CAB.OVL for STiK v1.4400 - March 2001

What is it?

CAB.OVL is a networking interface layer for use with CAB. This release is compatible with any STiK conforming TCP/IP layer, which meets the STiK standards.

CAB_OVL now comes in 2 flavors (*again*) they can be found in their respective folders in this archive.

• CAB_OVL Any 68000 machine

• CAB_OVL.030 Optimised for 68030 machines (Falcon,TT,etc.)

NOTE : You cannot use the 030 version of the CAB_OVL on a ST/e/fm,MegaST/e

Current Version | E-Mail

Foreward:

Many changes are in place and more are on the way. Enjoy!

NEW THIS RELEASE

• HTTP1 Config variable added
• If 1 acts as http 1.1 client else as http 1.0 (default value is 1)

• ovl: system
• User can now enter ovl:< var > < value > into URL dialog to change variable values dynamically
• User can also enter ovl:info and get a display of the current variable values and some links

NEW LAST RELEASE

• OVL now parses out leading blank lines in html files. This only works in non chunk encoded transfers.

How to use PUT (and/or what is it)?

PUT is the http method for uploading files. Not all servers support it. In fact many have this turned off. However there are still a large number of sites that do allow it. If you are lucky enough to have one as your web site it can save you a bit of time launching seperate applications. Simply "test" your page in CAB and if you like it, "PUT" it up to your web site.

How to use PUT. Go into the open url dialog. Now type "put http://www. mywebsite.com/~me/file_to_upload". You must put "put http" or "PUT HTTP", this is what the CAB.OVL scans for to use this function. And this is a process that's all done on the OVL side. CAB goes along with it kicking and screaming ;)

After setting this command in the "Open URL" box, you will be presented with a file selector. If you select a file that file will be sent to your web server. The file you select need not be named the same as what you typed into the "Open URL" dialog. example you could type: "put http://www.mysite.org/~me/cool.zip", but the file you select to send might be named "a49zb.zip". On the web server it will be named "cool.zip".

If you web server supports PUT, the file "file_to_upload" (insert your file name in place of this) will be stored in your web directory. If your server does not support PUT, you will be prompted with a "Method not allowed" form alert.

If you are using the POST variant (egroups does this), then you will simply be presented with a fileselector after filling out the form on the web page. In all other respects the variant behaves the same as the PUT method above.

Not a problem but information

• Some users have reported in the past that they can't send mail, even though they have SMTP host etc defined in their stacks configuration. The answer to this is in CAB. CAB keeps it's own values in the Server dialog unless you hit default values button at the bottom. If you like you can hit default values and then save your configuration.

Known problems still existing

• If you can not use some of CAB's modules with my OVL try editig your default.cfg of STiNG. STiNG sets serveral variables for email etc, that for some reason cause problems with the CAB.OVL.

• Some users still have problems with email headers, I'm waiting on more debug info back from beta testers on this. This is working fine for me and many others though so hopefully you'll be lucky ;) You can verify if it's working for you, by setting up a mailto link to yourself or use on of a friends and have them look at what is sent.

• Some users also are having problems downloading multiple binary files from a site. However it's not a consistent problem.

• Some forms are exhibiting problems. These seem at the moment to be CAB errors, and as soon as Alex can get to these sites we will find out.

• Users of CAB 1.5 may notice 'image' notifications in the status bar of CAB when retrieving pages, even if the images are disabled. I think this has to do with a newer CAB call. However beyond it showing up on the screen it apparently has no bad effects.

• If you can not check your Hotlist with the CAB Module. Try moving the CAB.OVL into the Modules directory, this should fix the problem.

Variables CAB_OVL uses

These are set in the default.cfg or with an appropriate program that modifies STiK variables.

1. EMAIL - format "EMAIL = me@myhost.com"

   This is the address where you would like any mail sent with the CAB.OVL to be addressed from. Not all mail servers will send mail with an incorrect email address or a non local email address.

2. USERNAME - format "USERNAME = mylogin_name"

   This is used by CAB.OVL in conjunction with HOSTNAME, to attempt to create an email address, if the variable EMAIL is not present. This is also used in conjunction with authentication in PPP so this needs to be correct. (note PPP will be available in STiK 2)

3. HOSTNAME - format "HOSTNAME = myhost.com"

   This is used with USERNAME in the event that EMAIL is not present to construct an email address for you.

