__ ___ |_)( |_) | _)| \ S O F T W A R E ______________________________________________________________________ Presents: AreaFix Manager (AFM) Description: An Arexx script to handle AreaFixes Requirement: Registered copy of Spot Version: 3.0 Date: 01/08/94 Status: Freeware. Contribution: n/a Acknowledge: Spot, Nico Francois; Arexx, William S. Hawes ______________________________________________________________________ "It is custom with new users to send their areafixes to the largest of the echoes available to them..." Brief ________________________________________________________________ AreaFix Manager, or AFM is an Arexx script for use with Spot which automizes the sending of AreaFixes. A preference file is created and modified to hold the password and name of area, for each of your netmail areas so that to send a netmail, you simply have to enter the echoes you wish to attach and detach to/from. NEW FEATURES ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ o Attach much simpler, via Areafix area list FEATURES ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ o Remembers password and boss address for every netmail (matrix area) o Simple to use menu o Allows you to enter up to 15 attaches/detaches per message o Area list may be requested from within AFM o Detaching via list of areas o Works with most Areafix programs, easily customizable to different Areafix names ie, Areafix, Areamanager etc. o Optional comment for each area which appears on the options menu. o Allows any password line option to be used (thanks to Richard Galezowski) UPGRADING ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ o No special upgrading required from version 2.9 See Upgrading below... Usage ________________________________________________________________ INSTALLING AFM ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ The script can be copied to where you keep all of your Spot scripts (usually REXX:Spot). For descriptions on how to run/install the Arexx script in the Arexx menu, see the Spot documentation. SETTING UP AFM ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ To use AFM you simply select the menu option like any other (providing you have chosen to install the script as instructed above.) Once you have done this you may be told a number of things such as "Do not use from arealist". AFM is designed to be used from the Message List screen or the Message reading screen. Also, it should be used from Netmail areas (these are by default labelled NET_xxxxx, where xxxxx is your address). It MAY be called from other areas, but this is not wise as it will tell everyone who gets that area your password so that they can pretend to be you! Once inside your netmail area, simply call the program. You will probably be told "A new prefs file has been created" or else that the program cannot create the file. If it is the latter, make sure there is an assign called ENVARC: and ENV:. Click on 'Ok' and you will be asked for the address of your boss. Whatever you do, DO NOT type in the road and city of your employer :-). What it requires is for you to enter the person who sends you your mail's address ie. 2:253/516 is mine. Enter it in and press Return or click on 'Ok' and another window will pop up. This is for your password. Enter the password you have arranged with your boss to use. Beware, make sure that this is the correct one as you will have two, one for use with your mailer (ie. Trapdoor) and one for use with Areafix - but often these are the same. Check first though. Once you have entered the password in, hit Return or click 'Ok'. The next piece of information you must enter is the name of the Areafix program. This is the name which you would send Areafixes to, the name you use in the 'to' field. Usually this is 'Areafix' (the default) although you may change it to whatever your board uses. Simply hit Return or click 'Ok' to keep the default setting. The next window will ask you for an optional comment. This comment will appear on the menu and is useful for reminding you which board the areafix will go to, and whether the area is Fidonet or Amiganet etc. It may be left blank where it will be replaced with 'Options'. AreaFixMan also has an 'announce' feature which sends a message to each area as you detach from them. See the using AFM section for details on how it works. You will be asked if you want to add the details to your prefs file. Select 'Use' to save your settings to RAM: this will mean that they will be erased when you reboot. Selecting 'Save' will save the settings to disk so that they are used every time you load AreaFixMan. This works the same way as the WB2.0+ prefs settings. If you later find that the details are wrong, delete the files ENVARC:AreaFixMan.prefs and ENV:AreaFixMan.prefs and do this 'Setting Up' section again. 'Cancel' will result in the password etc. not being saved, so you will need to repeat the above section next time. If you do not wish to send an AreaFix now, simply click on 'Cancel' from the attach/detach menu that follows. USING AFM ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Once you have set AFM up it is done forever! Or until you need to change something where you will have to delete the prefs file and start again. After setting up, or when you select AFM from the menu, you will be presented with a requester with four options. Your comment, if you chose to have one, will be shown in the title bar. Attach brings up a requester where you must select either to attach manually (type the name of the areas) or via the message. This second option is extremely useful, it allows you to attach to areas via the list of areas which is usually requestable from your boss (see below). Attaching manually brings up a string requester where you can type the area you want to attach to (don't type '+' or '-' before it!). After entering one in and hitting Return or clicking 'Ok' the requester will re-appear allowing you to add multiple areas. When you have done, click 'Ok' or hit Return on an empty requester, or else click 'Cancel'. You will be taken back to the requester where you can decide to attach/detach further areas. To attach via a message, you must go to the appropriate message before running AFM. Select the appropriate option and then you will