NEWSie - a UseNet Newsreader

NEWSie uses the NNTP Internet protocol to read UseNet News articles. It provides a standard GEM interface complete with menu, windows, and mouse selection.

It uses STiK as the Internet access manager via SLIP connection. NEWSie provides the ability to read, save, and print NEWS articles, and full Posting and Reply capabilities.

Articles can be downloaded and read offline. Offline Posting and Followup functions are available.

NEWSie supports a full complement of e-mail services, including Send, Reply, and Forwarding of mail messages. Multiple mailboxes are supported, with transfer of mail between mailboxes. Mailboxes may be sorted in subject, author and date order. A facility to use and edit nicknames is available. /P>

NEWSie also provides FTP (File Transfer Protocol) support for the Atari computer User. Selection of servers with individual logon id, password and directory are provided. Directory lists are cached to provide the fastest access, and directories are automatically retrieved when changes have been made.

NEWSie will be made available free of charge for download from several ftp sites.

 

For more information:

John Rojewski

e-mail: rojewski@primenet.com

WWW: http://www.primenet.com/~rojewski/newsie/

 

OVERVIEW

This is an attempt to document the facilities of NEWSie, a UseNet Newsreader client for the Atari series of computers. NEWSie is a GEM compliant program with standard GUI features including menus, windows, dialogs, and mouse and keyboard input. In addition to UseNet, NEWSie supports e-mail send via SMTP and receive via POP3 protocols.

 

The following major topics are included in this document:

  1. MENUS
  2. DIALOGS
  3. FILES
  4. STARTUP OPTIONS

 

1. MENUS

 

File

The File Menu provides methods to control NewsGroup lists, Article Printing, and Exiting the program. The Close item provides the ability to close any open window. The Save As item provides the ability to save the Newsgroup List, current news article, or current mail messages with a different n me.

 

Edit

The Edit Menu contains all the standard Cut, Copy, and Paste commands. These are not implemented in the current NEWSie version.

 

News

The News Menu contains methods to select Next Article, Next Thread, and Next Group. Additional items provide the ability to Post messages, and Followup to messages read. The 'Read for Offline' item will read all outstanding messages for all newsgroups in the current .GRP file. (See Offline News eading below)

 

Mail

Mail support is available via the items in this menu. E-mail send, reply, and forward are available. The ability to check your POP3 maildrop exists, via the Check Mail item, and the Get Mail item will retrieve your mail to your system. An Open InBox item will open and display a list of any m ssages received. An Open Mailbox item provides the ability to view other mailboxs, including an OUTBOX, which contains a copy of all email which has been sent via NEWSie.

There are also user-defined mailboxes that will store inbound mail, and copies of messages sent. The Edit Nicknames menu allows special receipients to have short nicknames, that are expanded when the message is actually sent.

 

FTP

The FTP menu provides the ability to get and put files on FTP servers. The menu is split into two (2) sections. The first for Servers: selecting, editing, adding and deleting. The second is for moving through the server directories and retrieving, storing, or deleting files.

 

Special

The Special Menu contains some additional items, including the retrieval of the Full Group list, and any new Newsgroups. Manual Connect and Disconnect are avaialble. A final item (Open URL) allows you to retreive any Web reference (http-web page, graphic, etc.) from within NEWSie. The ability t extract UUEncoded articles is provided. The Log file can be viewed online via the 'Show Log File' menu item.

 

Preferences

The Preferences Menu supplies a variety of areas that the user needs to change to configure NEWSie to work with his/her Internet Service Provider (ISP) and also to allow the user to define some defaults for system operation. Most selections present a Dialog to the user.

 

Offline Newsreading

NEWSie supports offline newsreading with version 0.60. The menu item 'Read for Offline' will read all outstanding articles in all newsgroups in the current Subscribed Newsgroups window. Warning: until you are familiar with the operation of this program, the author suggests you limit the number of newsgroups/articles to some finite number less than ten newsgroups and a total of 100 articles. A maximum of 400 articles can be maintained for each newsgroup (if you have the disk space!).

The 'Read for Offline' menu item is used while online (connected to your mail server) and will build a set of files and directories in the directory you have named as the 'Offline Path' (see Path Preferences). The Escape key is active, and will abort this function at any time.

After reading the articles, Quit NEWSie, Disconnect STiK, and start NEWSie again. This time, you will be able to view the articles saved on disk in the same way as online articles. The delete key will delete articles on disk, and also remove the entry in the Overview window when the window is c osed.