4. SMTP_HOST - format "SMTP_HOST = mail.myhost.com"

   NOTE: SMTP_SERVER preferable. CAB.OVL needs this if you want to send mail with it while cruising the web. It must be a valid SMTP mail host. Some hosts will not allow mail to be sent through them, if this is the case contact your ISP for an alternate mail host.

5. HTTP_PROXY - format "HTTP_PROXY = proxy.www.cache.com"

   Used in conjunction with HTTP_PROXY_PORT for getting web documents from a local cache as opposed to the original remote host. This cache is not the normal CAB CACHE on your machine, but a similar structure on a remote machine. Many large ISP's supply these (ex. Demon in the UK) and many Universities require them to gain access to the web at all.

6. HTTP_PROXY_PORT - format "HTTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

   Used in conjunction with HTTP_PROXY, for retrieving web documents from a remote cache. If your ISP supplies an HTTP proxy, you can get the info for the name and port from them.

7. NNTP_PROXY - format "NNTP_PROXY = newsproxy.myhost.org"

   NOTE: Has anyone actually seen one of these? This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

8. NNTP_PROXY_PORT - format "NNTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

   This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

9. NNTP_HOST - format "NNTP_HOST = news.myhost.org"

   NOTE: NNTP_SERVER variable preferable. This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

10. FTP_PROXY - format "FTP_PROXY = ftp.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

11. FTP_PROXY_PORT - format "FTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

12. GOPHER_PROXY - format "GOPHER_PROXY = gopher.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

13. GOPHER_PROXY_PORT - format "GOPHER_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

14. WAIS_PROXY - format "WAIS_PROXY = wais.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

15. WAIS_PROXY_PORT - format "WAIS_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

16. SMTP_SERVER - format "SMTP_SERVER = mail.myhost.com"

    CAB.OVL needs this if you want to send mail with it while cruising the web. It must be a valid SMTP mail host. Some hosts will not allow mail to be sent through them, if this is the case contact your ISP for an alternate mail host.

17. NNTP_SERVER - format "NNTP_SERVER = news.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

(Quite a few eh? Bet you didn't know all that was there ;)

Errors CAB reports

There are 4 types of errors you might encounter during the use of CAB, with this CAB.OVL:

1. Serious errors

   These are crashes, bombs, Magic's infamous error -69, and others of this type. Unfortunately you will find no more usefull information about these here.

2. CAB intercepted errors

   These are the infamous "Runtime error at Offset xxx" errors. These might be in CAB or the CAB.OVL or some conjuntion between the two. If anyone has a copy of the error reports for Pure Pascal please send me a copy, as currently I have no idea what any of them actually mean.

3. STiK errors

   Such as Krmalloc - memory corruption detected.

4. CAB/CAB.OVL network error reports

   These I can give you more info on. When they occur in a compatible CAB they will appear in the status line.

CAB/CAB.OVL network error definitions

#-1 - No Connection or similar error. This shouldn't appear normally under STiK.

#-36 - Connection Failed. The site may be too far away, or network trafic to high at the current time.

#-39 - No memory. Requested action can't be preformed as STiK is out of memory.

#-65 - Bad SYN. This is another error you shouldn't encounter. But might pop up.

#-300 - Bad Connection handle. The OVL has gotten confused somewhere and is trying to use a non existant connection. You shouldn't encounter this.

#-307 - No name server. CAB.OVL can't function as it can't resolve any sites, due to the lack of a nameserver. This is a misconfiguration of STiK, or a STiK corruption problem.

#-309 - Bad DNS format. CAB.OVL can't resolve the site with the given site name.

#-311 - This is a general purpose network error. Due to some problem with the site name, CAB.OVL can't retrieve the requested URL.

#-312 - Network Down - Lost Carrier. You are no longer connected to the network.

#-313 - The site is unreachable. It's offline or you are or both. This also happens during high net trafic when it is impossible to get a connection to the site.

#-314 - The other end has sent an unacceptable packet, we are forcing a reset.

#-315 - Abort due to user action. This should only occur in one of the following 3 circumstances.

