Contents

Tetrix Reader Plug  -  © 1994/1995 Tetrix Engineering.

TRP is a Windows-Based Mail and Newsreader for the Internet.  It allows you to read, write, reply to EMail and News without being connected to the Internet.  The general sequence of operation is to connect to the Internet, download news and mail, upload any of your own articles, replies and EMail and disconnect.  Then, while you are off-line and not incuring telephone charges, you can process the received data, write replies etc.  The whole point of TRP is being able to operate Off-Line and save you money.

Shareware Agreement (please read)

Mail

News

DocServe Document and File Server Application Context Daemon

RUIP Responder

Other Information


Shareware License Agreement

The following Shareware License Agreement exists between you, the user of the Software (TRP or DocServe), and Tetrix Engineering as the Authors of the Software:

Special Conditions apply to Registered Charities and Internet Service Providers

You are allowed to test and evaluate, through use, the software for a period of 30 days, starting with the day you installed the software and ending 30 days after that.  During that period, you are allowed to make copies of the unregistered software and pass these copies on to others, as long as no charge is levied.  After that period you must either:

De-install the software from the computers on which you installed the software, and not reinstall the software for a period of 120 days,

or

Register the software by sending money to the Tetrix Engineering

To register TRP, send IR£ 20.00

To register DocServe, send IR£ 10.00

To register both of the above, send IR£ 30.00

Payment may also be made with the following Credit Cards:

VISA, ACCESS and MASTERCARD

Please EMail or Fax: Card Type, Number, Expiry-Date and Card-Statement Address.

Payments to be made out to Tetrix Engineering

Tetrix Engineering

201 Harolds Cross Road

Harolds Cross

Dublin 6W

Ireland

If you have any queries regarding this License Agreement, contact can be made by phoning/faxing/EMailing:

Phone / Fax: Int. +353 - 1 - 4964121

EMail: trp@tetrix.internet-eireann.ie

Upon receipt of funds, you will be sent, via EMail, 2 registration keys that allow you to complete the registration process.  Registration is lifetime, and all future versions will become registered automatically after installation.

Copying TRP

You may redistribute (copy, upload or download to a BBS or Network, make available for FTP etc.) the unregistered version of TRP, provided that NO CHARGE is levied for this.  The registration keys must not be copied or redistributed in any way, except for safety backup.


          Mail System Configuration

Before you can use the mail system of TRP, some parameters need to be configured.  With the MAIL Window open, select Configure from the File Menu, or click on the Wrench button on the toolbar.  The Configuration Window will be displayed:

The picture above shows the mail configuration window with some of the options filled out / selected.

Shoot Mail automatically at start:

If this option is selected, TRP will send all outgoing mail (queued and failed) to the Mail Server.

Show Headers:

If you wish to view header information contained in received mail, select this option.

Auto Archive Sent Mail:

When this option is selected, mail that has been sent succesfully will bearchived.

Use Intro on replies:

With this option selected, an Introductory line will be generated when you reply to a message by email.  The intro looke like this:

In a message about [subject of original message], [sender of original message] wrote:

SMTP Server:

This is the full qualified domain name of your Service Provicers SMTP mail gateway.  Do NOT use a numerical IP-Address.

Default Box:

This is the postbox that will be selected as default when you start TRP.  You can select a default box from the list of  postboxes that you have setup in the Post Office.

POP Server:

This is the full qualified domain name of your Service Providers POP-Server.  Do NOT use a numerical IP-Address.

User Name:

Your POP Username to access your POP Mailbox

Password:

Your POP-Password to access your POP Mailbox

Mail-Check Interval:

Specify at what period to check your POP Mailbox for new EMail.  Setting this to 0 disables POP Mail checking.

Quote Marker:

Enter a one-character Quote Marker.

Printer

Click on Printer to configure the printing parameters.

RUIP

Click on RUIP configure the Finger-Responder.

Color for Incoming / Color for Outgoing

Allows you to select the background color for the list of incoming / outgoing mail.

Note:

Changes to the POP-Server, Username, Password and Mail-Check Interval will not be effective until TRP is restarted.


Printer Setup

The Printer Setup is used to configure the way that printed mail and news messages appear on paper.

Font:

Select the font to use when printing news / mail messages

Size:

Select a pointsize to use when printing news / mail messages.  The larger the point size, the larger the printed letters.

One Message per Page:

Selecting this option will start a new page for every message, thus ensuring that there will never be more than one message on one page.  However, a long message can span several pages.

If this option is not selected, a separating line will be printed at the end of every message.

Click on OK to save the settings or Cancel to abandon change.


          Post Boxes

Postboxes are used to distinguish different senders and recipients in one organization.  Even though you might be the only one using this software, there are many good reasons for having several different Post Boxes for one individual.  There can be 100 postboxes configured by the user through the Post Office.

Mail and Postboxes:

When you select a particular postbox, only the mail sent to the email address associated with the selected postbox will be shown.  Also, only the mail written from that postbox will be listed.

When you write mail while a particular postbox is selected, the associated EMail address will be shown to the recipient as the return-address for replies, and the Signature that the recipient will see is that associated with the postbox used by the sender.  The Signature associated with each Postbox is attached to outgoing mail at the time of sending the mail.

When mail is received, the EMail address used by the sender is matched against those of the postboxes to determine the recipient.  Unmatched Mail is posted to the special unassigned postbox (see below).  To change to a postbox with new mail, press F12 or select Next New from the menu.

To configure post boxes, select the Post Office.

News and Postboxes:

The postboxes configured with the Post Office (from the Mail Window) will be used for News as well.  When you select a particular postbox, the outgoing newsarticles shown will be those written from that postbox.  All received news is shown, however.  The function of the postbox is the same for replies as explained above:  If you write to a newsgroup or reply to a news message (by EMail or News), the EMail address associated with the postbox will be used by the receiver as a reply-address, and the relevant signature will be attached.

