Offline 1.53 by Marius Mortensen -------------------------------- Contents: ========= 1. Legal stuff. 2. What is Offline? 3 What do you need to use Offline. 4. So how does this work? 5. Setting up Offline properly. 6. Offline's menus and what they mean: 7. Setting the preferences. 8. Events. 9. Modes 10. The Full Screen Editor. 11. Scripts. 12. Reliablilty and bugs. 13. Thanks 14. How to get in touch with me. 1. First, the legal stuff... ============================ - Offline is © Copyright Marius Mortensen - Reqtools.library is © Copyright Nico François - The MBBS Full Sceen Editor is based on Pascal-source that is © Mike Robertson. - The scripts distributed with this Offline release are © Eivind Nordseth. Offline is Giftware, which means that if you use it and feel that it is worth a few kr./$/£, there is always room for more at Norwegian Bank Account #6075.66.00322 or you can send me a postal order or something. I've put quite a few hours' work into this program, and further development depends on you users. If the response is low, I'll just drop this project. The next version _will_ be shareware/only for registred users. I may release bugfixes to this version, though. Offline is freely distributable, but only in the original package, containing: Offline/ Offline - Offline itself Offline.doc - This text Offline.guide - Documentation in AmigaGuide format. README - Important last-minute information Forandringer.doc - History of changes in Offline. Scripts.doc - Information about the scripts GrabIcon - The icon Offline uses for the grabfiles Scriptbits.txt - The info Offline uses to create events in the scripts. MBBS-NoNewfiles.script - Default script for MBBS, doesn't collect list of new files. MBBS-Newfiles.script - Default script for MBBS, collects list of new files. ABBS-NoNewfiles.script - Default script for ABBS, doesn't collect list of new files. ABBS-Newfiles.script - Default script for ABBS, collects list of new files. Reqtools/ - Reqtools library - run the install inside if you don't have reqtools 2.1d installed on your system. FSEPGPScr.lha - Scripts for automatic crypting/decrypting of PGP messages. 2. So - what is Offline? ======================== Offline is a Mailreader, oriented towards the MBBS and ABBS bulletin board systems. The reason why it only supports these, are: (1) they are, by far, the most used systems in Norway, (2) by narrowing down the number of systems to support, the program is able to correct or prevent the user's mistakes and provide a better user-interface. I think using Offline with the BBBS-system, an MBBS-clone developed in Finland, is possible by changing the scripts and using "BBBS2MBBS", a program that converts the grabfile into a more MBBS-like format. 3. What you need to run Offline: ================================ - The Comm-program Ncomm. The scripts supplied with this distribution uses commands in NComm's script-language that were intruduced in Ncomm 2.0. There are no reasons why an earlier version could not be used, except the scripts - with other scripts it's just plug'n'play. This also concerns other Comm-programs, I encourage people who make scripts for use by Offline on other programs to release them to the public - just send me a copy, please. - An Amiga with 1 MB or more ram. Offline loads the entire grabfile into ram for greater speed, and thus, requires some room if the grab is large. - Reqtools library. Offline will run without this, but some functions will be disabled or not function exactly as stated in the docs. This Offline-release also contains reqtools.library 2.1d so there really is no good excuse for not using it. 4. So how does this work? ========================= Instead of logging on normally to a BBS, you log in with a script. This script collects all new messages since your last logon and download them to you in a packed file. Then it executes your orders, like replying messages, entering messages, downloading files or uploading. If you want, the script can also collect a list of new files since your last logon. Depending on your setup, the script will either log out from the BBS directly, or leave you at the command-prompt. When you feel like it, you just start Offline. It'll unpack all the grabfiles from the BBS'es you've been to and let you make orders for the script to perform on your next logon. 