Cut and Paste with other applications

VMail supports the standard X11 Selection method for cut and paste functions.
<p>
To paste text from another application into VMail, select the text from the other window by dragging the cursor with the Left button down.  Release the button and then move the cursor into the target VMail window.  Press the Middle button to paste the selected text.  Alternatively, you could use the Insert key on the keyboard to paste the text.
<p>
To paste into another application, the reverse process should work.  Simply select the text in the VMail window using the Left button and then paste it into the other application's window using the Middle button.  Please note that the Insert Key will not work for this unless the other application specifically supports it.
<p>
Note that some applications such as the Sun cmdtool, shelltool, and textedit programs do not support the standard X11 Cut/Paste under OpenWindows 3.0.  There is currently no known way to paste into these windows from VMail.



Creating and using forms

VMail has the capability of using pre-defined forms in compose windows.  These forms can be used to fill in default values for existing header fields as well as to create new fields.  Fields can be readonly (label) or read/write (entry).  Menus and buttons can be created to assist a user in filling in the fields.<p>

Forms can be selected for insertion into an existing Compose window by using the "Insert Form..." menu item under the "File..." menu.  Compose windows can also be started from the command line (vcomp) and a form loaded by specifying the -form flag with the full pathname of the form as a parameter.<p>

Rules for setting up a form file are listed below.

<ul>
<li>	Up to the first blank line or a line without a ":" present will be treated as "sub-header" information and will have header lines created in compose windows.

<li>	This "sub-header" information will not actually be included in the message header but in the message body.

<li>	Each line consists of the following ":" separated fields :
	<ul>
	<li>	field name
	<li>	default value
	<li>	type of field (entry (default) or label)
	<li>	type of selection
	<li>	parameters
	</ul>

<li>	If the field name matches a standard header field, then that field will be filled in with the supplied default value (or blanked out if none)

<li>	Valid selection types and required parameters are listed below :

	<dl>
	<dt>file
		<dd>file name to read and create menu from
	<dt>menu
		<dd>comma separated list of menu items
	<dt>button
		<dd>comma separated list of buttons
	<dt>nuad
		<dd>field name to load as the default value
	<dt>date
		<dd>(none)
	<dt>cat
		<dd>file name to cat (contents loaded as the default value)
	</dl>
</ul>



Attachments

To identify a file type for an attachment that is being added to a compose window, VMail does the following :<p>

<ol>
	<li>try to match the extension against ~/.mime.types, $VMAILHOME/etc/mime.types, /usr/local/etc/mime.types, and /etc/mime.types in that order.

	<li>failing this, it then tries content based detection by using the file command, specifying $VMAILHOME/etc/magic as the magic file to use.

	<li>failing this, it gives up and puts "unknown" as the file type.
</ol>

<h2>Forwarding Messages with Attachments</h2>
Please note that messages that are sent to you in mime or sun format will keep whatever the sending email package has set the file type to.  When you forward the note to someone else, it sends it with the same file type.

<h2>Viewing Attachments</h2>
When you view an attachment (either from a compose or the main window), it will first do any decoding required.  If the existing file type was empty, unknown, application/octet-string, or application/octet-stream, then it will attempt to come up with a different file type (same rules as above).<p>

Then it matches the file type against ~/.mailcap, $VMAILHOME/etc/mailcap, /usr/local/etc/mailcap, and /etc/mailcap (in that order) to get the command to execute.  Note that the temporary file is placed in /tmp with the name userid.pid.filename.ext and the command should contain a "%s" that the filename is substituted into.<p>

After the command line is built, it is executed in the background as a completely independant process.  When the "viewer" exits, the temporary file is removed.




Options

<dt><a name=main_other_view>View options...</a>
<dd>	This menu item selects various functions to do with the viewing of folders and messages.

	<dl>

	<dt>Show full message header information
	<dd>	This menu item 

	<dt>Normal message order
	<dd>	This menu item displays the message header list in the order that the messages are stored in the folder.

	<dt>Reverse message order
	<dd>	This menu item displays the message header list in reverse order such that the last message in the folder is at the top of the list.

	<dt>Sort by sender
	<dd>	This menu item sorts the message header list according to the sender.  The sort is case insensitive.

	<dt>Sort by date/time
	<dd>	This menu item sorts the message header list according to the date and time of the message.  Note that if the folder contains messages that go back into a previous year, the sort will not be correct.