The UNASSIGNED Postbox

This is a special postbox that is used in the following cases:

Received Mail for a recipient that does not exist

Outgoing Application Context Replies

POP Incoming Mail

This postbox has no associated signature.


Header Information

Every received message contains information about the sender, the route the message took to reach you, the time/date the message was sent and other information that can be used to determine the origin of the message.  This information is usually not related to the contents of the message and can therefore be ignored when reading the message.


SMTP Server <definition>
SMTP Server

The SMTP Server (synonymous with SMTP Mail Server) is a program that is running on (another) computer, usually that of your service provider or host, which is used as a temporary storage for your incoming and outgoing mail.  The SMTP Server will store and distribute the mail you send.  It also holds mail destined for you when you are not logged in, or while your SMTP Client (i.e. TRP) is not running.


Mail Server <definition>
Mail Server

The Mail Server (synonymous with SMTP or POP Mail Server) is a program that is running on (another) computer, usually that of your service provider or host, which is used as a temporary storage for your incoming and outgoing mail.  The Mail Server will store and distribute the mail you send.  It also holds mail destined for you when you are not logged in, or while your SMTP Client (i.e. TRP) is not running.


          Post Office

From the Post Office, Postboxes are configured:

The picture above features the Post Office Window, showing a list of configured Postboxes and the setup of the currently selected postbox.

Box Name:

The Box Name is the descriptive name by which the postbox is referred to throughout TRP.

EMail Address:

This must be a fully qualified EMail address.  When mail is received, the mails addressee is compared against all EMail Addresses that are configured in the post office.  If a match is found, the incoming mail is placed into that postbox.  If no match is found, the mail is placed in the [unassigned] postbox.

Furthermore, the EMail addressed as entered here is used as the return-address for outgoing mail.

Real Name:

This is the real name of the person that owns the postbox.  It can be any description that further elaborates on the email address.  When mail is sent,. this information is placed in brackets in the FROM: line of the header of the mail.

Directory:

This is a directory that is created when the postbox is created.  All files relating to this psotbox will be placed in that directory, and received binary files are placed in the DATA subdirectory that is created below this directory.

Creating a new postbox:

Provided that there are less than 100 postboxes, click on New to create a new postbox.  Enter a Post Box Name, the EMail address, the Real Name and the name of a directory that doesnt already exists.  Click on OK to accept the details or Cancel to abandon the operation.

Editing and existing a postbox:

Highlight an existing Postbox and click on Edit, or double-click on an existing Postbox in the list of postboxes.  You can now amend the details listed above, with the exception of the directory name.   in addition, you can create / edit the signature for this postbox by clicking on Signature.  Select OK / Cancel to accept / abandon the changes.

Deleting a postbox:

Highlight a postbox and click on Delete.  This will delete the postbox and associated messages, i.e. Queued, Failed, Drafted, Archived and Sent outgoing and incoming mail and news.  The binary files that were received into that postbox are placed in the \data\leftover\ directory below TRPs directory.  The postbox and associated \data\ directory are deleted also.

Signature

When a postbox is being edited, you can edit the Signature of this postbox.

Click on the Finished button to exit the post office.


Signature <Definition>
Signature

The signature is a short message that is attached at the end of an outgoing message.  Often, the signature contains a picture composed of letters and special characters (ASCII character set only!).  Signatures sometimes contain telephone/fax/Postal-Address information about the sender of the message.  Each postbox can have one, and only one, signature.

The picture above shows a signature as currently used by accounts@tetrix.internet-eireann.ie

A signature should not contain more than 5 or 6 lines.

When you change a signature, this change will be reflected in all messages that are not yet sent.  In other words, the signature is attached to the outgoing message at the time the outgoing message is sent, and not when the outgoing message is composed.

Click on OK to save the changes to the signature, or Cancel to retain the original signature.


EMail Address <definition>
EMail Address

A fully qualified EMail Address in TRP consists of a name, @-sign and host name.

An example for a postbox for a user named john at a host tetrix.internet-eireann.ie would be:

john@tetrix.internet-eireann.ie

where john is the name, and tetrix.internet-eireann.ie is the host name.

For SMTP Mail, name can be any name.  For POP-Mail, name is a username.  Users with dynamic IP Addresses will usually not be able to receive SMTP Mail.  In those cases, there will only be one EMail Address for that user.  In the case of static IP Addresses, POP and SMTP Mail may be available, in which case there can be multiple SMTP EMail Addresses, and one POP EMail Address.


Host Name <definition>
Host Name

The host name is the name of the domain associated with your IP address.  If you are using dynamic IPs, there might be more than one IP address for the domain.  In the case of static IPs, there is usually only one host name per IP address.


          News System Configuration

Before you can use the news system of TRP, some parameters need to be configured.  With the NEWS Window open, select Configure from the File Menu, or click on the Wrench button on the toolbar.  The Configuration Window will be displayed:

The picture above shows the news configuration window with some of the options filled out / selected.

Get News Automatically at start:

With this option selected, TRP will, on startup, download new newsarticles from the subscribed newsgroups.

Use Intro on Replies:

With this option selected, an Introductory line will be generated when you reply to a message to a newsgroup.  The intro looke like this:

In an article about [subject of original message], [sender of original message] wrote:

Show News Window First:

If this option is selected, the news-window will be first to show when TRP starts, otherwise TRP will default to the Mail Window.

NNTP Server:

Enter the host name of the host carrying the newsgroups. Do NOT use a numerical IP-Address.

