Category : BBS Programs+Doors
Archive   : UNQML32.ZIP
Filename : UNQ32.DOC

Acknowledgements:
-----------------

Mark "Sparky" Herring. If Mark hadn't conceived of and written Qmail,
my name would have to be Nostradamus.

Tony Tortorelli, who asked if there was a way to print the entire
MESSAGES.DAT file. I didn't know that anyone would be interested in
the little filter I had written. Tony also asked for the page-by-page
screen-scroll. Thanks for the bug reports, Tony.

Su Laverty, who mentioned that it would be nice to be able to kill
messages in the REP file, without having to exit the program and run
the reader. For you, Su, an unkill feature also. And thank you for
making me write the code that made the privavy toggle and conference,
thread and addressee change features a trivial modification.

And Paul Waldinger, Sysop of Sound of Music BBS. Without Paul, I
would not have had any place to send this program.

UNQMAIL version 3.2
-------------------

Unless you use Mark's defaults for unpacking your QWK and REP files, you
will need QMAIL.CFG (the one you use with QMail) on the current disk,
and in the current directory. In this case, it is suggested that you
run UNQmail in the same directory as QMail.

Type:

unq32 infile outfile

INFILE is the QMail file (either bbs.QWK or bbs.REP, where bbs is the
code for your bbs [in the case of Sound of Music, it would be
MUSIC.QWK]). The only infiles the program will work with are those
that have .QWK or .REP filetypes. You will get an error message (and
the program will terminate) if you give UNQ any other filetype for the
infile.

OUTFILE is the textfile you want the messages to go to. Use any legal
DOS filename. If a file of that name already exists, IT WILL BE OVER-
WRITTEN.

If you want the output to go to the screen, don't give an outfile
name. The outfile defaults to the console.

To preclude questions of the "UnQmail only needs 19k, and I have 50k
free, but it won't work" variety:
UnQmail (version 3.1) needs 87k (decimal) in which to operate. In
addition, you'll need room for your packing and unpacking programs.
Reason for 87k for such a small program? Stack and heap space.
That means that, since the program knows it needs some RAM space
for its own use, it tells DOS to give it what it needs. The FILE
is small, but the program needs all that work room. Sorry, but
that's the way computers work. It should still, however, run in a
192k machine.

If you are un'Q'ing the file to the screen, the More prompt will
appear at the bottom of the screen at the end of each screenful of a
message, if the message is longer than one screen, and at the end of a
message. The only keys that will work at this point are 'Y', 'y' or
for yes, 'Q' or 'q' for quit and the utility keys, explained
below. 'Q' will neatly (after closing the file, and repacking in the
case of a REP file) exit the program. 'Y' will proceed to the next
message.


Utility Functions:
------------------

PAY ATTENTION! The uses of various keys have been changed at version
3.1 to conform more closely with their use in Qmail. These changes
involve the deletion of 'S', the addition of 'Q' and a change in the
meaning of 'N'.

More will accept other keys in addition to Y, Q or . These
keys, and their functions are:


'A' or 'a':
This will allow you to change the Addressee, or the name in the 'To'
location. Now you can just REply to a message, and change the
addressee later. Be sure you spell the name correctly, or the
addressee won't see the message as personal mail.

This item is limited to 25 characters or less, by PCBoard. If you
type more than 25 characters, the extra ones will be ignored. Look
before you go on to the next message. The only editing keys that will
work are the backspace and the space bar. Use the backspace key to
back up, and the space bar to delete characters at the end of the
line.


'B' or 'b':
This will allow you to back up by 1 message. 'B' must be hit for each
backup. after a backup will advance to the NEXT message
(relative to the one currently on the screen), not the previous one.

'C' or 'c':
This will allow you to change the conference number into which the
message will be posted. The message will then be re-displayed from
the beginning, with the new conference number.

Sorry, but since REP files don't have the CONTROL.DAT file, I don't
provide or accept conference names, only numbers. If you want a list
of conferences, unpack the CONTROL.DAT file in a .QWK file from that
BBS. It lists the conference numbers and names, number first.

'K' or 'k':
This is the 'kill' toggle. If the current message is active, it will
be killed (the same as the kill command in the reader). If the
current message is killed (you will see a 'DELETED MESSAGE' message in
the header), it will be re-activated, or 'unkilled'. After either
function, the current message will be re-displayed from the beginning,
along with its now-current status.

'P' or 'p':
This is the 'privacy' toggle. It will change a public message to a
private message, and vice-versa. The message will then be
re-displayed from the beginning.

'N' or 's':
This will skip to the next message. Handy if the message is a few
screens long, and you're looking for a particular message further on.
This function will work from the middle of a message, or at the end of
one, since I found it too confusing to keep moving my hand from the N
key to the return key.

'T' or 't':
This will allow you to change the Thread, or Subject. Same rules
apply as for the Addressee change.

