NOTE: IF YOU HAVE CHOSEN "LPT:" AS YOUR DOWNLOAD PATH BE "SURE" YOUR PRINTER IS **CONNECTED** AND TURNED **ON** OR ELSE YOU COULD LOSE -=EVERYTHING=- !!!!! EM8SIG does not check to see if you have done this. It just assumes you know what you are doing. After checking with EasyPlex, EM8SIG transmits a "GO M100SIG" command. As soon as CIS makes the connection, you will see the program automatically set up its required Forum options. No permanent changes are made to user selected options. The program will then "Quick Scan" all message headers of messages uploaded to the forum since you last checked in. It will download these to either your printer, "LPT:", or "HDRSIG.DO", whichever you have chosen as the download path. If you have chosen "HDRSIG.DO" and the file does not exist in RAM, EM8SIG will establish it. Next EM8SIG checks for all messages addressed to you. It does this by looking for your ID in the "To:" field of each message on the forum. That is why including the "ID" is so important. If it is not there you may never see the message unless you happen to choose to read it because of its title. If any messages are found, they will be downloaded to either your printer, "LPT:", or "NEWSIG.DO", and as before, if you have chosen "NEWSIG.DO" and the file is not in RAM, EM8SIG will establish it. Lastly, EM8SIG will reset the high message counter so it will know where to begin the next time, and log-off of CIS. In other words it will hang-up the phone. All of the above will happen very quickly, a lot faster than you could have done it manually. And now you can spend your time off-line reviewing your messages and checking for other messages that might be of interest to you. CMDSIG.DO CMDSIG.DO is another file you must set up manually. It will contain your REAd commands when you log back on as well as other forum commands you might choose to use. The format for reading individual messages is "REA NUM:n" without the quotes of course and where "n" is the number of the message you want to read. The format for reading a thread is "REA THR NUM:n". A "thread" is a number of messages on the same subject. Sometimes it is a dialogue between two people. Other times others will jump in with ideas and/or comments. For this latter reason, a thread can take off in many directions but the one common denominator is that all the messages have the same title. 18 Let's assume after reviewing your printout or file of message headers you decide you would like to read message number 180194. Enter TEXT by placing the curser over TEXT on the main menu. When asked for the file name, type CMDSIG and press enter. Now type REA NUM:180194 and press enter. The next time you run EM8SIG, it will look for CMDSIG.DO right after it enters the forum and execute the REAd command. It will copy message 180194 to your printer or NEWSIG.DO file just as it did when there were messages addressed to you. If you had wanted to read "thread" number 146192, you would have given the command, REA THR NUM:146192. In this case, all messages in the thread beginning with that message number and continuing to the end of the thread would be downloaded to your printer or NEWSIG.DO. I have found that it is possible to put forum commands in CMDSIG and they will work as if you had manually typed them in, somewhat similar to a macro. The two commands I have experimented with are "ANN;1" which give you the announcements at the beginning of the forum at log on, and "DES;2;1" which gives you the uploads to the libraries for the past 7 days. It is possible to use both of these commands at the same time by using the following format thanks to Tony Anderson: ANN;1; ; ;DES;2;1; ; ; NOTE: each command is followed by the sequence ";;;". Using this arrangement it is possible to intermix these commands into REA's (or read individual messages), and REA THR's (or read threads). When using REA's, it is possible to connect several REA's together such as "REA NUM:134890;REA NUM:134987;REA NUM:134990;REA NUM:135025". REA THR's should be formatted "REA THR NUM:146921;REA THR NUM:149361". It is possible to intermix REA NUM's and REA THR NUM's such as "REA NUM:134904;REA NUM:134987;REA THR NUM:146921;REA NUM:234990;REA NUM:135025;REA THR NUM:149361". It is now possible to also intermix the ANN;1 and DES;2;1 commands, or any other forum command you wish to use, as long as you end each of the forum commands with the ; ; ;. Such as "ANN;1; ; ;REA NUM:134904;REA NUM:134987;REA THR NUM:146921;REA NUM:234990;REA NUM:135025;REA THR NUM:149361;DES;2;1; ; ; I have been able to chain up to eight REA commands successfully this way. Beyond that I get a beep and everything else is ignored. This has nothing to do with program, but is a CIS line length limitation. SECOND LOG-ON After you have selected the messages or threads you wish to review, again start up EM8SIG. Now, you have already looked at the Mail, and you have already downloaded the message headers. All you want to do now is read the messages you have placed in COMMAND.DOC. So this time press F6. You will once again see the program log-on as before only this time there will not be a detour through EasyPlex but a direct jump to M100SIG or the forum of choice. EM8SIG will search out the message(s) as directed, download them and then log-off. 19 Before going any further, check CMDSIG.DO again. You will notice that all your commands are now gone and in their place is the word "Sent ". This is important because if EM8SIG checks CMDSIG.DO and sees that word, it will ignore anything following it and treat the file as if it does not exist. Therefore, the next time you put commands into CMDSIG.DO you -must- delete the word "Sent ". 20 MESSAGE COMPOSE ROUTINES EM8SIG.400 permits the automatic sending of both Email and Forum messages that have been composed off-line as well as files previously uploaded to the user's CIS PER file area. The user does not have to pay attention to line lengths or message lengths. The line length is taken care of automatically and the message length will trigger a warning message as you approach the size limitations. The messages can be composed manually in a TEXT file if the user desires. However we -strongly- recommend the use of the MESSAGE COMPOSE subroutine (F7) as this will insure correct message formats. Each message is separated in the file by a (hold down GRPH while pressing f and follow it with a ). The must be on a line by itself at the left of the page. The file must be ended with an end of file (EOF) symbol or left facing arrow. If you use the F7 key and the MESSAGE COMPOSE routine you will not have to worry about this. It will all be done automatically. NOTE: NO 's should be used inside the messages' text. 's should be used ONLY to end and separate paragraphs. Messages are ended by successive 's. What happens next depends on whether you are in the Email or Forum compose routine. EMAIL MESSAGE COMPOSE ROUTINE Now, let's assume that when you made the swing through EasyPlex a while ago, there was a letter there for you. After reading it off-line, you decide to answer it. Start up EM8SIG again and when you reach the first screen press F7. You will see the following screen. ________________________________________ | COMPOSE MESSAGES | | | | E)mail | | F)orum | | P)revious Menu ? | | | | | |________________________________________| Since you are going to send an Email message press "E". You will then see the question, "Add to existing messages?", appear in the above screen. Press "N" for "NO" and the screen will clear showing only a "To:" in the upper left hand corner of the screen. The name and ID of the person you are writing to should already be in your PIN file. You may identify this person by first or last name, or by ID or any portion thereof. Then press . The program will look up the name and ID and enter it into the message file MAIL.DO. If the file does not already exist, EM8SIG will create it. 21