Organization:

This should be a description of the organization / company that is using TRP.  It will be placed in the header of all outgoing messages, giving those reading your article a better idea about you.

Default Box:

This is the postbox you wish to have selected when starting TRP.  You can select a default box from the list of  postboxes that you have setup in the Post Office.

Time Zone:

Enter a three-letter Time Zone, e.g. GMT, WST, MEZ   This is used for outgoing News Articles.

Quote Marker:

Enter a one-character Quote Marker.

Color for Newsgroups / Color for Articles List

Allows you to select the background color for the list of newsgroups / articles

RUIP

Click on RUIP configure the Finger-Responder.

Printer

Click on Printer to configure the printing parameters.


          Download list of available Newsgroups

To be able to subscribe to newsgroups, TRP needs a list of available newsgroups.  This list is stored at the NNTP Server.  To download this list from the NNTP Server to your PC, select Download List of Newsgroups from the Groups Menu.

The window that is displayed when TRP is downloading the list of newsgroups.

To be able to download the list, you need to be connected to the internet.  If required, you must establish the connection over the modem using the socket application (e.g. winsock).

If you already downloaded the list of newsgroups, you can choose to download a list of new newsgroups only.  This is quicker, since only the names of newsgroups that were added to the system (since the last time you updated the list) are downloaded.


NNTP Server <definition>
NNTP Server

The NNTP Server (synonymous with News Server) is a program running on (another) computer that allows (usenet-)news to be distributed throughout the internet.  An NNTP server is identified by its domainname.


News Server <definition>
News Server

The News Server (synonymous with NNTP Server) is a program running on (another) computer that allows (usenet-)news to be distributed throughout the internet.  A News server is identified by its host name.


          Subscribing to Newsgroups

Select Subscribe from the Groups menu to view a list of newsgroups that are carried by the News Server.

Select a category in the drop-down list by clicking on the down-arrow:

A list of available categories is shown, and you can select the desired category by clicking on the desired entry in the list.  If you click, for example, on the category alt then the list of groups will be filled with those groups that start with alt.  You will be shown the number of groups that start with alt. and the total number of groups carried by the server.

If you are looking for a group dealing with a particular subject but do not know the name of the group, you can click on Find and enter a word to search for:

In the above example, the term to search for is tele, which will find all groups (that are carried by the server) which have the word tele as part of their group name:

Regardless of how you choose to list the available newsgroups, you subscribe to it by either

Double-clicking on the newsgroup

or

Highlighting the group and clicking on Subscribe

The name of the group will appear in the bottom list.

Catchup

Enter a figure in Catchup last ... Messages to determine the number of messages to read when you download news the next time

When you are finished selecting groups for subscription, click on OK.  Alternatively, you can choose to Cancel the operation, in which case the selected groups will not be subscribed.


          Setting Pointers for Newsgroups

For every newsgroup, TRP maintains an internal pointer.  This pointer determines the last message read in a newsgroup.  When TRP downloads news, it uses the pointer to ensure that you are not downloading news that you have already downloaded.

Sometimes it is desirable to adjust that pointer manually, in order to re-download messages that you have read already, or to skip messages that you do not wish to download.

To adjust the pointer for a newsgroup, double-click on a newsgroup in the News Window, or highlight a group and click on the Pointer on the toolbar:

Set Pointer back by .... Messages:

This sets the pointer back by the number of messages choosen (Default is 20).

Do not get Messages next time, but from then on.

News will not be collected for this group the next time you download news.  After that, news for this group will be collected as usual.  Use this option if there are a lot of messages at the news-server that you do not wish to download.

Click on OK to save the changes to the pointer, or click Cancel to abandon the operation.


          Unsubscribing from Newsgroups

If you wish to discontinue subscribtion to a newsgroup, unsubscribe from it by selecting Unsubscribe from the Groups Menu:

A list of subscribed groups is shown.

To unsubscribe from a group, double-click on the group name or highlight the group name and click on Unsubscribe.  When you are finished selecting groups for un-subscription, click  on OK.  Click on Cancel to abandon the operation.

When a newsgroup is deleted, all news articles (incoming, outgoing, queued, failed etc.) for that newsgroup are deleted.  Binary files received in that newsgroup are moved to the DATA\LEFTOVER directory.


          Downloading News

When you are connected to internet (having dialled-in via the modem if necessary), you can download news.  This will transfer a copy of all unread newsarticles in the subscribed newsgroups to your PC for TRP to display them:

TRP is downloading news.

During the download, you will see the number of messages in that group and the number of the message that TRP is currently downloading.

It is also possible to download selected groups only.

If you wish to discontinue downloading, click on Cancel, and after the current message is downloaded, the operation will be aborted.

If you wish to discontinue downloading the current group, but download the remaining messages in this group at a later time, click on Defer Group, and after the current message is downloaded, TRP will download the next Group.

If you wish to discontinue downloading the current group, and do not wish to download the remaining messages in this group in the future, click on Skip Group, and after the current message is downloaded, TRP will download the next Group.

Sometimes, a news message will have a binary file attached to it.  This binary file can be an executable application, a text file, or data such as pictures, sound-files, spreadsheets etc.

While downloading the news, TRP detaches these files and places them in the newsgroups directory on your harddisk, giving you the option to examine them when the download is finished.  When an attached binary file spans over several messages, TRP will, in most cases, be able to re-create the correct binary file.  The decoding process used is called UUDecode .

Once all groups are downloaded, TRP will return to the News Window where the downloaded news messages can be viewed.


          Mailing Addresses (Database)

TRP offers the facility to store often used EMail Addresses and associated names.  This is useful when writing EMail since you do not have to keep track of EMail addresses yourself.  To maintain the database of addresses, select Address Database from the File menu in the News Window, Database from the Addresses Menu in the Mail Window, or click on the Addresses Button in the toolbar:

Each name shown has an EMail address associated with it, which can be seen by highlighting any of the names in the list.