Offline Posting of new articles, and Followups to articles read is now supported. These articles are created as the result of a Post/Followup followed by a Send when there is no connection to the News Server. At the next time there is a connection to the News Server, these articles are transmit ed, and deleted from your system.

To view the articles waiting to be Posted, use the 'Open Offline PostBox' item in the News menu. This will open the PostBox (if it exists) and allow you to view/edit the articles, and/or delete them before they are sent via the 'Delete' key.

There are (currently) no preference controls on this function.

 

2. DIALOGS

 

Personal Preferences

The Personal Preferences dialog provides the ability to enter information about the user. Fields include:

 

Server Preferences

The Server Preferences dialog provides the ability of the user to specify information about the Internet servers that will be used to access the News and Mail systems. Fields include:

 

General Preferences

A long time in arriving, this dialog is for additional things that work across all protocols, windows, etc. Initially this includes:

 

News Reading Preferences

The News Reading Preferences dialog provides the user with several options pertaining to the method by which NEWSie will display News Articles on the user's screen. Fields include:

 

Mail Preferences

The Mail Preferences include several features for storing and manipulating e-mail. fields include:

 

Message Preferences

The Message Preferences dialog provides the user with several options pertaining to the method for responding to Articles read. These include:

 

FTP Preferences Dialog

This dialog is used to set various FTP preferences. These include:

 

Path Preferences

The Path Preferences dialog allows the user to specify where additional files, articles, etc. should be stored in the user's computer file system. These include:

Note: The Titles are also selectable, and they allow the same functionality as selecting the Path objects they represent.

 

Log Preferences

The Log Preferences dialog allows the user to specify how much or how little information is recorded about the actual activity of NEWSie in retrieving and replying to articles. In general, there is little information in the Log for casual users, and most users will not need to change these prefe ences.

 

Signature Preferences

The Signature Preferences dialog is provided to allow users to suffix any reply or posted responses with their selected signature. The filepath displayed indicates the current signature file, and the first several lines of text are displayed. Clicking on the filename allows the user to select a new signature file. As with the Path Preferences dialog above, the Signature Path title is also selectable, and provides the same functionality as selecting the filename object.

 

Font Preferences

The Font Preferences dialog is provided to allow the user to vary the font displayed in the NewsGroup, Overview, and Article windows. For those users the have some version of GDOS (including NVDI), they may select any of several font faces and point sizes. Clicking on the arrow box on the righ of the font name will 'drop down' a font selection list. Arrow buttons in the list allow for scrolling. Clicking on any font name will select that font for use.

In the event that the chosen font does not exist in a particular configuration, the default system font will be used instead.

 

Transfer Status

The Transfer Status dialog is an output only dialog provided to give the user visual feedback of data transfers as they occur. This is status is available whenever there is information being received from the servers, or being sent to the servers. The Transfer Status display may be disabled by n-selecting the 'Show Status' option in the Newsreading Preferences dialog. This can be classified as a window too, since it is now non-blocking.

 

Full NewsGroup Warning

The Full NewsGroup Warning dialog is provided to warn the user that this transfer can take a long time and use a lot of disk space.

 

Full NewsGroup Re-load

The Full NewsGroup Re-load dialog is provided to allow the user to use the existing Full NewsGroup list or download a new one. Using the existing file is much faster.

 

New NewsGroup Selection

The New NewsGroup Selection dialog is provided to allow the user to see any NewsGroups that have been created since a specified date. This, in combination with the Full NewsGroup list, will allow the user to access new NewsGroups as they become available.

 

Subscribe to NewsGroup

The Subscribe to Newsgroup dialog is presented in several situations:

In the first 2 cases, the Newsgroup name will be displayed. Clicking on the OK button will enter the Newsgroup into the current Subscribed NewsGroup file (i.e DEFAULT.GRP, or other). The 3rd case (Subscribe Menu) can be used instead of the double-click, but may also be used at any time to allow he user to type in the name of a Newsgroup. The 4th case (Insert key) will also allow the user to type in a Newsgroup name. Note that if the Newsgroup name is invalid or unsupported by your ISP, the current Subscribed Newsgroup file/window will not be updated.

