@(#)tool_help (c) copyright 10/18/86 (Dan Heller) %general% IF ALL ELSE FAILS, READ THE DIRECTIONS! This famous quote applies here more than ever. If you are unfamiliar with Mushview, you should get yourself acquainted with it by choosing HELP options in menu items. If you get frustrated or confused about how to use or run a command, or if you want to know how something works or get to know quick shortcuts in achieving tasks, it is advisable to look at the Help option available with some items. %% %help% Help was designed for users to get help from all commands and options. The last item in many menus is a "help" choice. You will get an appropriate help message describing what you can do at the position you are in on the Mushview window. If a help message isn't much help, it may be more helpful to reference a different help item which describes in more detail what you want to know. For example, reading the help for "folder" will help you better understand the method in which mail messages are stored than it would if you had read the help message for "save" first. %% %mouse% The mouse is an image (cursor) which moves across the screen. Its position indicates which window is to receive input when you type or click a mouse button. The mouse may take upon different images which indicate various things. When the image looks like a "coffee cup", Mushview is in the process of doing something, like sending mail, or reading in new mail. In this event, you should wait till the cursor returns to its normal state before attempting to do anything else. Go get some coffee. When in the Header Window, the cursor will look like the mouse device that you hold with the buttons flashing on and off. This is to remind you that you can use each button to do different tasks. Using the RIGHT mouse button gives you a menu of options to do for the message under the mouse. %% %respond% This item responds to mail in 4 ways. In all cases, at least one recipient of your message will be the sender of the message you are responding to. If a subject was in the author's letter, then it will be used as your subject. The first and most used method of response is to the author of the message only. Selecting this item with the LEFT mouse button will use this method for responding to mail. If you want to include a copy of the author's message, then choose the menu item which says to include the message. If you wish for all the recipients of the message to receive a copy of your reply, then choosing the third item will include them. The fourth menu item will mail to the author and everyone listed on the To and Cc lines of the message, and include the message you are responding to in your text. In such cases where you include the message you are responding to, the included message will be indented by "> " to identify it from your message. If you would like to have a string other than the default used, then set the appropriate option to whatever you would prefer by selecting the "Opts" item, moving the mouse on top of the string, "indent-str", selecting the LEFT mouse button and typing the desired string. %% %delete% You may delete or undelete messages with this item. When using the LEFT mouse button, you will delete the current message (HIGHLIGHTED in the headers' window). Otherwise, you may select the menu item for undelete. You may delete or undelete a "range" of messages by typing the range in the Header Window. For help on valid message ranges, select the menu in the area marked "range" in the Header Panel Window. %% %folder% Your "folder" is a place to keep all your individual messages. Usually, if you are a heavy mail user, you would organize your mail in such a way in which related mail would be saved together in one folder. You create folders simply by saving mail to a filename. Additional mail can be saved to those files in the same way. To manipulate messages in folders, you "change folders" to the folder you wish to access using the folder item. Since it may occur that you switch back and forth between two folders, you may use the previous folder menu item which updates changes made to the current folder and changes your folder to the one previous to the current. You may also select the exact name of the folder you wish to access by selecting the left mouse button on the "folder" item and TYPING the exact name of the folder you wish to access. The "pathname" to the folder may start with a tilde (~) indicating your home directory. Or, it may contain a plus sign before the name indicating your Mail directory (+reports, for example). Alternatively, you can type '%' to access your system Mailbox, the place where all your mail is first delivered. And finally, you can type '#' to indicate the previously accessed folder. %% %save% You may save messages in two ways. The most commonly used method is to save messages to your mailbox folder ("mbox") in your home directory. If you use mail very frequently and save large amounts of mail, you can save messages to other folders for better organization. Usually, when messages are saved, mushtool marks them for deletion for the next update. If you don't want to have saved messages deleted, you must undelete them or set the variable "keepsave" in the options screen. There is a text item in the Main Panel Window which allows you to type the name of the file to save a message. Type the filename and then select the LEFT mouse button over the "Save" item. If there is no filename specified, then messages are saved to your mbox file. You may also choose a folder name by selecting the RIGHT mouse button over the "Save" item and choosing from the menu of files displayed. You can specify a range, or group of messages to save by typing a range in the Header Panel Window. If there is a message list in that panel item, then the range of messages specified there will be saved. If not, the current message will be saved. For additional information, see the help option for Folders. %% %quit% There are various ways in which you may be finished with Mushview. The most commonly used method is to simply "close" the tool to an iconic form. This means that you haven't really quit, but you have merely put it on "hold" till later. It will become an icon on the side or corner of the screen and appear to sit and do nothing. To close the tool to icon form, there are two methods which have will have two different effects. The first method is to select this panel item with the left mouse button. This will update your current folder (deleting messages marked for deletion) and close the tool. The second method is to use the tool manager around the perimeter of the window and select "close". This will close the tool without updating your mailfile. Whenever Mushview is in the "closed" state, it periodically checks your mail and updates your folder with the new mail. While Mushview is in iconic form, it will display the number of messages you have in the current folder. There are two equally similar methods of exiting Mushview, rather than just closing to an icon: you may select the second menu item in the menu given by this panel item or you may use the tool mana- ger "quit" item. Using the tool manager's quit will exit the tool without updating your folder whereas the panel item's menu selection will have the Mushview prompt you whether to update the current folder or not. %% %update% This item will update the current folder you are using. Changes are updated to the folder; that is, deleted mail is removed and all other mail is copied back to the folder unless otherwise specified. See the help in "folder" for more information on folders. If new mail has arrived, it will incorporate it. Otherwise, new mail is incorporated every two minutes or so, if some comes in. %% %headers% The message headers are displayed in their own separate window. The "current" message is usually displayed in either BOLD or REVERSE text. This "highlighted" message is the one which is displayed at the bottom, larger window. In the message window, each message is displayed in the following format: the message number is displayed first; if it is the "current" message, then there is a '>' sign. The next character is the 'status' character: 'N' -- New (and unread) 'U' -- not new, but still Unread '*' -- delete messages (set show_deleted) 'P' -- preserve in spoolfile. 'O' -- Old message which has also been Read. If there is just a space (no character), the message is new, but you've already read it. You should explicitly save or delete these. Following that is the Author of the message and/or all or part of his network address and login name. Following that is the number of lines the message is. In quotes is all or part of the "Subject" (if one was specified). To read a message, select either the READ item in the main panel subwindow or move the mouse over the message header you want to read and press the LEFT mouse button. Or, the MIDDLE mouse button will delete that message. Choosing the RIGHT mouse button will give you a menu of things to do then. Included in the menu, is a help item which describes the selections in the menu. %% %Menu Read% When pointing at a message header in the header subwindow, hold down the RIGHT mouse button and select "Read" from the menu. A new window will open containing the text of the message. In this way, you can display more than one message at a time. This operation sometimes fails on SunOS 3.5 systems due to limitations on the number of windows Mush can open at once. When all the available windows are in use, the selected message is displayed in the message subwindow at the bottom of the main window. %% %preserve% Usually, after you read mail and you "update" or quit Mushview, unread messages are copied back into your system mailbox, deleted messages are removed, and messages which have been read but not deleted are saved in your "mbox" file. Specifying "hold" prevents this from ever happening, but you can mark specific messages to be held in your system mailbox by preserving them. %% %compose% When you start to compose a letter for mailing, you will be prompted for a recipient (To:) and other optional mail headers. The cursor for the text subwindow will look like a bent arrow to indicate that when you hit RETURN, the cursor will automatically forward to the next header (the Subject: line, for example). When the cursor resumes its original shape, the RETURN key enters new lines as normal. There must be a recipient specified in order to send a message. The recipient may be a user or a file or program name. %% %next% You can page through all your messages by selecting "Next" after reading each message. The same effect is gotten when you select the "Delete" item when the option, "autoprint" is set to be true (see "opts") except that the current message is deleted before the next one is displayed. Deleting mail which is not important helps the efficiency of Mushview and reduces unnecessary use of system resources. In the Header Window, you will notice the cursor looks like the mouse you use. The blinking buttons on the mouse image remind you that you can use any of the three buttons at any time. When you move the mouse over a message and choose a button, the message under the mouse is going to be the one affected. Choosing left button will read the message, the middle button will delete it, and the right button will give you a menu. %% %aliases% Aliases are used as a method of mailing to users with long addresses using short names. For example, if you wanted to mail to argv@sun.com but didn't want to type that all the time, then you could make an alias by selecting the alias menu item that specifies "adding alias" and then TYPE: Dan argv@sun.com If you want to mail to a list of people and do so frequently enough to want an alias name for the whole list, then you would type something like this: project-group fred mary bob@foo-bar herb sly@baz.bitnet To mail to an "alias" you would compose a letter and address the letter: To: Dan Subject: Alias example Cc: project-group (rest of letter) %% %alts% "Alternates" are alternate names for YOU. In messages you receive, your account will appear on the "To" or "Cc" list. When you REPLY to those messages, Mushview will construct a message header for your letter which will contain the To and Cc lists of recipients from the original message. You would probably want your