To Delete a Name and Address from the list, highlight it and click on Delete

To Edit a Name/Address, double-click on the entry, or highlight it and click on Edit:

Edit the details, if necessary, and click on OK.  You can then edit the EMail Address.

To Add a Name and Address, click on Add and you will be prompted to enter the details.

Click on Finished to return to the previous window.

Tip:

Another way to add addresses to the database is to highlight articles in the Mail Window, and click on the Save Addresses Button.  If EMail Address and Real Name of the selected EMail Message(s) are known, they are appended to the address database, otherwise you will be asked to provide the Name for the EMail addresses.


          Aliases

An alias is an EMail address that diverts incoming mail addressed to that Alias to another postbox.  This allows you to have multiple EMail Addresses pointing on the same postbox:

Note that the EMail address used as an alias should not be in use as a Postbox, Mailing List Name or Application Context.

Step 1

From the drop-list at the top, choose a postbox for which to add/edit/delete an alias.  When you select a postbox, the list of existing aliases for that postbox is built.

Step 2

To add an alias, click on Add.  You will be prompted to enter an Alias.  This alias is an EMail Address and has to follow the naming rules for these.

To edit an alias, highlight it and click on Edit or double-click on the entry.  You can then enter a new alias to replace the selected one.

To delete an alias, highlight it and click on Delete.

Step 3

You can repeat Step 2 as often as necessary, or click on Finished when you have completed the operations.


          Mailing List

Mailing Lists allow you to use TRP as a mail-redirector for other users.  Incoming mail that is addressed to a mailing list will be sent out (queued) to the member(s) of that mailing list.  Note that you should not use the name for a mailing list as the EMail address for a Postbox, Alias or Application Context.

The drop-list at the top of the Window contains the mailing lists, the Members list shows the members of (addresses to which the mail is redirected) the selected mailing list.

To add a mailing list, click on the small Add button beside the drop-list.  You will be asked to enter a name for the mailing list.  This name should be an EMail Address that uniquely identifies this new mailing list, if you wish other users to be able to write to this mailing list.  If you simply want to use it to address multiple recipients, you can choose another name, such as in the example above.

To delete a mailing list, select a mailing list and click on the small Delete button at the top right corner.

Once a mailing list is added / selected, you can maintain a list of members using the large Add, Edit and Delete buttons.  A member is an EMail address of a person to whome the mail which has been sent to the mailing list is redirected.

To add a member to the selected mailing list, click on the large Add Button, and you will be prompted to enter an EMail Address.

To edit a member of the selected mailing list, highlight the address in the member list and click on the large Edit Button, and you will be prompted to edit the EMail Address.

To delete a member from the selected mailing list, highlight the address in the member list and click on the large Delete Button.

When you are finished configuring the mailing lists, click on Finished.

Note that there can not be a mailing list without members.  If you have deleted all members from a mailing list, the mailing list will be deleted when you click on finished.  Similarly, if you create a mailing list without adding members, the mailing list will be deleted when you click on Finished.


          Application Context

Application contexts are a link between an EMail address and an application (Executable) on your PC.

The Application Context Feature is for the advanced user.  For the average user, it is not important to know how to use Applications Contexts.  If you have a TRP compatible Application Daemon, follow the instructions that were supplied with the Daemon.

The window below shows an Application Context configured for Tetrixs DocServe Daemon.

The minimum configuration for an Application Context consists of its EMail Address and associated Application.

The Address is the EMail address which triggers the application.  Note that this Address should not be in use as the EMail address for a Postbox, Alias or Mailing List.

The Application identifies an COM, BAT, EXE or PIF file that is the application which you would like to run when mail is received for the configured address.  The application will be executed by TRP with the path and name of the text-file containing the original message being passed as the command-line parameter.

Other relevant information, such as the Subjet and Sender of the message, as well as the EMail address of the application context, are placed into a text-file APP.INF which is placed into the applications directory prior to execution.  This APP.INF file has the following format:

REPLYTO:[Sender of EMail to Application Context)

SUBJECT:[Subject of EMail to Application Context]

CONTEXT:[EMail Address of Application Context]

(The square brackets are not included)

The application should, upon completion of processing, terminate.  This avoids the same application being executed multiple times by multiple EMails to the same application context, thus taking up increasing amounts of memory.

The Result File is a file that is generated by the application in response to the mail sent to it.  The format of the contents of the result file is specified below.

The Timeout is the time that the application will take to execute, process and terminate.  TRP will wait for the specified interval before it looks and processes a result file (if specified).

Format of Result Files

If the application responds to the mail, a result-file needs to be configured.  This file is a text-file generated by the application.  Each line in that result file should not be longer than 80 characters, and should be terminated by a CR-LF sequence (ASCII Codes 13 and 10), yielding a maximum line length of 82 bytes.

Before the application is run, TRP will delete any existing result file.  The result file should contain, in the first lines, the following information:

FROM:[sender email address]       	(Usually the contexts EMail address)

TO:[recipient email address]	  	(Usually the person that wrote to the context)

SUBJECT:[subject]

The following entry is optional:

ATTACH:[fully qualified filename, i.e drive,path and name]

(The square brackets should not be included)

The FROM: line would usually contain the EMail address of the application context, but can be any valid EMail address, including but not limited to a Postbox, Mailing List or Alias.  This address will be shown to the recipient as the address to respond to in any further communications.

The TO: line shall contain the EMail address to whom to send the result files message body.

The SUBJECT: should contain the subject of the result files message body.