These utility functions may be repeated on a single message as many
times as you like. Any changes made are saved to the file
immediately.

Commercial Message
------------------
If you like this program, and find it a useful addition to Mark
Herring's Qmail concept, I ask that you encourage me to improve it
further (and become a registered owner) by sending me $5 or $10, or
whatever you think it's worth. Registered owners' suggestions for
improvement will, of course, be implemented first, and the names of
those making those suggestions will be immortalized in the
acknowledgements. (Isn't that worth at least $10?)

Use in a commercial environment REQUIRES the payment of a fee. If a
single copy of the program will be used on a single machine, the fee
is $5 (five USDollars). This includes the use of the program on one
machine in the office and one machine at home, provided that the
program is used on only one machine at a time. For the use of more
than one copy of the program at the same general location (a 'site
license'), contact the author at the below mailing address.

Note to BBS sysops:
-------------------
For keeping this program on your publicly accessable BBS in
downloadable form (and using it, I hope), you are hereby granted the
right to use the program without payment of any fee. This policy will
never be changed. I would, however, like a little note, telling me
that you carry the program on your BBS. If you wish to make any

additional comments, I would appreciate them. (Thanks for the
suggestion, Paul).

My rights:
----------
I retain all rights to this program. You may give it away, but you
can't charge anything for it. Judy Getts retains the right to keep
blasting me about the name of the program, but I still retain all
rights to the name, including, but not limited to, its use on wearing
apparel.

Copies of this program (any version) must be complete. This includes
the .EXE file and this documentation file. The files may be
promulgated as two separate files, or may be arced, packed, or bundled
together in some other, publicly recognized way.

Enjoy

Al Klein
206 Harrison Ave.
Miller Place, NY 11764
USA

or via the Sound of Music BBS at (516) 536-8723

Phone (for registered owners' questions and complaints only):
(516) 744-1985 Mon-Fri 7PM-9PM Eastern time.

I can also be reached via packet radio at W2PMX @W2PMX.

Revision History (OK. I screwed up a few times)
================================================

8/25/88 I can now read my REP files without using a disk sector
editor. That way I can tell if I want to add or kill a
reply, whether it's in the right conference, etc. Handy.

9/13/88 Someone wants to do basically the same thing to the messages
in the QWK file as I'm doing with REP. A few hours to add
the additional format for the DAT header, add the header
lines to the output and allow output to a file, and I'm done
with UNQMAIL.

9/14/88 Uh-oh. Bugs. (In my software? Never! Oh, hello, Mr.
Murphy.) Some files have a little extra on the end, and that
confuses the program. Fix it up. Also, some of the output
statements go to the screen, even when they should go to the
output file. No problem. UNQMAIL1.

9/15/88 Big problem, dummy. You don't write software on a RAMdisk
without saving it to physical media. Sorry, people. I'll
have to reinvent the fixes, since there is another bug.
Weekend work.

9/16/88 Who can wait for the weekend?
Time to put in some things that were suggested:
The message header stays at the top of the screen even if the
message is longer than 1 screen.
There is a 'More' function every screenful.
If the Qmail file is a REP file, MORE allows you to Kill or
Unkill a message.
Also how about a little name change? There's only room for
one digit in UNQMAIL. So is born UNQML.

9/17/88 I waited for the weekend. Since there have been some
complaints about not being able to change the conference into
which a reply goes (you can change conferences and (E)nter a
message), I modified the kill function to change the kill
status or the conference number. Now, let's not see any more
messages sent to the wrong conferences.

9/19/88 I can't believe I added the conference change and didn't
think to add a method to toggle the public-private status.
Well, it's in there now (just like the spaghetti sauce).
I did it again? OK. A skip function and no version number
change.

9/25/88 OK, Mark. The program now works from unpacked QWK and REP
files. You really want to make me sweat, don't you?

9/29/88 Well, it NOW works from QWK and REP files. It seems as if
Mr. Murphy was here again. (Version 2.3)

10/2/80 Seems as if people still insist upon changing the subject of
a message without changing the thread. Now, UnQmail allows
you to change the thread. And, in case you really wanted the
reply to go to the addressee of the original message, and not
the sender, UnQmail allows you to change the addressee.
New feature: Now you can back up in the message base. Just
hit 'B' at the end-of-message More prompt.
Looks like there's nothing left to change. Oh, and one more
bug fix (if you never hit the bug, I ain't going to tell you
what it was). (Version 3.0).

10/3/88 Nothing big, this time. Just an internal change. UnQmail now
scans the whole file first, so the backup function works
faster. That also allows backup from either More prompt. And
the current message remains the current message after A, C, K,
P and T operations. 3.0 went to the next message. Also a
change in the meanings of some of the command letters.
(Version 3.1).

10/7/88 Monumental goof in version 3.1. (You think I'm going to tell
you how stupid I am?) Thanks for being so patient with me,
Tony. (Version 3.2).