The first 3 characters are the template
for the primary index, and the last 3 characters are
the template for the secondary index. The default

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value for this parameter is ??X??Y. To generate the
primary index file name using the default convention,
MsgVu takes the name of the message file and changes
the last character to "X". To generate the secondary
index file name, it changes the last character to a
"Y". For example, the index file names generated for
use with message file SOFTWARE.MSG are SOFTWARE.MSX and
SOFTWARE.MSY.

Example: /n:??1??2 causes the templates ??1 and ??2 to
be used to generate the index file names. The indexes
for message file SOFTWARE.MSG are SOFTWARE.MS1 and

SOFTWARE.MS2.


/ki:n

specifies the size, in kilobytes, of the input file
buffer. This buffer is used to reduce the number of
disk accesses when messages are being read from the
input message file.

Example: /ki:16 specifies that 16 kilobytes are to be
allocated for the input file buffer.


/ko:n

specifies the size, in kilobytes, of the output file
buffer. This buffer is used to reduce the number of
disk accesses when messages are being written to the
output message file.

Example: /ko:16 specifies that 16 kilobytes are to be
allocated for the output file buffer.


/kt:n

specifies the size, in kilobytes, of the buffer for the
text component of the message index (the *.??Y file).
This buffer is used to reduce the number of disk acces-
ses when the text from message headers is being ac-
cessed.

Example: /kt:16 specifies that 16 kilobytes are to be
allocated for the index text component buffer.






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/l

in automatic mode, /l tells MsgVu to split the messages
into one output file for each message section. See the
description of the Split command on page 28.


/p

in automatic mode (/a), controls how messages are writ-
ten when the output file already exists. By default,
MsgVu appends (adds to the end of) output files. If
you specify /p, MsgVu overwrites output files. When you
write over the input file, an overwrite always occurs.
In interactive mode (when you do not specify /a), MsgVu
always prompts you to select overwrite or append when
the output file exists.


/r

specifies that non-alphabetic characters are not to be
stripped from the TO and FROM fields of the message
header when they are displayed on the index display
screen or used for generating user statistics.


/s:sorttype

If you specify both infilename and outfilename, you may
use the automatic sort feature. sorttype is a number
which specifies the type of sort to be performed. It
may be one of the following:

1 - Thread order
2 - Subject order
3 - Subject and number
4 - Section and subject
5 - Section, subject and number
6 - Number
7 - "To" order (the message recipient)
8 - "From" order (the message sender)
9 - Section number order

Example: MSGVU IN OUT /s:1 /a reads messages from file
IN, sorts them into thread sequence, then writes them
to file OUT.






19












/x

disables MsgVu's automatic index saving feature. See
"Saving the Index" on page 25.


/y

causes MsgVu to run without sound.












































20












5

Operating Reference



CHANGE SUBJECT (F5)

Sometimes the subject of a message does not accurately reflect
its contents. You can change a subject to a more meaningful one
with Change Subject.

Position the cursor and invoke Change Subject.

Supply the new subject.

Specify whether you want to change a single message or a
group of messages.

MsgVu changes the subject in the index right away. When you save
the message file, MsgVu changes the subject permanently.



DELETE

The delete commands allow you to delete messages from a message
file. The deleted messages are removed from the message file
when it is saved.


Deleting Messages

The Delete menu allows you to select the Delete One, Delete
Group, Delete Section, Delete Marked, Delete Found, and Delete
Duplicates commands.


Delete One

The Delete One command deletes the message where the cursor is
located. This command may also be invoked directly via F3.


Delete Group

The Delete Group command deletes the group of messages beginning
where the cursor is located.


Delete Section


21













The Delete Section command deletes all messages in the same sec-
tion as the message at the cursor location.


Delete Marked

The Delete Marked command deletes all marked messages.


Delete Found

The Delete Found command deletes all messages found by the last
Find command.


Delete Duplicates

The Delete Duplicates command deletes all messages with duplicate
message numbers.



DOWN GROUP

The Down Group command moves the cursor down by one group. See
also the description of the Up Group command on page 28.