1. You have pressed the STOP button.

2. You have pressed the 'esc' key.

3. The current routine has timed out.

*Note there is also a bad mapping onto this error that show's an internal STiK error*

#-316 - The other end has forced a reset on the connection, closing it.

#-318 - CAB.OVL is trying to preform an action on a closed socket.

#-320 - The connection has timed out and closed.

#-321 - The other end has refused to allow you to retrieve the document. This can occur on pages with authentication or with sites that do not allow non-local connections (or conections from too far away ie. another continent) This could also happen when accessing the web through a proxy, that also acts as a firewall.

#-323 - Resolver has reached it's work limit. The CAB.OVL cannot resolve the host for the specific document as it's just too far away/deep for it to get the address.

#-600 - CAB.OVL can not resolve the host for the specified document. When this happens the CAB.OVL will attempt to see if you are still online. If it can not determine your online status, it will prompt the user to "Abort", if the user chooses 'YES', then CAB.OVL assumes it is offline and informs CAB of this status. If the user chooses 'NO', then CAB assumes it is still online and just couldn't resolve the current site.

The CAB.OVL now processes and reports normal GEM errors that it encounters during it's operation.

ovl: system

The ovl: system is used to change the current value of CAB.OVL Config variables.

Entry of ovl:xxx can now be done in URL dialog this will have the following effects

ovl:info - will display current CAB.OVL variable settings and some useful links

It can also be used to change the value of a variable in the formula

ovl:< variable name > < new value >

Spacing IS important. One space between variable name and value (more might work) NO SPACES at end!

example in quotes

"ovl:http1 1"

This would set the http1 variable to ON.

CABOVL.CFG file

# CAB.OVL for STiK Config File

#

# Lines started with # are Remarks

#

# FAKE_NETSCAPE

# 1 - Fake a mozilla entry as the browser

# anything else remain normal CAB.OVL entry

# Default value is off, normal CAB.OVL entry

#

FAKE_NETSCAPE = 1

#

# SHARE_TIME

# amount of time in msec that the OVL returns to CAB during the OVL's

# operation. Like all GEM calls this is the minimum time returned.

# It's Default value is 100 msec

#

SHARE_TIME = 20

#

# ONLINE

# determines how the CAB.OVL will work with you on determining it's

# online status, if it's unable to.

#

# 0 - 'Always Online' - The OVL relies entirely upon the errors returned

# from the stack to determine online/offline status. It will

# never question you as to it's status or attempt to determine

# it's online status.

#

# 1 - 'Use Abort Alert' - If you are having problems with with the CAB.OVL,

# when it is launched by CAB, try using this setting. CAB.OVL

# will attempt to determine it's online/offline status by using

# routines in the TCPIP stack. If it's unable to determine it's

# status, you will be prompted with the 'Abort' alert. If you

# answer 'Yes' you are online, if you answer 'No' you are offline.

# Not pretty but hopefully will get around a problem call on

# systems that are experiencing this bug.

#

# 2 - 'Use Online Alert' (This is the default value if ONLINE is not set)

# If the CAB.OVL can not determine it's online/offline status

# It will prompt you with 'Online?'. Answer 'Yes' if you are

# and 'No' if you are not.

#

# Using value 1 or 2 is preferable to 0 if you can in your situation,

# as there are some errors that are not 100% black and white, knowing it's

# status helps the OVL determine what actions to take in certain situations.

#

ONLINE = 2

#

# TIMEOUT

# amount of time in seconds that you wish to wait before time out's occur on

# connections

#

# Default is 120

#

# **** WARNING **** Do not make this value too small

#

TIMEOUT = 120

TIMEOUT = 120

#

# POSTGET

# determines how the CAB.OVL handles redirections after a POST

#

# 0 - Prompt user to decide to GET, POST or Cancel

# 1 - GET the resulting file

#

POSTGET = 1

#

# HTTP1

# determines if OVL will act as an HTTP 1.1 client or not

#

# 0 - act as http 1.0

# 1 - act as http 1.1

#

HTTP1 = 1

Note: This version of the CAB.OVL uses an internal CAB call that was non existant in some versions of 1.5. So before you delete your old CAB.OVL and replace it with this one. Please test your version of CAB with this OVL. If it doesn't work with your version of CAB you will need to update your version of CAB.

This does not apply to users of the commercial version of CAB.

Thank you,

Dan

EoF