5. Setting up Offline properly. =============================== Just move the Offline drawer to where you want Offline to reside. Now, start Offline. A window should pop up, asking you for Offline's root-dir, Ncomm's dl-dir and its ul-dir. The root-dir... is where you want the base of the grab-dirs to be located Normally this is the offline-dir you've just created. For example, if you moved the Offline-drawer to your work: partition, the root dir is "work:offline/". It is important that this is specified with FULL path. All BBSes where you want to use Offline, will have their own directory in this area. These dirs must have the same name as the grabfile from this BBS. If you want to make a dir for a BBS which calls its grabs "MEDIA.zip", you make a directory called MEDIA. Ncomm's dl-dir... is where Transfer-default directory-download is set to in Ncomm. NComm's ul-dir... the default upload-directory in which NComm searches for files to be uploaded. If you are a first-time user of Offline (this also goes for those of you who've previously used Offline 1.322), a requester will pop up asking you for the name of a grabfile. This is the so called "Install BBS" procedure. You will need at least one BBS-directory for Offline to function. (There isn't much to do with an Offliner without any message to read, is there?)' If you fill out the name correctly, a requester will ask you which script you want to use on this BBS - see the script-section for more info. Now, select the grabdir in the next requester and continue with the setup for the BBS. 6. Setting up the comm-program and the BBS. =========================================== These instructions regard setting up NComm, other comm-programs may differ. Open NComm's phonebook and select edit on the BBS in question, fill in the entire path to the main.script that resides in the BBS-dir handled by Offline. Example: You've set Offline's root dir to "work:grabs", and if the BBS you're editing calls its grabfile "HOLYCOWS", the full path would be: 'work:grabs/HOLYCOWS/main.script' Also fill in your password on this BBS and set charset to ISO on ABBS'es and IBN on MBBS (note, 'IBN', not 'IBM'). The scripts only work with the BBS set up as follows: (The command-sequence as English commands in parantheses) - Set the scratchpad-format to the packing-method you prefer. ("U AF") - Set the Transfer protocol. ("U T") - Turn the Full Screen Editor ON. ("U MODE") - Select readmode as "read by reference" ("R MODE") - Select Expert or higher ("X E") This will speed-up the script a bit. 7. Offline's Menus and what they mean: ====================================== Project: -------- - About : Shortcut : Amiga-A Guess you can figure this one out for yourself. - Install BBS : No shortcut. Pops up a requester, asking for the name of the grabfile of the BBS on which you want to use Offline. If the name is valid and you don't cancel the requester, a directory is created with this name in Offline's root-directory. You're then asked for which script you want to use at this BBS and this is copied into the grab-dir as main.script. **** NOTE! **** Offline has to process a script before it can be used on a BBS. It is a good habit, always selecting 'Other BBS' and choosing the new BBS. Then you also have the oppurtunity of setting up Offline's preferences as you want on the new BBS. - Change Script : No shortcut. Lets you change the script used for the BBS Offline has as current. - Other BBS : Shortcut : 'o' Quits this BBS and request you to select another. If this item is selected while in autoscan-mode, Offline will not quit autoscan, but rather let you interrupt it with another BBS-selection. - Quit/Next : Shortcut : 'q' Generates the script for the comm-program to execute. If in autoscan-mode, attempts to find more new grabs from the dl- dir, then quits. If not in autoscan, simply quits Offline. - Abort : Shortcut : 'Q' Generates the script for the comm-program to execute, then quits. Events: ------- (See 'Events' for more detailed info). - Reply Msg : Shortcut : 'r' Reply message on screen. - Enter Msg : Shortcut : 'e' Enter a message. - Join Conference : Shortcut : 'j' Join a conference. - Resign Conference : Shortcut : 'x' Resign subscription of a conference. - Download file : Shortcut : 'd' Download a file from this BBS. - Upload file : Shortcut : 'u' Upload a file to this BBS. - Get Conferencelist: Shortcut : 'g' Collect a conference-list for Offline the next time you log on to this BBS. Actions: -------- - Append Msg... : Shortcut : 'a' Append the message currently on screen to a file. (Save message). - Find Text : Shortcut : 'f' and 'F' Search in the grabfile for a text-string. Move: ----- - First Msg : Shortcut : '<' Will display the first message in the grabfile, if any. - Next Msg : Shortcut : Arrow-Right Displays the next message in the grab. - Next Thread : Shortcut : 'y' Will attempt to find the next "thread" in the grabfile. This search is based on the information A/MBBS leaves in the grabfile, and will only be present if the grab was performed in Read-Ref-mode on the BBS. - Next Conference : Shortcut : 'n' Shows the first message in the next conference, if any more conferences exist in the grabfile. - Previous Msg : Shortcut : Arrow-Left Displays the previous message in the grab. - Previous Thread : Shortcut : 't' Will attempt to find the previous "thread" in the grabfile. This search is based on the information A/MBBS leaves in the grabfile, and will only be present if the grab was performed in Read-Ref-mode on the BBS. - Previous Conf. : Shortcut : 'b' Shows the last message in the previous conference, if any more conferences exist earlier in the grabfile. - Last read Msg : Shortcut : '>' Will display the last message you've read in the grabfile. Modes: ------ (See 'Modes' for more detailed