PS: Not all commands are available on your HUB, so communicate with him and request the complete list available on his system. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PS2: Si vous voulez une traduction fran‡aise, lire AREAMGRF.HLP . -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- AreaRequest Automated Help Information File Revised: 12/02/96 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The mail processor that creates the mail you receive from your uplinks address uses a system called AreaRequest. This allows you to use specially formatted Netmail messages that when properly interpreted, allow you to perform a wide variety of modifications to your current conference configuration without requiring human intervention on your uplinks part. Features like activating conferences, changing your compression method, rescanning a conference and a host of other options. This provides you with a totally automated mechanism of changing the way you receive mail as well as "what" you receive all by simply creating a Netmail message to AreaRequest. SECURITY -------- Due to the power of this capability, AreaRequest employs built-in security methods preventing unauthorized systems from gaining access and performing operations they shouldn't. Any attempts to activate options you don't have sufficient access to will produce a response message back to your system informing you of this while at the same time generate a message to the SysOp of the uplink system that an illegal attempt had been made. All security level definitions and configuration is handled at the uplinks system, so any changes with regard to security must be made directly by the uplinks SysOp. If you have any questions in this regard, you should contact him/her directly. SPECIALLY FORMATTED NETMAIL MESSAGE ----------------------------------- AreaRequest makes use of Netmail messages that have been specially formatted which controls what AreaRequest should do. When defining this message there are two distinct sections to configure. The message header (to/from addressing etc) and the message body. The message body is considered optional because if you use the -Q option (conference query), then nothing needs to be in the message body. However if you wanted to turn on/off conferences, change passwords and so on, then these commands must be specified in the message body. MESSAGE HEADER -------------- When defining the message header, the 5 basic sections are described below. TO: ADDRESS The netmail message should be addressed to your uplinks primary or any one of his AKAs (alternate addresses). TO: NAME The most common name to use would be AreaMgr, but since these names may vary from system to system, if AreaMgr doesn't work for you, you should contact the uplink SysOp for the specific name to use here. FROM: ADDRESS The FROM: address of the message should be your address that has access to the related functions this request is being configured for. In other words, you should use your correct AKA address relative to the network you're requesting conferences for. You wouldn't want to use your Fido address for conferences within OCRNET, instead you would use your OCRNET address. FROM: NAME Normally you would use your regular name here. This field is not used by AreaRequest. SUBJECT LINE This is one of the most crucial definitions because here is where you specify your password which could optionally be followed by a -Q. The most important part here is that the password MUST BE THE FIRST WORD ON THE LINE. All the remaining parameters must be separated by a space and any combination may be used together. Example Usage: PASSWORD -Q Upper/lowercase characters are insignificant. The -Q option is functionally equivalent to the %QUERY command except that it is placed on the subject line instead of in the body of the message. For additional information, please refer to the %QUERY definition. MESSAGE BODY ------------ The message body portion of the Netmail message can be used for various different purposes. The activation/deactivation of conferences, using the extended command set and for specifying which conferences are to be rescanned, requesting help and so one. When AreaRequest processes these messages, it will read each line as a single command along with any "parameters" and execute it accordingly. So each command is read on a line by line basis, interpreted and then executed. Blank lines are ignored, upper/lowercase characters are insignificant and commands may not extend past a single line. Any commands which are read that AreaRequest can't understand, an attempt to execute options your node address doesn't have access to, as part of the response message thats sent back to your system, it will contain information relative to the inability to execute that command. Shown below is a description of the available commands. Area Activation/De-activation ----------------------------- By specifying the area name of the conference, you may activate it by either of 2 methods as shown below: Example Usage: +WILDCAT or WILDCAT Notice here that you may include the + character in front of the area name if desired. It's not a requirement, but is used either with or without the plus sign. Only one area name may be specified per line of the message. NOTE: If the requested conference is not configured on your uplinks system, then AreaRequest will make the necessary changes to your uplinks system and then forward a request to your uplinks main feed address (node that your uplink gets