The ATTACH: line, if used, should identify a binary file to be UUEncoded and attached to the message.  The file specified herein is encoded and attached at the time the message is sent to the recipient, and therefore this file must exist when the message is sent.

The body of the message to be sent starts after the first blank line following the lines discussed above.

EMail resulting from Application Contexts are queued for sending in the [UNASSIGNED] postbox.  EMail sent to an application context is received in the [UNASSIGNED] postbox and will be processed automatically after downloading of Mail is completed.

Furhter Assistance:

If you need assistance with writing your own application daemons, contact the Author as shown in the Shareware License Agreement.


DocServe Daemon

DocServe is an Application Context Daemon acting as a file-provider.  DocServe is Shareware, and using DocServe binds you to the terms of the Shareware License Agreement.

When EMails is sent to the application Context associated with DocServe, it will send a binary file as specified in the mails Subject Line to the originator (requester) of the message, provided that file is available to be served.

DocServ uses an INI file that contains a list of requestable filenames in the format

FILENAME=DRIVEPATHNAME,DESCRIPTION

to determine the files name, location and description.

FILENAME is a standard DOS filename (with extension if needed)

DRIVEPATHNAME is a standard DOS drive, path and filename (with extension if needed)

DESCRIPTION is a short, one-line title of the file.

This INI-file should be maintained using notepad or some other ASCII editor.  A sample file might look like this:

A special filename, INDEX.DOC, is reserved.  When a user requests INDEX.DOC, the file will be created by the DocServe Daemon.  The index file will contain a list of all the files referenced in the INI file, with the omission of the DRIVEPATHNAME data.  This file will then be attached, as a binary file, to the outgoing message.  The INDEX.DOC file need not and should not be included in the INI file as a servable file.

The INDEX.DOC file created for the above INI file looks like this:

DocServe is not limited to Documents.  It can distribute any binary file, even applications.  However, since served files are sent UUEncoded, it is not advisable to send large files with DocServe.


          Writing Mail

To write EMail, Click on the Write Button in the Mail Window, or Click the right-mousebutton while the mouse-pointer is over the Incoming or Outgoing List in the Mail Window and select Write from the pop-up menu, or Select Write from the Mail Menu or press CTRL-W in the Mail Window.

The window features an editor-area in which you can enter the text of the EMail message you wish to send.

Enter the subject of the mail in the Re: line.

One or more (separated by a space) EMail addresses can be entered in the To: line at the top.  To select addresses from the Address Database, or to send mail to a mailing list, click on More:

Select one or more addresses and click on OK to add them to the listof recipients, or click on Cancel if you do not wish to add to the list of recipients.  To write to a mailing list , click on Mailing Lists and select the desired group of recipients.

You can mark a message as being a draft.  To do so, select Draf in the top right of the window.  Draft messages will not be queued for sending when you click on OK.

To view the list of attachements, click on Files.

When you have finished writing the message, click on OK, or click Cancel to abandon the operation.

Use the Menu Bar to manipulate the text.

Depending on which Postbox is currently selected, the relevant EMail Address will be used as the return-address of the mail, and the relevant Signature is attached to the end of the message at the time the message is sent.


Attaching Files to EMail

You can attach up to 20 binary files to an EMail message.  When the message is sent, these files will be encoded and sent as part of that message.  The original file is not affected by this operation.

There are several ways of attaching files to EMail:

If you are already editing a message

1.) From File-Manager, select the File(s) to attach and drag them onto the window in

which you are writing the mail message.

2.) Click on Files and drag files selected in File Manager onto the Files Window of TRP

3.) Click on Files and add files by selecting the Add button.

If you are not yet editing a message

4,)  You can drag files from File Manager onto the Write Mail button.

Use Drag-and-Drop or buttons

The selected files (up to 20) will be UUEncoded and attached to the EMail at the time the Mail is sent.  The recipient of the Mail will then re-construct the attached file(s) from the EMail.  If the recipient also uses TRP, this will happen automatically.


Attaching Files to News

You can attach up to 20 binary files to an News message.  When the message is sent, these files will be encoded and sent as part of that message.  The original file is not affected by this operation.

There are several ways of attaching files to News:

If you are already editing a message

1.) From File-Manager, select the File(s) to attach and drag them onto the window in

which you are writing the news message.

2.) Click on Files and drag files selected in File Manager onto the Files Window of TRP

3.) Click on Files and add files by selecting the Add button.

If you are not yet editing a message

4,)  You can drag files from File Manager onto the Write News button.

Use Drag-and-Drop or buttons

The selected files (up to 20) will be UUEncoded and attached to the News article at the time the News is uploaded.  Anybody downloading that news article will download the file as part of the message.  It is up to the recipient to decode the file and  reconstruct it to its original form.  TRP will decode and re-construct binary files from downloaded news-messages automatically.


UUDecoding and UUEncoding <definition>
UUDecoding and UUEncoding

UUEncoding is the name given to a process of encoding binary files (such as picture files, sound files, executable files (programs), spreadsheets etc) into a format that can be transmitted as text.  Such encoded data, which looks like illegible text, can be transmitted over various networks that otherwise do not allow transmission of binary data.  In particular, the Mail and News systems devised for the internet do not allow for 8-Bit data (i.e. binary files) to be transmitted.  It is therefore necessary to use a system such as UUEncode to convert the data contained in those files to 7-Bit data, which can be transmitted as text.  A uuencoded file uses only the 64 most popular characters out of the 128 possible.  This further enhances the likelyhood of an encoded file arriving undisturbed at the recipient.