info.) - View Conferences : Shortcut : 'c' Displays 'conferences.txt' if you've collected a conference-list from this BBS. - View New files : Shortcut : 'v' Shows the file 'newfiles.txt' if the script has collected a list of new files since your last login at the A/MBBS. - View Script Msgs : Shortcut : 'm' Shows 'Scriptmsg.txt', which is a file the script generates with error messages (if anything goes wrong in the online-session). - Edit Events : Shortcut : 'l' Lets you edit messages in events, delete events, change subject of events and change the private-status of messages. - Edit Tags : Shortcut : Amiga-T Lets you edit the tag-lines (cookies) for a BBS or globally. Global tags are placed in Offline's root dir, while BBS-specific tags are put in the BBS' directory. Both are called: 'Offline.tags' - Help : Shortcut : HELP Shows the Help-screens. Setup: ------ (See 'Setting the preferences' for more detailed info.) - Paths : Shortcut : Amiga-P Displays a requester, permitting you to change Offline's root- dir, Ncomm's dl- and ul-dirs. - Names : Shortcut : Amiga-N Lets you change your global-name, your name on this BBS and your alias. - Signatures : Shortcut : 's' Allows setting of global- BBS- and conference-signatures. - UnPacking : Shortcut : Amiga-U Requests the commands Offline is to execute to unpack arc, lzh/lha, zip and arj files with grabs from BBS'es. - Colour Quote : No Shortcut. Enables/disables printing of quoted lines with different colour than normal lines. - 4-Colour : No Shortcut. Switch between 2 and 4 colour-screen. Disabled if reqtools library 2.1 is present. - Interlace : No Shortcut. Switch for interlaced screen. Disabled if Offline is running under 2.0 or newer. - Create Icons : No Shortcut. Decides whether Offline is to create icons for theBBS-dirs and grabfiles. - Interactive : No Shortcut. Toggles interactive mode on or off. This decides whether you want the script to log off after execution, or not. - Tags : No Shortcut. Enables the automatic addition of a random-tag for your messages on this BBS. - Screenmode : Shortcut : Amiga-S Pops up a requester, asking you what screenmode you'd like Offline to open it's screen in. Only active if Reqtools library 2.1 or newer is available in the system. - Font : Shortcut : Amiga-F Requests which font you want for Offline. Note that Offline only supports Fixed-Width-fonts. Only Selectable if Reqtools library is available. - Palette : No shortcut. Pops up a palette requester. Only Selectable if Reqtools library is available. 7. Setting the preferences. =========================== This section concerns the options in the Setup-menu. Paths ----- Offline's root dir: The path to the dir containing the BBS-dirs, scriptbits.txt and the standard-scripts NComm dl dir : Where Downloads from NComm (or another comm-program), turn up. NComm ul dir : Where NComm expects to find files for upload. Names ----- Global username : The name you use, generally, on BBS'es. BBS username : If you use another name on this particular BBS. Alias on this BBS : Only active if you're in a conference with alias allowed. (Used for blinking the screen on messages for you). Signatures ---------- Offline has the ability to append you signature to the end of your messages. This signature may be spesific for a conference, an entire BBS, or you may use a global signature. To edit signatures, use the 's' command. Offline will first try to use the conference-signature if it exists - if not, it will use the BBS-signature and so-on. UnPacking --------- The commands Offline are to execute on packed files. You only have to fill out those you want to use. Here are some examples: .arc unarc : c:pkax -r .lzh/.lha unarc : c:lha -m -x0 x .zip unarc : c:unzip -xo .arj unarc : c:unarj e It is important that you turn off any queries from the packing programs. Editor ------ Internal Editor : Switch for whether you want to use the FSE or an external editor (such as ed or Ced). Editor : The full path of the external editor, if any. FSE Width : The width you want the Full Screen Editor to open in if 0, Offline will attempt to guess, which is not always a successful project :-) MBBS uses messages with a width of 72 chars. ABBS uses messages with a width of 77 chars. FSE MaxLength : The max length of a message entered in the FSE. zero defaults to 300 lines. This setting does not affect the Tag-Editor. WBToFront : Used for external editor if this opens on the WB-screen (Ed or TxEd for example). CutHeader : Decides whether Offline is to cut the header off messages before feeding them to the editor - should normally be on. Quote : If you want Offline to insert a '>' in front of all lines imported into the editor, set this on. Colour Quote ------------ This one is only useful if you run Offline in 4-colour mode. When on, this will change the colour of lines which are "qouted", like: >Hey! I didn't write this! or: RM | Roger Moore wrote this... The reason why I've made this selectable on/off, is that Offline sometimes misjudges a message. BBS-ads with lots of fancy drawings tend to be taken as quotes (but who cares :-)) 4-Colour -------- Only activated if you run Offline without reqtools.library present. Switches between 2- and 4-colour-mode. Interlace --------- Only active if under 1.3. Turns Interlaced screen on/off. Create Icons ------------ If this is turned on (default), Offline will attempt to create icons for the BBS-dir and grabfile when you use 'Install BBS'. Interactive ----------- Set this if you don't want the script to log off after doing it's work on the BBS. Tags ---- Do you want a random-cookie at the end of every message? Set this on and supply a tag-file. Screenmode ---------- Lets you set what screenmode the Offline-screen is to open in. This choice is only enabled if you're both running under release 2 or higher, and have reqtools.library 2.1 or newer in the libs:-dir. Font ---- Pops up a font-requester. Note that Too large a font will make the FSE reduce its width. (And generally look like s*it). Palette ------- Displays a palette-requester from reqtools.library. 8. Events. ========== Press HELP for information on the commands. Here are the commands along with their equivalents in MBBS/ABBS: Offline | Comment | Norwegian MBBS| English MBBS --------+--------------------------------+---------------+------------------- x | Resign from conference | UTMelding | RESign j | Join a conference | Join | Join r | Reply an existing message | Les SVar | REply e | Write a new message | SKriv | Enter d | Send file to you | Fil Download | File Download u | Put a file on the BBS | Fil UPload | File UPload (UP) v | List new files since last logon| Fil Nye filer | File New f | Search for text in messages | Søk Merkede | Search Marked <- | Previous message | - | - -> | Next message | + | + n | Skip to next conference | | Mark Reset y | Skip to next subject | | Mark U c | Show list of all conferences | VIs konf.liste| SH (A) (If you have collected a list) Enter Message ------------- Lets you write a message on the BBS. If a conferences.txt has been collected, it will not permit you to do everything: - If Offline can't find the conference you're specifying, the screen will flash when you press from the conference-string. This is meant as a warning. If you KNOW that there really exist such a conference, press 'g' to get an updated conference-list the next time you log on. - Private is not allowed in all conferences, Offline senses this. - Messages to ALL cannot be private. - It's impossible to specify a recipient in an alias-conference. - Refuses if this is a Read-only conference. Reply Message ------------- Reply the current message in Offline, or move your reply to another conference/user. - If Offline can't find the conference you're specifying, the scrren will flash when you press from the conference-string. This is meant as a warning. If you KNOW that there really exist such a conference, press 'g' to get an updated conference-list the next time you log on. - Private is not allowed in all conferences, Offline senses this. - Messages to ALL cannot be private. - It's impossible to specify a recipient in an alias-conference, except if you reply a message, of course. - Refuses if this is a Read-only conference. - It is impossible to reply a private message in public. Join Conference --------------- Joins (subscribes) a new conference. - Will warn if it can't find any info. about the conf. Resign Conference ----------------- Resigns (unsubscribes) a conference. - Will warn if it can't find any info. about the conf. - Refuses if the conference is Obligatory. Download file ------------- The script will attempt to download this file on the next visit. - Is pre-initialised if current message is a fileinfo. Upload file ----------- Upload a file to the BBS at your next call. Note that the file must be located in NComm's ul-dir. The 'Set...' gadget will pop up a requester asking you for a file - if the file has a comment (filenote), this will be inserted as the description. *** REMEMBER *** Filenames on MBBS cannot be longer than 8 chars + a period + three chars. On ABBS filenames are only restricted by a maximum length of 16 chars. 9. Modes. ========= Offline have several "sub modes", except the message reading: View New files ('v') -------------------- Shows 'newfiles.txt' if it is there. The following keys are active: ESC - Aborts and returns to normal message reading. 'd' - Download file. Any other scrolls the display or exits. Show conferencelist ('c') ------------------------- Shows 'conferences.txt' if it is there. The following keys are active: ESC - Aborts and returns to normal message reading. 'e' - Enter message. 'j' - join conference. 'x' - Resign conference. Any other scrolls the display or exits. Show messages from script ('m') ------------------------------- Shows 'Scriptmsg.txt' if it is there. This is a file, written by the script if anything goes wrong. The following keys are active: ESC - Aborts and returns to normal message reading. Any other scrolls the display or exits. Edit Events ('l') ----------------- Only possible if there are any events. Shows all events and lets you edit them with these keys: Cursor Up - Select previous event. Cursor Down - Select next event. 