be taken to the Workbench and Ed will be loaded, the current message will then be loaded. To select the areas, simply place a '~' (tilde) character directly before its name as shown below: a Spot | Area for general Spot discussion would become: a~Spot | Area for general Spot discussion This can be done for up to 15 areas. Detaching is even easier and is done via an arealist. A small window will pop up from which you can select an area to detach from. The requester will repeatedly pop up until cancel is selected, so when you have finished, select 'Cancel'. As soon as you have selected okay to detach from an area, a message will be placed in the area if you have announcment switched on. This message can be anything you like and is found in Rexx:Spot (edit the variable line in the script if this is not suitable) and is called AreaFixMan.announce. A sample announcement has been included. Whether you ultimately decide to 'erase' any detaches, or to 'Cancel' the whole AFM session altogether the announcement will still be there, so it will be necessary to remove them manually if this is the happens. When you have finished, simply select 'Okay'. You will be asked if you want to request an arealist. If your board supports it, you can click 'Yes' and then you will receive a list of all the areas available to you when your boss board has processed the message. Even if you haven't attached to, or detached from ANY areas, you can still 'claim' your free arealist...simply send back the 'Yes' envelope...or better still click on 'Yes' when you are asked if you want one :-). Also, by selecting 'Other' from the arealist requester, you can enter in any other options such as '-H' for help or '-Q' for a query list IF, and only if, your board supports it. Make any changes additions etc and select 'Okay' to keep the new password line options or 'Cancel' which will abort the message. The last option from the requester arealist requester is 'Cancel' which will simply abort the message. After adding an entry, ie. attaching or detaching to/from and area, a new option will become available. This is called 'Erase' and will erase the last entry in the list when clicked upon (or activated via the keyboard equivalent 'E'). Repeatedly selecting this option will erase the last entry until the list is empty when the 'Erase' option will again disappear. There is a maximum of 15 entries permitted. This is not because it is impossible to add any more, but because the requester get's a little too big and clumsy if it exceeds this size. When you reach the 15 entry limit, the 'Attach' and 'Detach' options will disappear and you will be left with 'Erase', 'OKAY' and 'CANCEL'. EXAMPLE ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Here's an example. If I wanted to set up AFM: 1) Enter my Netmail area. 2) Select AreaFixMan from the menu. 3) I will be told a new prefs file has been created. Click on okay. 4) Enter my boss number into requester. 5) Enter password into requester. 6) Hit RETURN to accept 'Areafix' as the TO field of Areafix messages. 7) Select OKAY to not have a comment. 8) Select SAVE to save the prefs. 9) Select cancel so that a message is not sent to Areafix. Now if I wanted to attach to the Spot echo: 1) Enter my Netmail area 2) Select AreaFixMan from the menu. 3) Select 'Attach' from the requester. 4) Enter the Spot echo and hit RETURN. 5) Hit return on the next blank requester to come around. 6) Select 'Okay'. And I wanted an arealist: 7) Select 'Yes' to requester. The message would then be the last in the area. If you want to cancel it, just delete the message. Or, if I wanted to abort before stage 6. 6) Select 'Cancel' from requester. o The areafix created will be placed into the current area. NOTE FOR MULTI-BOSSING USERS ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ AreaFixMan is intelligent enough to differentiate between multiple netmail areas. It will record the name of the area (it's REAL name) when you enter the boss' address and your password. Whenever you use AreaFixMan in that area, the appropriate details will be recalled each time...good init? UPGRADING ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Upgrading from versions prior to 2.6, it is necessary to delete the config file and start from scratch...sorry! From 2.6, no modifications are necessary as I've now discovered the benefits of future compatible config files although manual modifactions are needed to take advantage of new features. To use 'announcement' on the 2.6 style config (you can tell this by viewing the config file and looking for the 'format 2.6' line,) you must edit the config file using an editor such as Commodore's Ed. To activate announcement, simply type 'Announce' after the last line of each area's config which is the comment line (appears as 'Options' if you did not select a comment). Please leave a blank line after each area, including the last for example: -- start FORMAT 2.6 NET_2_254_149_3 2:254/149 password Areafix Port of Call FIDONET Announce -- end To disable 'Announcement' put 'No Announce'. Although ommiting this will do the same, it is advised you add it in as it will make future upgrading much easier. o If this all seems to complicated then simply delete your config and start again from scratch, you will then be asked whether you would like announcement. Future Enhancements __________________________________________________ o None that I can think of at the mo :-) Disclaimer ___________________________________________________________ o I am not responsible to any damage caused through the use or misuse of this product and so it must only be used at your own risk. All efforts have been made to ensure the stability of the program but this does not mean it is 100% safe. Please backup any important data that could be damaged through the use of this software until you are sure that it is stable...Amen. Donations/Comments ___________________________________________________ Any comments or donations can be sent to: PSR Software Paul Ruane 26 Birdwood Close, Selsdon, Surrey. CR2 8QG. I may also be contacted at the following addresses as Paul Ruane: Fidonet_____ 2:252/149.3 2:253/516.12 Amiganet____ 39:135/14.3 39:135/13.12 _________________________________________________________________NULL_