The process of restoring a UUEncoded file to the original binary format is called UUDecoding.  It is a reversal of the UUEncoding algorithms.  Sometimes, a UUEncoded file spreads over several messages.  To reconstruct the original binary data, the UUDecoding software has to look at all messages containing Encoded data for one particular binary file.  TRP does this automatically and is highly successful in decoding UUEncoded files that span over multiple messages, provided that these messages are in sequence.

UUEncoded files are ca. 50% bigger than the UUDecoded source.  In other words, to transmit a 10KByte File, 20KBytes are actually transmitted.


          Sending Mail

To be able to send mail, you need to be connected to the internet.  If required, you must establish the connection over the modem using the socket application (e.g. winsock).

TRP will establish communications with the Mail Server and send all mail that is queued or failed.

If TRP is not successful in establishing a connection, you will be told so.

If TRP connected, all mail that was sent successfully will be marked as sent. (If AutoArchive is switched on in the Mail Configuration, sent mail is marked as archived.)  Mail that wasnt succesfully sent (usually because the recipient doesnt exist) is marked as failed.


Edit Mail

Outgoing Mail can be edited as long as it has not been archived or succesfully sent.  This means that drafted, failed and queued mail can be edited.  Highlight the mail item in the list of outgoing mail items and click the right mousebutton and select delete or highlight the item and select View/Edit in the Mail Menu or simply double-click on the mail item in the list of outgoing mail.

The mail editor window will show the message that was previously entered:

The message text, recipient and subject can be changed.

You can use drag-and-drop to attach files, or add / remove files by clicking on Files.


Edit and Font Menu
Edit, Font and Line Menu

The Edit Menu has the standart Copy, Paste, Cut, Delete and Select All options:

Copy places a copy of the highlighted message text into the clipboard.  Some message text must be highlighted for this option to be enabled.

Paste places the text that is in the clipboard into the text-area of the message.  The message text must be editable for this option to be enabled.

Cut moves the highlighted message text into the clipboard and removes it from the message text.  Some message text must be highlighted for this option to be enabled.

Delete removes the highlighted message text. Some message text must be highlighted for this option to be enabled.

Select All highlights the entire message text.

The Font Menu allows you to select a fixed font and pitch:

The Line Menu allows you to select the Editors line length:


Receiving Mail

To be able to receive mail that might be waiting for you at the Mail Server, you need to be connected to the internet.  If required, you must establish the connection over the modem using the socket application (e.g. winsock).

Mail will be received in the background.  SMTP Mail is received when your service provider or the sender of the mail chooses to send it.  POP Mail is checked for and received at the interval specified in the Mail Configuration window.

Received EMail will be announced by voice / beep, and visually.  An Icon appearing to the right of the toolbar indicates that new mail has arrived.  When you click on the Icon, it will disappear, and the newly received mail will be placed into the Postboxes that you have configured in the Post Office, through the Aliases if necessary.  Mail received for Mailing Lists or Application Contexts is handled accordingly.  When receiving mail, it doesnt matter which postbox is currently selected, since mail is received for all EMail addresses at your host.  POP Mail will always appear in the Unassigned Postbox.

Newly received and unread mail will show as new in the list of incoming mail in the Mail Window.  If the mail deals with a subject that is not appropriate to the postbox in which it has been received, you can redirect it to another postbox.

To switch to a postbox that contains new mail, press F12 in the mail window, or select Next New from the postbox menu.


Reading and Replying to Incoming Mail

When you have received Mail, you will probably want to read it.  From the Postbox Menu, select the Postbox for which you want to list mail.  If no incoming mail is shown with a status of New, then there hasnt been any mail received for that postbox.

To view the mail, double-click on the entry in thelist of incoming mail items, and you will be shown the message.

If you wisth to reply to the mail, click on Reply.  You will be asked if you wish to quote the original message in the reply.  The EMail Address and Subject of the reply are filled-in automatically, but you can change either parameter.

You can also forward the mail to another recipient by clicking on the Forward button.


Forwarding Mail

Incoming and Outgoing Mail can be forwarded to one or more EMail addresses.  Highlight the mail item and select Forward from the Mail Menu or click the right mouse button over the highlighted entries and select Forward form the Popup Menu.

The Message Editor shows the selected Mail Item, giving you the opprtunity to change the Message Text or Subject and enter one or more recipients (or click the More Button to select from the Address Database or Mailing Lists .

Once you click on OK, the message will be queued to all the recipients.  You can then change each message individually by following the usual edit procedure.

Alternatively, you can forward mail from inside the Mail Editor.


          Printing Mail

One or more Mail Messages may be printed at the same time.

Select the items of mail you wish to print by highlighting them, then click on the Print Button, or select Print from the Mail Menu.

The selected messages will be printed to the default printer using the parameters specified in the Printer Setup.


Deleting Mail

One or more Mail Messages may be deleted at the same time.

Select the items of mail you wish to delete by highlighting them, then select Delete from the Mail Menu or click the right mouse button and select Delete from the Popup Menu.


Archiving Mail

One or more Mail Messages may be archived at the same time.

Select the items of mail you wish to delete by highlighting them, then select Archive from the Mail Menu or click the right mouse button and select Archive from the Popup Menu.

Archived Mail is, unlike Archived News, not actually saved to a file.  It is simply flagged as Archived and as such will not be visible in the list of incoming/outgoing mail, unless you have selected to show Archived Mail.


          Show Archived Mail

Click on this button to select wether or not to show archived mail.  While the button is down, archived mail will be shown in the list of incoming / outgoing mail.


Archiving News

Archiving News, unlike Archiving Mail, places the contents of the News Articles that are being archived into a text file and removes the entry from the list.

To archive one or more news items, highlight them by selecting them with the mouse, and click on Archive in the News Menu, or click the right mouse-button and select Archive from the Popup Menu.