'e' - Edit message (reply, enter and upload description). 's' - Change subject. 'p' - Toggle Private-status of message, if possible. 'd' or Backspace - Remove event. HELP - Shows a Help-screen. Space - Exits Edit Tags (Amiga-T) ------------------- Lets you edit your cookies, global or BBS-specific. The global tags are placed in Offline's root-dir in a file called 'Offline.tags', and the BBS-specific are in the BBS' dir with the same name. Tags are separated by linefeeds, thus permitting one tag per line. A tag-file ought to contain quite a number of tags - the random-routine used for choosing one won't work properly with small tag-files. (less than, say, 30 tags or so.) Help ---- Shows the Help-screen. Any key to exit. 10. The Full Screen Editor ========================== As stated earlier - The FSE is based on Pascal-source from Mike 'MBBS' Robertson and converted to Amiga-assembler. The FSE is pretty self-explanatory (especially if you're used to using A/MBBS). I'll just comment on sone peculiarities. CTRL/Y - Deletes the line the cursor is on. Up to 30 lines are remembered and can be inserted with... CTRL/B - ... CTRL/W - Inserts the last line removed with CTRL/Y. Amiga-T - Inserts a random-tag (if you have any). Amiga-M - Learn macro. F1-F20 - Execute macro. The Macros ---------- Offline's Full Screen Editor permits you to use the keys F1 to F20 as macro-keys. Press Amiga-M, or select "Learn Macro" from the menu, and then press the macro-key you want to assign this sequence of keypresses to. From now on, all keypresses are recorded until you press Amiga-M again. If you want this set of macro-keys to be loaded every time you start Offline's editor, select "Save Macros..." in the menu. Like a lot of other files Offline uses, the Offline.macros can be either BBS-specific or global. BBS-specific definitions are placed in the BBS-dir, while global macros are put in Offline's root-dir. Insert/Overwrite, Autoindent-status and Coordinates-printing are remembered between sessions. If you're still in a state of cunfusion, press HELP in the FSE for a bit of eh... Help? Note that Offline 1.53 has added the possibility of letting dos-scripts process a message before and after the FSE gets its clammy filehandles at the text. The scripts are called FSEScriptIn and FSEScriptOut and are searched for in Offline's root-dir. This is a release 2 feature only (due to some bugs in 1.3 and earlier releases.) The scripts get the parameters filename and width supplied as command- arguments. This should be sufficient for quoting/adding of custom-tags and so on. 11. Scripts =========== Offline makes alterations on a script called: //main.script. this is constructed with "scriptbits" from the file "scriptbits.txt", either BBS-spesific, in the BBS' dir, or global, in the root-dir. The default-scripts are put in the root dir and installed with the "Change Script" or "Install BBS" items in the menu. Offline 1.53 is released with scripts, made by Eivind Nordseth - see 'Scripts.doc' for more thorough information. 12. Reliablilty and bugs ======================== Offline is programmed in assembler on an A3000 and tested on these configurations: - A3000 6 MB ram and gigamem at times 210 MB HD. Kickstarts 34.x, 37.210, 39.xxx, 40.x. And WB 1.3 to 3.1. - A500 with softkicked 2.04 and WB 2.1, 3 MB ram and 52 MB RocHard HD. - A4000, 6 MB ram, 68040/25, Gigamem and 120 MB HD. Kickstart 39.106 - 40.9, WB 39.x - 40.13. - The betatesters' machines - none without HD and at least release 2 ROM. It is tested with Enforcer and Mungwall without any hits. The gigantic question still remains: are there any bugs? And the answer is as clear as mist on a chilly summer-morning - Of course there are! 13. Thanks ========== I'd like to thank the following people: - Geir Inge Høsteng for starting the Offline-project way back in March-90. and for his wonderful ABBS. - Mike Robertson for the FSE-source. - Nico François for reqtools.library. - Eivind Nordseth for the new _much imporoved_ scripts (and Qcd :-)) - Vidar Kjelsberg for making Warlord the Offline-support BBS :-). - The betatesters: Bjørn Ludvigsen Frode 'Fox' Hauge Ola Fossheim Grøstad Henrik 'C++-guru' Sætness Christian 'Lightning' Sandberg Andreas Dobloug Eivind Eklund (The creator himself :-) Petter Nilsen (late but extremely good) Jan-Roger 'IRC' Wilkens Marius Willms Jon 'Abbs?' Suphammer Sindre Hagen Ove Malmstrøm Kai Michelsen Erik Johannessen Daniel Førum - The Coca-Cola Company. 14. How to get in touch with me =============================== If you feel obliged to pay a little for this program (and you really should), my address is: Marius Mortensen Holtegt. 30 0355 Oslo Norway ...or by E-mail to ammm@solan.unit.no I'm a frequent user of BBSes, and can be contacted at these Oslo boards: Warlord BBS (Official Offline Support BBS) : 22-222074 and 22-222132 Mediafoto BBS : 22-687176 Crusaders : 63-833980 and 63-833982 ABBS Support : 22-277176 And in Trondheim: Byte Bazaar : 07-522223 The Crypt : 07-981052