EXIT ('x' OR Esc)

The Exit command, when used from Exiting MsgVu the index display,
terminates MsgVu.



FILTER (F6)

MsgVu allows you to process a subset of the messages currently
indexed, with a feature called Filtering. You specify criteria
which are used to select a subset of messages to process. All
messages not matching the criteria are filtered out, and do not
appear in the index.

You can specify filtering criteria using the Filter command or
the /f command line parameters (see page 16).

When you invoke the Filter command, the filter screen appears.




22












Message Flags

You may specify filters to select messages based on their flag
settings. For example, you may want to see only the marked mes-
sages. Or you might want to exclude the deleted messages. On
the Set Filters screen, initially the flag options are set to
include all messages ("Y"). To cause a filter to exclude a cer-
tain group of messages, change the "Y"to a "N".


Filtering Range

You may specify filters to select messages based on a range of
dates. In the Date Range Start field, enter the starting date in
the format YYMMDD. In the End field, enter the ending date in
the same format.

Sections

You may specify filters to select messages in one section or a
list of sections. In the Section(s) field, enter a section num-
ber, or a list of section numbers separated by commas.

To

You may specify filters to select only messages containing a
certain string of characters in the "Message To" field of the
message header. In the To field, enter a string of characters.
Messages whose "Message To" fields do not contain the string will
be filtered out.

If you want to use To or From strings containing numbers, you
must specify /r on the command line (see page 19) so that MsgVu
will not ignore numbers in the To and From fields of the message
headers.


From

You may specify filters to select only messages containing a
certain string of characters in the "Message From" field of the
message header. In the From field, enter a string of characters.
Messages whose "Message From" fields do not contain the string
will be filtered out.



FIND (F6)





23












The Find command searches for text within messages. When you
invoke the command Find Option you are presented with the find
screen.

The cursor is positioned initially at the word All in the line,
"Search for Messages with All of the Following Strings." Press-
ing the space bar toggles this word between the values "All" and
"Any." When the word is "All", then messages must contain all of
the strings you specify in order to be found. When the word is
"Any", then messages containing any of the specified strings will
be found.

Next enter from one to three strings to search for.

Specify whether MsgVu is to ignore the case of letters while
searching.

When the search is finished, messages in which the search string
was found are flagged with an "F."



HELP (F1)

The help command displays a screen which provides a quick refer-
ence to the commands and keystrokes.





LOAD FILE (Shift-F10)

The Load File command lets you load a file of messages into
MsgVu. When you use the Load File command a menu appears from
which you can select one of the three ways to load a file:
Filename, Table, or Directory.

Filename

The Filename option lets you type in the name of the file.

Table

The Table option selects the next file name from the Filename
Pairs Table. The Filename Pairs Table is a list of input and
output file names which is contained in the MSGVU.INI file.

Directory




24












The Directory option lets you select the input file from a direc-
tory. You may specify a file mask.

Building the Index

After you provide the name of the input file of messages, MsgVu
builds the primary message index. It does this by reading the
messages, and extracting important fields from the headers.
These fields include the message number, the subject, the message
sender, and usually the message recipient.

The Fast Version

The fast version of MsgVu keeps all of the index fields in mem-
ory. This improves performance, but requires more memory.

The Regular Version

The regular version keeps the subject, sender, and recipient in a
disk file. This disk file is known as the secondary index.

Saving the Index

After MsgVu builds the primary index, it saves it to a file on
disk1. MsgVu saves the index so that should you want to work
with the same message file again, MsgVu will not have to build
the index again.




LOCATE ('l' OR Shift-F6)

The Locate menu lets you position the index to the next Marked,
Deleted, Found, or Private message.



MARK ('m')

The Mark commands let you select individual messages or groups of
messages for processing by subsequent options. Mark is currently
used only with Save. If you have marked any messages, then MsgVu
writes only those messages to the output file.

The Mark menu allows you to select the Mark One, Mark Group, Mark
Section, and Mark Found commands.