Deleting News

There are two ways of deleting news articles:

Normal Deleting

Highlight the articles and select Delete from the News Menu or from the Popup Menu that shows when you press the right mouse-button.

Enhanced Deleting

Select Enhanced Delete from the News Menu or click on the Enhanced Delete Button:

First, specify the Groups in which you want to delete news items.

Secondly, specify types of articles and whether you want to delete articles of that type (Include), or if you want to delete articles that are not of that type (Exclude).  Once you click on OK, those articles will be deleted.

Examples:

To delete all articles in all groups, select the All Groups and Exlude options, and click on OK.

To delete all articles in the current group, except those that are unread, click on This Group and Exclude and New before clicking on OK.


          Printing News

Several News articles can be printed at the same time.  Highlight the articles to print and click on the Printer Button, or press the right mouse-button and choose Print in the popup menu.  The selected articles will be printed on the default printer using the parameters specified in the Printer Setup.


          Sending News

To be able to send (upload) news to the news-server, you need to be connected to the internet.  If required, you must establish the connection over the modem using the socket application (e.g. winsock).

Any news that is queued or failed will be sent to the News Server where it will be placed into the newsgroups for other subscribers to read.  TRP will then mark those items as sent.


          Searching for Words in News

If you want to search for the occurance of a certain word / phrase in the newsarticles of a newsgroup, click on the Search Button on the toolbar.

Enter the word/phrase to search for, and select the option as follows:

Search in Subject only:

This will limit the search to the Subject-Line of the News Articles.

Match Whole Words only:

This will ignore occurences of your search term that are part of another word, e.g. with this option selected, the word car will not be found in the word incarcerate.

Match Case:

If this option is not selected, capitalization does not have to match.

Exclude Header:

The Header of the messages will not be searched.

Click on Cancel to abandon the operation, or on OK to carry out the search.  The color of the list of news articles changes to red to indicated that the list contains a subset of available articles only.  All articles left in the red list have one or more occurences of the search word/phrase.  To revert to the list of available articles, click on the newsgroup in the list of newsgroups.  The list of articles will show all articles and revert to a the normal color.


View list of files attached to received News
          View list of files attached to Incoming News

To view a list of files attached to incoming news articles, click on the Files Button in the News Window:

The list shows the names of files that were attached to received news articles.

This Session

Do not show files that were downloaded in previous sessions of TRP

All

Show all files that were received, including those received in previous sessions of TRP

To execute a received file, double-click on the filename in the list.

Click on OK to close this window.


Writing News

To write News:

Click on the Write Button in the News Window, or Click the right-mousebutton while the mouse-pointer is over the list of News items and select Write from the pop-up menu, or select Write from the News Menu or press CTRL-W in the News Window.

The window features a large edit area in which you can enter the text of the News article you wish to write.

Enter the subject of the article in the Re: line.

You can mark an article as being a draft.  To do so, select Draft in the top right of the window.  Draft messages will not be queued for sending when you click on OK.

To view the list of attachements, click on Files.

When you have finished writing the message, click on OK, or click Cancel to abandon the operation.

Use the Menu Bar to manipulate the text.

Depending on which Postbox is currently selected, the relevant EMail Address will be used as the return-address of the article, and the relevant Signature is attached to the end of the message at the time the message is sent.


Reading and Replying to News

To read a news article, double-click on it in the list of newsarticles.  If this article is an outgoing article, you can edit the message.  If it is a received article, you can reply to it:

The following Buttons are available for incoming messages:

< (Previous)

This will show the previous article, if there is one.

> (Next)

This will show the next article, if there is one.

Print will print the article to the default printer in the manner specified under Printer Setup.

Delete will delete the current article and show the next one.

Archive wil append the article to the SAVE.TXT file in the groups news directory.  It will then delete the article and show the next one.

Close will close the window.

Reply will allow you to write a reply to this article, automatically filling in the subject and selecting the recipient if you choose to reply by email, giving you the option to quote the message in the reply:

Quote Message Text in Reply:

Will quote the text of the current news article in the reply, using an Intro Line if selected in the configuration.

Reply as EMail

The reply will be sent by EMail rather than as a News Article.

Click on OK to proceed with the reply, or Cancel to abort replying.


Filtering Headers in News

When viewing News articles, it might be desirable to switch off the display of the some or all of the header .  You can selectively switch off certain header lines by switching on the filter for the particular line.  You can also switch off the display of the entire header:

Placing a check-mark beside the menu entry enables the filter for that line and disables the display display for that line when viewing the message.  (Filters do not affect the appearance of news that is printed.)


Version of Help File

This Online Help is of Version 1.1.0


          Download list of new Newsgroups

To be able to subscribe to newsgroups, TRP needs a list of available newsgroups.  This list is stored at the NNTP Server.  If you already have a list of newsgroups available, you can update the list by selecting Download List of new Newsgroups from the Groups Menu.

The window that is displayed when TRP is downloading the list of newsgroups.

To be able to download the list, you need to be connected to the internet.  If required, you must establish the connection over the modem using the socket application (e.g. winsock).


RUIP - Remote User Interface Program

TRP Includes a RUIP Client.  A RUIP Client is a program that answers incoming Finger requests, and provides information to the user requesting this by Fingering your host.

The information provided by the RUIP is contained in the file RUIP.TXT.

To configure the RUIP, select the Configuration Options from the News or Mail Window, by clicking on the Wrench Button in the toolbar.

Click on RUIP in the Options Window, and the RUIP Configuration Window will display:

Three options allow you to select the RUIPs behaviour:

Enable RUIP

If this option is not selected, the RUIP will not be reply to finger-requests.  This setting will not take effect until TRP is restarted.