	<dt>Sort by size
	<dd>	This menu item sorts the message header list according to the size of the message.

	<dt>Sort by subject
	<dd>	This menu item sorts the message header list according to the subject.  The sort is case insensitive.

	</dl>

<dt><a name=main_other_other>Other Options...</a>
<dd>	This menu item sets miscellaneous user preferences that can be toggled or selected from a menu.

	<dl>

	<dt>Open main window when new mail
	<dd>	This user option will pop up the main VMail screen when new mail arrives if is currently iconified.

	<dt>Pull in new messages as they arrive
	<dd>	This user option will automatically pull new messages into the user's inbox as they arrive.  The effect is the same as if the user pressed the New Mail button as soon as new mail was detected.  Note that if the user is viewing a message at this time or is in another folder, then the current folder will be updated and the inbox folder opened.  The message in the viewing window will be then jump to the first unread message. (<i>This can be annoying</i>)

	<dt>Sound audible beep on new mail
	<dd>	This user option sounds an audible beep when new mail is detected.  A BELL character is sent to stdout.  If stdout was redirected to /dev/null when VMail was started, then no beep will be heard.

	<dt>Sound audible beep on errors
	<dd>	This user option sounds an audible beep for error messages.  A BELL character is sent to stdout.  If stdout was redirected to /dev/null when VMail was started, then no beep will be heard.

	<dt>Startup compose windows as separate processes
	<dd>	This user option will start NUAD, LIST, QUERY and compose windows as separate applications that are independent of VMail.  If VMail is quit, these windows will remain.

	<dt>Do not log messages
	<dd>	This user option disables logging to the File Carbon Copy on all compose windows.

	<dt>Ask for a return receipt
	<dd>	This user option will automatically set the return receipt option on all compose windows.  A "Return-Receipt-To:" header line will be inserted in the message before sending.

	<dt>Encrypt messages
	<dd>	This user option will automatically set the encrypt option on all compose windows.  (<i>Note that encryption is not currently available</i>)

	<dt>Include message in Reply/Replyall
	<dd>	This user option will automatically include messages that are being replied to.  If the message quote string is empty, the message will be included using the Sun style with "----- Begin Message -----" inserted at the start and "----- End Message -----" inserted at the end.  If the message quote string is not empty, then the message will be quoted using the internet style.  Note that the message will be wordwrapped in this case to the width of the compose window (normally 79 characters) less the length of the quote string.

	<dt>Insert signature file in all compose windows
	<dd>	This user option will insert the user's ~/.signature file (<i>if one exists</i>) into all compose windows by default.  For messages that are being forwarded or replied to, the signature will be inserted at the top of the message.

	<dt>Show Bcc field in all compose windows
	<dd>	This user option will show the Bcc: (<i>Blind Carbon Copy</i>) field in all compose windows by default.

	<dt>Show Fcc field in all compose windows
	<dd>	This user option will show the Fcc: (<i>File Carbon Copy</i>) field in all compose windows by default.

	<dt>Default attachment format...
	<dd>	This user option selects the default attachment format to use when sending messages.  Current options are "Sun attachment format", "Mime attachment format" and "Generic attachment format".  The "Sun attachment format" is the default for new users and the <b>recommended</b> choice for sending email.

	</dl>

<dt>Edit User Preferences
<dd>	This menu item opens a <a href=#userpref>User Preferences</a> screen.

<dt>Save Startup Options
<dd>	This menu item saves the current state of the user options into the ~/.vmailrc file.

<dt>Edit Secondary Files...
<dd>	This menu item shows a list of files that VMail uses that can be edited by the user.
	<dl>

	<dt>Signature
	<dd>

	<dt>Names menu
	<dd>

	<dt>Subjects menu
	<dd>

	<dt>VMail startup options
	<dd>

	<dt>Attachment view options
	<dd>

	<dt>Standard mail options
	<dd>

	</dl>

<dt>Gripe
<dd>	This menu item opens a compose window with the To: and Subject: fields already initialized to send in a <b>Suggestion</b> or <b>Gripe</b> about VMail to its author.

<dt>NUAD Database
<dd>	This menu item opens a <a href=#nuad>NUAD Database</a> update screen.

<dt>LIST Database
<dd>	This menu item opens a <a href=#list>LIST Database</a> update screen.

<dt>General Query
<dd>	This menu item opens a <a href=#query>QUERY</a> screen.