1Unless you specified the /x command line parameter.

25












Mark One

The Mark One command marks the message where the cursor is lo-
cated. This command may also be invoked directly via F4.

Mark Group

The Mark Group command marks the group of messages beginning
where the cursor is located.


Mark Section

The Mark Section command marks all messages in the same section
as the message at the cursor location.


Mark Found

The Mark Found command marks all messages found by the last Find
command.



PRINT ('p')

You may use Print to print one or more messages on the printer.



READ

The Read function (F9, 'r', or Enter) is used to read a message.
With the cursor on the message you want to read, press one of
these keys. The message is displayed.

To exit Read mode, press Esc, Enter, or 'x'. This returns you to
the index.



RESET FLAGS (Alt-F1)

The Reset Flags command allows you to reset any or all of the
message flags. You can turn off all Marked flags or all Deleted
flags, for example.







26












SAVE FILE (F10)

After you process messages, you may want to save them. Use the
Save command to do this. Enter the name of the output file,
including drive identifier and path specification if desired.
MsgVu writes out the messages in the order in which they current-
ly appear in the index.


Deleted, Marked, and Filtered Messages

MsgVu follows these rules when saving:

Deleted messages are not saved.

If you have marked any messages, MsgVu saves only those
messages.

If you have set filters, then only those messages which
appear in the index are saved.



SAVE INDEX (Ctrl-F10)

The Save Index command allows you to explicitly save the message
index at any time. If you are heavily editing the message file
(Marking, Deleting, Changing Subjects, etc.) you may want to save
the index from time to time to save your changes.



SHELL (Ctrl-F1)

The Shell command allows you to invoke the DOS or OS/2 command
interpreter from within MsgVu. Type EXIT to leave the command
interpreter.



SORT (F2)

The Sort commands sort the messages in a variety of sequences.

Thread Order Sort

The thread order sort is different from the other sorts in that
it does not merely arrange the messages in the order of one or
more of the fields in the message header. Rather, every message
is moved so that it follows the message to which it is a reply
(its "parent").


27















SPLIT

The Split command is used to split a message file into several
file, one for each message section. The split files are of the
form splitnnn, where nnn is the section number.



STATS (Shift-F1)

MsgVu has the ability to generate statistics on the number of
messages per section from and to each user. Use the Stats com-
mand to generate these statistics. The figure below shows a
sample statistics file.

The message file contains messages from and to John Smith and
Pete Jones. The first column of the statistics file contains the
heading for each line, enclosed in quotation marks. The second
column contains the total number of messages in all sections.
Subsequent columns contain the number of messages in each of the
individual sections.



UNDELETE ('D')

The Undelete commands let you undelete messages in several ways.
The Undelete One command may be invoked directly via Shift-F3.



UNMARK ('M')

The Unmark commands let you unmark messages in several ways. The
Unmark One command may be invoked directly via ShiftF4.



UP GROUP


The Up Group command moves the cursor up by one group. See also
the description of the Down Group command on page 22.







28












6

OS/2 Version

1. Features
The OS/2 version of MsgVu offers the following additional fea-
tures:

a. Large Memory
MsgVu takes advantage of memory beyond the 640 kilobytes that DOS
allows. OS/2's virtual storage allows MsgVu to process a large
number of messages. On a machine with 2 megabytes of random
access memory, MsgVu should be able to index over 35,000 messages
at once.

b. Multitasking
MsgVu uses OS/2 multitasking features in order to perform over-
lapped input/output operations which result in faster reading and
writing of message files.

c. Family Application Programming Interface
MsgVu uses a feature of OS/2 known as the Family Application
Programming Interface (FAPI). This feature allows OS/2 programs
to also run under DOS. The MsgVu OS/2 version also runs under
DOS, but can't use Large Memory or Multitasking in that environ-
ment.



























29

































































30












7

Association of Shareware Professionals


Dave Briccetti is a member of the Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP), an organization formed in April 1987 to
strengthen the future of shareware (user-supported software) as
an alternative to commercial software. Its members, all of whom
are programmers who subscribe to a code of ethics, are committed
to the concept of shareware as a method of marketing.