 

UnSubscribe from Newsgroup

The UnSubscribe from Newsgroup dialog is presented in the following situations:

In either case, the currently selected Newsgroup is displayed in the dialog with question 'UnSubscribe from Newsgroup?'. Pressing the OK button deletes the Newsgroup from the Subscribed window and file.

 

Edit Nicknames

The Edit Nicknames dialog is available to allow sending messages to people that you will frequently correspond with, or for implementating mailing list of several people whom you wish to send the same message to. Clicking on a empty Nickname (left column) will add a new nickname. DO NOT use spa es, as everything past first space will be ignored. A Description is available to describe the nickname. To add email addresses to a Nickname, click on the nickname, then click on an empty entry in the Address (right column), and fill in the email address. When completed, click OK to save the add tions/changes, or Quit to leave the edit dialog without any changes. There is a limit of 100 entries, which include Nicknames, Descriptions, and Addresses. No more that 30 nicknames, or 30 addresses per nickname are allowed by the dialog.

 

Edit Server

The Edit Server dialog is provided to allow a user to enter a new FTP server name and logon information, or, to edit the information of an existing server. A sample of servers is provided in the DEFAULT.SVR file. The logon name can be specific or 'anonymous' for servers which allow anonymous FT sessions. The accepted password for an anonymous FTP connection is the user's e-mail address. A The starting directory is saved after a session if selected in the FTP Preferences dialog, and can be changed before opening the connection if desired.

If the logon name is missing, 'anonymous' is used. The the password is missing, the user's email id is used for 'anonymous', or the user is prompted via the password dialog if the logon name is something else.

A maximum of 30 server definitions are supported.

 

Edit Function Keys

As part of a request to support better keyboard shorcuts this feature provides the ability to select any Menu function via one of the 20 Programmable Function Keys at the top of the keyboard. The Edit Function Keys menu item in the Preferences Menu will display a dialog containing the editable t xt.

The dialog consists of 2 columns of 10 editable fields for the user to enter the text of the Menu Function to be executed when that function key is pressed. The compare is case-insensitive, so 'quit' works just as well as 'Quit'. The compare is for the length of the input text, so just a 'q' w ll execute the 'Quit' menu item.

Cancel and OK buttons are provided. The Cancel button is the default, and the OK button saves the changed definitions into a text file.

 

STiK Disabled

The STiK Disabled dialog is displayed at startup when the STiK accessory is not 'enabled'. STiK must be enabled and most likely connected to the user's Internet Service Provided (ISP) before NEWSie can access new articles.

 

3. FILES

 

Resource

The NEWSIE.RSC file is required for operation. It should be in the same directory as NEWSIE.PRG. This file contains all of the Menu and Dialog definitions. There should be no reason for the user to modify this file in any way. This should make it easier to produce non-English versions of NEWS e with little or no program changes.

 

Support Program(s)

With NEWSie 0.54, the UUD.TTP program is provided. It should be placed in the directory configured as the Work Path. This program provides the service of decoding any UUEncoded data in retrieved messages. This encoded data is most generally a binary file (picture or program). The 'Extract Bin ries' menu item in the Special Menu uses this program.

With version 0.74, the MUNPACK.TTP program is provided. It should also be placed in the Work Path directory. This program provides the service of decoding MIME uncoded data (base64, etc.). The 'Extract Binaries' menu will examine the current file and select this module if the article or messag s contains MIME control statements. Many thanks to programmer Jos den Bekker for writing this fine program.

 

Preferences

The PREFS.INF file is required for proper operation. It should be in the same directory as NEWSIE.PRG. There is a generic PREFS.INF file in the distribution. Feel free to use this as the basis for configuring NEWSie to your preferences. See the individual Preference dialogs for any specific op ions available.

Note that NEWSie will automatically update your existing PREFS.INF file to include all of the most recent parameters when you execute a more current version of NEWSie.

 

Subscribed NewsGroups

The DEFAULT.GRP file is required for proper operation. There is a generic DEFAULT.GRP file in the distribution. You may add new NewsGroups to this, and delete ones you are not interested in subscribing to. You may have several Subscribed NewsGroup files, and use them interchangeably. The DEFA LT.GRP will be used by NEWSie at startup. A GRP file can contain a maximum of 100 newsgroup names.

 

Full NewsGroups

The FULLGRP.TXT file is an optional file. It is optional because it can be extremely large, possibly larger than 1 Meg. This file is retrieved from your selected News Server only if you request it. Once retrieved, it is used until you request it again. This file will contain a listing of all he NewsGroups that are available for subscription from your News Server. An FULLGRP.IDX file is created when the file is sorted.