their mail from) requesting the conference(s). Once mail for the requested conference(s) starts flowing to your uplinks address, then those messages will automatically be forwarded on to your system at the same time. Now, to de-activate the conference, you would use: Example Usage: -WILDCAT This is exactly the same as with the activation option only now you MUST specify the - (minus) character in front of the area to be deactivated. EXTENDED COMMAND SET -------------------- The extended commands are easily distinguished by the percent sign at the beginning of the command name. Since each of these commands are configurable by the SysOp of your uplinks system, you may or may not have access to all of the ones listed below. If you attempt to use one and you are informed you don't have access to its use, you should contact the uplink systems SysOp and discuss the situation with him/her. As previously mentioned, each of these commands are interpreted/executed on a line by line basis so if you wish to execute a command more than once, you'll need to make additional lines accordingly. Shown below is a description of the available commands %COMPRESSION Allows a node to change the compression method that they currently have. The must be a valid compression scheme supported by WM such as ARC, ARJ, PAK, LZH, ZIP and ZOO. Example Usage: %COMPRESSION ZIP %PASSWORD Allows a node to change the value of the AreaRequest password that they currently use. The must be not be larger than 8 characters. If it is larger, WM will only use the first 8 characters. Example Usage: %PASSWORD JoeM %ACTIVE This command that has no parameters and allows you to reactivate your node address that has been previously toggled inactive via the use of the %PASSIVE command. Example Usage: %ACTIVE %PASSIVE This command has no parameters and allows you to temporarily toggle all mail flow "off" for your address. For example, if a you were going away on vacation for awhile, using the %PASSIVE command would temporarily halt mail flow and then when you return from vacation, using the %ACTIVE command would re-enable mail flow. Example Usage: %PASSIVE You should note that this option does not toggle your conferences on or off, rather it toggles your entire node definition to inactive leaving your configuration completely intact. Then using the %ACTIVE restores your node definition. %-ALL This single option command allows you to toggle all of the conferences that you're currently receiving from your uplink off. This command is very powerful so you should be careful when using it. Example Usage: %-ALL Normally this command is only used when you will no longer be picking mail up from that system. %HELP This single option command will send you the contents of this information file. It will be compressed using your selected compression format, attached to a netmail message and then sent off to your address. Example Usage: %HELP Depending on your uplinks configuration, this file may also be sent to your system automatically if you attempt to execute a command that is invalid or use a improper format with a valid command. %RESCAN [] This command allows you to extract messages from a particular conference that your uplinks system has message bases for and have those messages resent to your system. This is very handy when you first activate a conference and would like get your system "caught up" on the messages for this conference. You should note, if this conference is configured on your uplinks system as a "passthough" conference, you will be unable to extract any messages. This option must have at least one parameter specified, with that being the area name. If you don't specify the area name, nothing will be rescanned. The second parameter is the number of messages "backward" that will be counted and then extracted out. Such as: Example Usage: %RESCAN WILDCAT 100 or %RESCAN WILDCAT ALL In the above example, the area name is WILDCAT and the last 100 messages will be extracted. The second definition means take ALL of the messages that are in your uplinks message base for the WILDCAT conference, extract them and send them to you. Since this second parameter is optional, leaving this off will be interpreted exactly the same as using the ALL parameter. All of your usual definitions are maintained such as maximum messages per PKT file as well as maximum archive size will be properly maintained when using the %RESCAN command. NOTE: Unlike other systems, you will need to create multiple definitions for the various different conferences you'd like to rescan such as: %RESCAN WILDCAT 100 %RESCAN FOR-SALE 50 CONTROL LINE INFORMATION ------------------------ When performing a %RESCAN, certain control line information such as SEEN-BY: and PATH: line information is properly maintained. This means that during a rescan, an Origin line will be added (if the message originated on your uplinks system, all the nodes that your uplink forwards this conference to will be added to the SEEN-BY: lines and a new PATH: line will be created containing just your uplinks address. Caution is advised here because you should make sure you don't forward ANY of these rescanned messages on to systems that feed your uplinks address. The rescanning messages may be forwarded to your downlink systems, just make sure they don't get somehow refed to your uplinks address. While adding this control info to each "rescanned" message is not a complete "cure-all" for preventing duplicate messages, it does provide an extra measure of