1. Goals

The primary goals of the ASP are:

To inform users about shareware programs and about shareware
as a method of distributing and marketing software;

To encourage broader distribution of shareware through user
groups and disk dealers who agree to identify and explain
the nature of shareware;

To assist members in marketing their software;

To provide a forum through which ASP members may communi-
cate, share ideas, and learn from each other; and

To foster a high degree of professionalism among shareware
authors by setting programming, marketing and support
standards for ASP members to follow.


2. Standards

a. Programming Standards

The program meets the ASP's definition of "shareware" (i.e., it
is not a commercial demo with major features disabled, nor a
time-limited program).

The program has been thoroughly tested by the author and should
not be harmful to other files or hardware if used properly.


b. Documentation Standards

Sufficient documentation is provided to allow the average user to
try all the major functions of the program.



31












Any discussion of the shareware concept and of registration
requirements is done in a professional and positive manner.


c. Support Standards

The member will respond to people who send registration payments,
as promised in the program's documentation. At a minimum, the
member will acknowledge receipt of all payments.

The member will establish a procedure for users to report, and
have acknowledged, matters such as bug reports, and will describe
such means in the documentation accompanying all versions of the
programs. The author will respond to written bug reports from
registered users when the user provides a self-addressed, stamped
envelope.

Known incompatibilities with other software or hardware and major
or unusual program limitations are noted in the documentation
that comes with the shareware (evaluation) program.


3. General

Members will keep the ASP apprised of changes in mailing address;
which shareware programs they have published and are currently
supporting; the current version numbers; and any changes in the
status of their programs.

If a user has a dispute with an ASP member-author, the user may
appeal to the ASP to mediate for arbitration of the dispute.

For more information about the Association of Shareware Profes-
sionals, contact Jim Button, chairman of the board of directors,
at CompuServe 71435,2012.


















32












INDEX

Append 19 LOAD FILE command 24
Association of Shareware Loading a message file 7
Professionals LOCATE command 25
31 MARK command 25
Automatic mode 16, 19 Marking Messages 12
Blank line suppression Memory 29
16 Memory, OS/2 29
Buffer Message flags 23
Input file 18 Message Reading Screen
Output file 18 8, 10
Text component 18 Monochrome 5
Bulletin board systems MSGVU.INI 5, 17
17 Multitasking 29
CHANGE SUBJECT command Navigation Functions 9
21 Non-interactive mode 16
Command Line Options 15 OS/2 1, 2, 5, 29
CompuServe 1, 3, 17 Output file 15
DELETE command 21 Overwrite 19
Deleting Messages 11 Paying for MsgVu 2
Directory of files 13 Performance
Distribution 3 Buffering to improve
DOS 1, 2, 29 18
DOWN GROUP command 22 PRINT command 26
Duplicate messages, de- Printing 15, 26
leting 16 Problem Reporting 3
EGA 2, 15 RBBS 1, 17
Environment 5 READ command 26
EXIT command 22 Registration 2
Exiting MsgVu 10 RESET FLAGS command 26
Fax 3 SAVE FILE command 26
FILTER command 22 SAVE INDEX command 27
Filtering range 23 Saving Messages 11
FIND command 13, 23 Sections 23
From 23 Set command 5
HELP command 24 Shareware 2
Host 17 SHELL command 27
Index SORT command 27
Automatic 20 Sorting 15-17, 19, 27
Building 25 Thread order 27
Display 7 Sorting Messages 12
Saving 25 Sound 20
Screen 8, 9 Split command line param-
Secondary 25 eter 19
Window 8 Starting MsgVu 7
Information systems 17 Statistics 28
Initialization file 5, STATS command 28
17 Subject case 17
Input file 15 Thread 19
Installation 5 To 23
License 2 UNDELETE command 28

33












UNMARK command 28
UP GROUP command 28
VGA 2, 15
Warranty, Disclaimer of
2
















































34