name taken off the list so you do not mail yourself a copy of your own message. If you have other account names or accounts on other machines, you can let Mushview know what those mail addresses are so they can be removed from the lists as well. Note, that if YOU add your name MANUALLY (type it yourself) to either of the lists, it will not be removed. You can set such a list in your .mailrc file in your home directory by adding the line: alts hostname1 hostname2 ... If you prefer to not have your name removed from lists when responding to mail, set the option "metoo"; this prevents the need for alternates and your name will never be removed. %% %options% To set or unset options and their values, move the mouse over the option of your choice and select the LEFT button to toggle true/false values. If an option requires a string value, you must type the value, so select the LEFT button to reference the option, and then type away. NOTE: You must use a Carriage Return to enter the final value for the option or the value will not change. %% %ignore% When reading mail, the message "headers" may clutter up the window with information you are not interested in. For example, you may not be interested in the "Received" or "Message-Id" field of the mail message. You would find that in time, it will become annoying to see these uninteresting message headers. You can specify which message headers should not be shown, thus shortening the appearance of the length of the message. Typical settings: Received Message-Id Status %% %printer% This item will send the current message, or the message specified on the range item, to the printer. The printer used is given by the variable $printer. To specify a different printer, change the printer option by selecting the item "Options" in the Main Panel Window, moving the mouse over the "printer" option, selecting the LEFT mouse button and typing the name of the printer which you'd like to use. Be sure to set this option before printing because the DEFAULT option may not be what you want. You can print messages that are NOT the current message by moving the mouse into the Header Window and selecting the RIGHT mouse button on top of the message you want to print and selecting the PRINT menu option. %% %windows% "Windows" are the boxes which contain items, text, or graphic images. There are two "panel" windows. A panel window is one which contains items, which are the little boxes with words that you can place the mouse over and click the left or mouse button. Each window has a separate function for different purposes. Starting at the top of the main "tool" (contains all windows) we have the "header panel." Everything in this panel pertains to the message headers, only. The panel in the middle of the tool is the "mail panel" which is more general and applies to just about everything. For a description of each of the items within any panel, select the "Help" option from the menu you get by selecting the RIGHT mouse button. %% %message range% You can specify a large group of messages using a combination of special symbols in addition to numbers. For example, if you wish to save all of the messages, then you can use `*' to represent them all. If you were to type the "star" and select the Save menu option for "save range", then you would save ALL the messages you have (including deleted ones). If you would like to save messages 4 through 9, then you would specify: 4-9 If you want to specify the messages between 2 and 32 except for messages 6, 8 and message 12-14, you would type: 2-32 {6,8,12-14} Commas or spaces can be used to separate numbers. Note that you cannot specify negated messages without first specifying normal messages; e.g. {2-5} 1-11 doesn't make sense. %% %sort% Sorting messages can be accomplished by selecting one of the menu items in this panel item. By default (using the LEFT mouse button), sorting is done by message status. New messages are first, followed by unread messages, old/read messages, replied to messages, and finally deleted messages. You may also sort messages by author, date, or subject by selecting the menu item. %% %include% To include a message in your letter, first enter the number of the message you wish to include in the Range: item of the main mush frame. Then select Include from the composition window panel by pressing the LEFT mouse button. If you do not specify a message in the Range: item, the current message will be included. To forward a message, choose the message to be forwarded as above, use the RIGHT mouse button on the Include item and select Forward Message from the menu. %% %mark% Marks can be used to tag messages for later reference. They are temporary and will not be saved when the folder is updated. A priority setting beteween A and E may also be set on message(s). Priorities are saved across updated folders. Sorting by marks and priorities is also available (marks having highest priority, followed by A, B, etc.). Marks are set on the current message only while priorities are set (or unset) on the message list specified in the Range: text field. Messages may have both a temporary mark and a priority, but may not have more than one priority. The presence of a mark or a priority setting is shown by a `+' character immediately following the message number in the "headers" command display. %% %close% There are various ways in which you may be finished with the compose window. The most commonly used method is to simply "close" the window to an iconic form. This means that you haven't really quit, but you have merely put it on "hold" till later. It will become an icon on the side or corner of the screen and appear to sit and do nothing. To close the window to icon form, there are two methods. Both methods will have the same effect. The first method is to select this panel item with the left mouse button. The second method is to use the tool manager around the perimeter of the window and select "close". There are two equally similar methods of removing the compose win- dow rather than just closing to an icon: you may select the second menu item in the menu given by this panel item or you may use the tool manager "quit" item. %%