safety. %LIST This command will create a paginated report based upon your security setup, listing all of the conferences your node address has access to. It doesn't matter whether the conferences are selected or not, whether your uplink address has their system configured for them or not, this is a complete list that will be generated for all conferences in all the networks you have sufficient access to. Example Usage: %LIST This paginated report is then compressed using your configured compression format and then attached to a Netmail message and sent to your address. This information is handy when trying to determine what conferences are available to you based upon your security level. %QUERY This command allow you to instruct AreaRequest to generate a listing of all the conferences that your system is currently receiving on a network by network basis from your uplink address. Example Usage: %QUERY This information is handy when you want to find out what conferences you are currently receiving. %UNLINKED This command will create a list of all conferences that your address has access to which your uplink system already has configured on his/her system. In other words, these are the conferences that your uplink address is already receiving mail for in order to either add to their message bases or forward on to other downlink systems. Example Usage: %UNLINKED This option differs from the %LIST command in that it will only list those conferences based upon your security setup that you have access to which your uplink address is "already" carrying (not something they "could" request). %PKTPSWDIN This command allows you to change your outbound PKT level password. This password is the same password your system puts on its "outbound" mail PKTs destined for your uplinks address. Example Usage: %PKTPSWDIN NewPswd If you wish to remove the password entirely, just use the %PKTPSWDIN without a replacement password. %PKTPSWDOUT This command allows you to change your inbound PKT level password. This password is the same password that your uplink address puts on its "outbound" mail PKTs destined for your address. (These are PKT files that appear in your inbound directory) Example Usage: %PKTPSWDOUT NewPswd If you wish to remove the password entirely, just use the %PKTPSWDOUT without a replacement password. %PKTFORMAT This command allows you to change the PKT file format that your uplink creates mail destined for your address in. Currently there are three different types to choose from. TYPE2 - Type 2 PKT format TYPE22 - Type 2.2 PKT format TYPE2PLUS - Type 2Plus PKT format There is a limitation here. If you are a point off of your uplinks address, then you will be unable to select TYPE2 as your new PKT format because TYPE2 PKTs don't support point addressing. Example Usage: %PKTFORMAT TYPE22 By far the most commonly used format is TYPE2PLUS. %UNCOMPBYTES When your uplink creates mail destined for your system, it places the messages into PKT files and then compresses those PKT files into archives for transmission to your system. This option allows you to specify the maximum bytes the archive should uncompress "to" when your system uncompresses the mail. Basically the option works like this, when your uplink packs up mail for you, it will keep a running total of all PKT sizes and when this maximum is reached, a new archive will be created. Example Usage: %UNCOMPBYTES 3000000 This option is extremely handy when your system is low on disk space and you need to prevent uncompressing a huge archive that will use more free space than your system has. It should be pointed out that this is a "best guess" setting because the check is done on a PKT basis, so the PKT totals at the point which exceed the value specified here will trigger an archive creation. %MSGSPERPKT This command allows you to specify the maximum number of messages per PKT file that your uplink should add to a PKT before creating a new one. Example Usage: %MSGSPERPKT 300 Typical values are 200 to 300. If you specify a large value here, if mail somehow gets corrupted, you could potentially lose a larger amount than if the PKT file was smaller. SIGNALING THE END OF COMMANDS ----------------------------- A special group of characters called a tear line should be placed after the last command to signal AreaRequest that it has reached the end of the message and to ignore any remaining text. This tear line consists of three dashes (---) together starting on column 1 of a blank line. Although the tear line is not required, it should be there as a matter of course. So if you would like to include text to the SysOp in the same AreaRequest message, you may do so after the tear line as it will simply be ignored. SAMPLE AREAREQUEST MESSAGE -------------------------- The actual AreaRequest message may be created by using either your front end mailers editor or the one built into your BBS. Shown below is a sample message. [1] 12 Feb 96 19:24:32 Cost: 0 By: Christian Deschamps, SUP-TECH BBS (1:167/535) To: AreaMgr, (1:167/500) Re: Password St: Kill Del/sent Local ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ +FOR-SALE -WILDCAT %RESCAN FOR-SALE 50 %RESCAN GAMING ALL %RESCAN WOODWORKING 100 %QUERY %UNCOMPBYTES 2000000 %COMPRESSION ARJ --- Any text below this line will be ignored by AreaRequest and signals the end of the commands. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of AreaRequest Automated Help Information File --------------------------------------------------------------------------