Caller Log

If this option is enabled, any finger requests to your host will be logged to the file RUIP.LOG

Name Lookup

If this option is enabled (provided that the Caller Log is also enabled), the Log will contain the Host Name of the Fingering party.  Otherwise, only the IP Address is shown.

Enter the Text to be supplied to the fingering party in the area provided.

Click on OK to save the new settings, or on Cancel to abandon changes.


Offline Operation
Other Information:

TRP Supports POP Mail Port 110, SMTP Mail Port 25 and NNTP News Port 119.

TRP Finger Responder listens on Port 79

TRP was written in Visual Basic Version 3.0 Professional and  uses MSGBLAST third-party Custom Control by Ed Staffin.

TRP is Shareware.  Click here for Shareware Agreement

Command Line Switch: /nosocket

TRP is inherently an Offline Reader.  However, when you start TRP, it will try to communicate with your winsock utility to establish some basic settings.  Some winsocks may establish a connection (dial-up) when they are being communicated with by an application such as TRP.  This can be undesirable if the user doesnt want to establish a connection.  To facilitate this, TRP can be started with a command-line switch: /nosocket

To implement this, it is recommended to set up two Icons for use with TRP.  Follow the steps below:

1. Set up another Item / Icon for TRP in Program Manager:

The easiest method to setup another Icon for TRP is to copy the existing one.  For this, hold the CTRL-Key down and drag the existing Icon to another position in the folder.  Then release the mouse button and the CTRL-Key, and you will have a duplicate of the original Icon.

2. Change the parameters of the duplicate Icon:

With the new, duplicate Icon selected (click on it once), hold down the left ALT Key and press Enter.  The properties Window will show:

3. Edit the Description and Command Line as follows:

Change the Description to reflect the Offline setting, by changing it to something like TRP Offline or similar.  Change the Command Line by adding a space to the end of it, followed by /nosocket (without the quotes).

4. Click on OK to save the new Icon

You should now see 2 Icons in the folder.  If you click on the Offline Icon, TRP will run without communicating to your winsock, thus avoiding a dial-in.  You will obviously not be able to send and receive news / mail / finger enquiries, since you are not connected to the internet.


            Redirecting Mail

Mail that has arrived in a postbox can be redirected to another postbox.  For example, if you have 2 postboxes, one personal and another dealing with technical support enquiries, you might want to redirect a technical support enquiry that has arrived in the personal postbox to the technical support postbox.  The purpose of this is to move a thread to another postbox, and to apply the correct signature to any replies that might be made.

To redirect mail, highlight the article(s) to redirect and click on the Redirect Button, or select Redirect from the Mail Menu.  You then choose the postbox to which you want to redirect the mail to:

Double-Click on the name of the target postbox, or highlight it and click on OK to redirect the mail.  Clicking on Cancel will abandon the operation.


                     Switching between News and Mail

To switch between the Mail and News Window, use the Window Menu.  Alternatively, you can

press CTRL-M for the Mail-Window, or CTRL-N for the News-Window.


            Locking onto a Thread

To display news-articles that deal with a particular subject (thread), you can click on the Lock Thread Button on the toolbar in the news window.  All articles not dealing with the currently highlighted subject in that newsgroup are hidden from view.  To restore the full list of articles, click on the lock-button again.


Mail

Configuration   Post Office   Postboxes   Mailing Addresses (Database)   Writing Mail   Editing Mail   Sending Mail   Receiving Mail   Reading and Replying to Incoming Mail   Forwarding Mail   Printing Mail   Deleting Mail   Archiving Mail   Redirecting Mail   Aliases   Mailing Lists   Application Contexts   File Transfer with EMail   Switching to News


News

Configuration   Postboxes   Download list of available Newsgroups   Download list of new Newsgroups   Subscribing to Newsgroups   Setting Pointers   Unsubscribing from Newsgroups   Downloading (Receiving) News   Downloading Selected Newsgroups   Filtering Headers   Reading and Replying to News   Viewing Files attached to received News   Searching for Words in News   Writing News   Sending News   Printing News   Deleting News   Archiving News   Locking onto a Thread   Switching to Mail   File Transfer with News


Special Conditions for Registered Charities

Registered Charities and similar bodies can receive free registration of TRP and DocServe at the discretion of Tetrix Engineering.  To apply for free registration, post proof of status to:

Tetrix Engineering

201 Harolds Cross Road

Harolds Cross

Dublin 6W

Republic Of Ireland

Tetrix reserves the right to refuse free registration without obligation to explain or defend such refusal to the applicant.


Special Conditions for Internet Service Providers

If you are an Internet Service Provider, you may avail of discounts if you wish to offer the registered package to your customers.

         Pricing Structure for Internet Service Providers only:

1 to 10 Sets of Registrations:	£ 20.00 each  (ca. US$ 30.00)

11 to 49 Registrations:	£ 16.00 each  (ca. US$ 24.00)

50 to 99 Registrations:	£ 13.00 each  (ca. US$ 20.00)

100 to 499 Registrations:	£ 11.00 each  (ca. US$ 16.50)

500+ Registrations:	£   9.00 each  (ca. US$ 13.00)

On subscription, you will be provided with the appropriate number of registration keys for you to pass-on to your customers.


Quote Marker

The Quote-Marker is a single character that is placed before each line of text of an article to which a reply is written.  The same Quote Marker is used for Mail and News Replies.  The Default Quote Marker is a >.


                        Downloading Selected News

You can download selected groups only:  Select Selective Download from the News Menu or press CTRL-S:

Select the newsgroups you wish to download.  You can select multiple groups by clicking on them while holding down the SHIFT or CTRL Key.

When you click on OK, the selected groups will be downloaded.  Clicking on Cancel aborts the operation.