 

MailBoxes and Mail

A MAIL path is available in the Path Preferences. Within this path NEWSie will establish MailBoxes and Mail messages. MailBoxes are expected to have a suffix of .MBX, and Mail messages will be in the form MAILnnnn.TXT, where nnnn is a unique number from 0000-9999. A mailbox can contain a maxim m of 100 messages. There is no limit to the number of mailboxes, except local disk storage.

 

Log

The LOG file is a temporary file created by NEWSie during its processing. It is of most interest to the author and to others who want more information about the workings of NEWSie and other UseNet news reader programs and the associated commands, protocol, etc. The Log Preferences dialog will a low you to configure the information put into this file as you choose. The Log file is viewable via the 'Show Log File' menu entry in the Special menu.

 

Offline Articles

If you choose to use the Offline Newsreading features, you should specify a Offline Path directory (OFFLINE is included in the distribution file). NEWSie will create a set of directories under the selected Offline path for each newsgroup that can have offline articles. The names of these direct ries are a 'compression' of the newsgroup name. The articles are placed in the respective directory in the same format as for online articles ('NNNNNN'.TXT') in separate files.

 

Offline Posts and Followups

Articles are saved in files named 'POSTNNNN.TXT' in the WorkPath. An index of these files is called 'POSTS.PBX' (PBX being similar to MBX, meaning PostBoX). These files are created as the result of a Post/Followup followed by a Send when there is no connection to the News Server. At the next t me there is a connection to the News Server, these files are transmitted, and deleted from your WorkPath. If before you connect to the News Server, you decide to refrain from Posting something, you should use the 'Open Offline PostBox menu item in the News menu to review and/or delete the offending file(s) via 'Delete' key.

 

Nickname

The NICKNAME.TXT file is used to store nicknames and addresses. In future versions, there may be several selectable filenames, and size limitations may be changed.

 

FTP Servers

The DEFAULT.SVR file contains several FTP server names, with anonymous logon capability. Please feel free to add or delete as you choose. The file can contain up to 30 server definitions.

Note: There is support for non-standard FTP port numbers.

 

Function Keys

The FKEYS.TXT file is in the program-path (i.e. same directory as NEWSIE.PRG). This file is loaded at startup and is activated when the user presses a function key F1 thru F10, or F11 thru F20 (shift F1 thru F10). The text of the key is compared with the menu items, and if they match, the menu tem is executed. Example:

F1<tab>Quit

F2<tab>Edit Nicknames

...

Between the F1 and Quit is a single <tab> character. Function keys are F1 thru F20 inclusive. A sample file is included in the distribution (zip) file. Function key definitions are editable via the Edit Function Keys menu entry in the Preferences menu.

 

HELP Files

There are text files in the HELP directory which may be viewed at any time by pressing the Help key. Help is based upon the current top window. If there are no windows, or the Help window is currently on top, the General Help file is displayed.

In version 0.68 and above, the right mouse button also initiates the help processing. If your computer has AES version 3.3 or above, there are additional commands in the popup menu displayed.

 

4. STARTUP OPTIONS

NEWSie startup features include the following:

CAB Internet Client Support

With the introduction of CAB 1.5, comes the ability for CAB to start other programs based upon the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). NEWSie had a start at handling the 'news:' URLs, but was never tested.

The following URLS are supported by NEWSie:

Note: a message-id contains the '@' character, and newsgroup names do not.

 

These have been tested on TOS 4.04 and Magic, but not Geneva, etc.

 

Note: NEWSie does support the VA_START protocol.

 

Select NewsGroup file at startup

NEWSie has the ability to be started with a particular newsgroup files If defined as a Desktop Application for file type '.GRP', NEWSie will use the specified GRP file instead of the DEEFAULT.GRP file.

 

Select Preferences file at startup

NEWSie will provide the ability to startup with a Preferences file other than PREFS.INF when either of the Shift Keys are held down when starting the program. This will produce the Load Preferences File Selector.

Note: The PREFS.INF is loaded first, then the newly selected prefs file.

 

See IMPROVE.DOC for a survery of suggested improvements.

See HISTORY.DOC to see what has changed in the previous version(s).

See WHATS.NEW to see what is new in this version.