EMAIL User's Guide Document Number GI40 May 17th, 1989 John Fowler John Wobus Computing & Network Services Syracuse University INTRODUCTION The EMAIL command is a simple method of sending electronic mail to other computer users. Mail can be addressed to us- ers of your computer or of other computers or any mixture of the two. You can get online HELP about EMAIL by giving the command HELP CMS EMAIL. I assume that you are familiar with XEDIT, the file editor for CMS, and that you already have a CMS account. For further information about remote systems attached to BITNET, consult CCIS Memo GI39 "BITNET - National Network of University Computers." Print this memo with the command MANUALS GI39 THE EMAIL COMMAND The EMAIL command is patterned closely after the CMS NOTE command. If you use NOTE, you should be able immediately to use EMAIL. The following is a summary of the arguments and options of the EMAIL command. EMAIL User's Guide 1 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | EMAIL | name... CC: name... ( options... | | | | | | options: | | | | | | ADd | | | Book fn | fn ft | fn ft fm | | | Cancel | | | FORward | | | FROm name | | | LOG | NOLog | | | LOWcase | | | NOTebook fn | NONotebook | | | PROFile fn | | | Replace | | | REPLY | | | REPLY ALL | | | REPLYAll | | | SENd fn | fn ft | fn ft fm | | | SUBject subject-text | | | | | | Options without effect(nops): | | | ACk º NOAck | | | LONg º SHort | +----------------------------------------------------------+ NAME ... The primary argument to EMAIL is called an 'addressee list,' the list of people that will get the message are creating. This list is divided into two parts: the people the message is primarily addressed to, and those who will receive a "Complimentary Copy" (or CC). The primary recipients appear before the 'CC:' (if you include one), and the complimentary recipients are after it. Note: All users on the list will receive the same mail - the purpose of the CC: list is to distinguish between primary and complimentary recipients. The names on the addressee list can be entered in any mix- ture of the following: userid the userid of a user on your own system. userid@node of any user, along with the nodeid of the destination system. This form is used for mail to remote computer systems. "nodeid" can be either a BITNET (RSCS) style identi- fier or an Internet style identifier. EMAIL User's Guide 2 userid AT node an alternative to "userid@node", for compat- ibility with CMS NOTE. nickname any nickname from the NAMES file. Nicknames are created with the CMS NAMES command and can refer to either a single user or a list of users. For more information see the NAMES command in 'CMS Command and Macro Reference,' available in the AID Center, or give the com- mand HELP CMS NAMES. You can have many recipients, and they can be on a combina- tion of local and remote systems. For example, these are all valid ways to address mail to various people: email john@psuvm george@cunyvm gracie@rodan.acs.syr.edu (goes to remote user JOHN on the computer called PSUVM, to user GEORGE on the computer called CUNYVM and to user GRACIE on the computer called RODAN.ACS.SYR.EDU) email jeff john george@cunyvm (goes to local users JEFF and JOHN and to remote user GEORGE on the called CUNYVM) email bob sandy mary (goes to local users BOB, SANDY, and MARY) email george@cunyvm bob cc: sandy (goes to user GEORGE on the computer called CUNYVM and local user BOB; local user SANDY gets a complimentary copy) After giving the command EMAIL with a list of recipients, you are put in XEDIT to create your mail message. EMAIL creates the first few lines of the message for you; this is the list of options, the date, time, and list of recipients. Write your message after this header; use any XEDIT com- mands to input and edit your text. When you are done, give the EMAIL subcommand SEND. For example, EMAIL User's Guide 3 You .. email john@cunyvm jim@psuvm (subject Meeting It .. Date: Wed, 16 May 89 18:44:00 DST .. From: GEORGE@SUVM .. To: JOHN@CUNYVM, JIM@PSUVM .. Subject: Meeting .. .. XEDIT: At this point you are in XEDIT, just as if you are creating the file yourself. We want to input some text, so ... You .. INPUT .. Hi guys - did you finish the project yet? .. It .. XEDIT: You .. SEND EMAIL OPTIONS The options to EMAIL (if any) must be given after an open parenthesis '('. EMAIL supports (in some fashion) all of the options to the CMS NOTE command as well as a having a number of useful extensions. A couple of options (listed as "nops") are provided for compatibility with CMS NOTE but ac- tually perform no function. These 'nops' are: ACK, NOACK, LONG, and SHORT. The other options are listed alphabet- ically below, with the shortest truncation in capital let- ters: ADd adds names on the addressee list to the current list of recipients. Use this option to add re- cipients to an existing EMAIL message before SENDing it. This option is valid only in EMAIL. For example, if you create a message to GEORGE at CUNYVM, and you decide you want BOB to get the message also, instead of starting over, type email bob (add on the XEDIT command line and BOB is added to the recipient list. Book is used to include addressees which are speci- fied in a pre-prepared file. Address books have one recipient per line. Comment lines may be included by prefixing them with an asterisk. If filetype is omitted, ADDRBOOK is assumed. If filemode is omitted, '*' is assumed. Recipients in an address book are added to the list that you put on the command line, if any. For example, if I had an address book called NEWLIST ADDRBOOK, and wanted to send mail both to GEORGE and to that list: EMAIL User's Guide 4 email george (book newlist Cancel deletes the current message without sending an- ything. Give this command on the XEDIT command line to quit creating a mail message. FORward sends each name on the addressee list a copy of a mail file in your reader. Use this option when you get mail from someone that you to pass on to another person. When PEEKing the ori- ginal message, the FORWARD option takes the text and sends it to additional recipients. The original message is unchanged. For exam- ple, if BOB sent me mail that I also wanted GEORGE to read, I would PEEK the file, and then type email george (forward on the XEDIT command line to send the file to GEORGE. This option is valid only while PEEKing a mail file. For further information on PEEK, give the com- mand HELP CMS PEEK. FROm name causes the mail header to list the mail as com- ing from someone besides yourself. When you do this, EMAIL also places a "sender" field in the header, listing you as the sender of the mes- sage. LOG puts an entry in the your 'userid NETLOG' file when the message is sent. LOWcase suppresses translation of RSCS-style addresses in the message header to upper case. NOLog turns off LOGging (default setting). NOTebook fn ensures that a copy of your outgoing message is added to a file called 'fn NOTEBOOK A0,' where 'fn' is a filename that you give. The default notebook is 'ALL NOTEBOOK A0.' NONotebook does not save your outgoing message. PROFile fn specifies that a file other than 'E$UPROF XEDIT' will be executed upon entry to XEDIT. If you are an advanced user of EMAIL, you may want to copy and modify 'E$UPROF XEDIT' to fit your own needs. This profile is where PF key settings and other EMAIL initialization is done. The file must be on a currently accessed mini- disk, and must be of filetype XEDIT. EMAIL User's Guide 5 Replace specifies that a previously created message (if any) will be erased and a new one started. REPLY is handy when reading mail from another user. While PEEKing a MAIL or NOTE file, type EMAIL (REPLY and you will create a new message ad- dressed to the person that sent you the ori- ginal mail. For example, if BOB sent me mail, and I wanted to REPLY to it, I would PEEK it and type email (reply on the XEDIT command line. If you include a SUBJECT in your REPLY, it will override the subject (if any) that is in the mail that you are replying to. REPLY ALL is identical to REPLY, except that your outgo- ing message will be directed to both the sender of the message that you are replying to, and all the other recipients. This is useful for group conversations. SEND sends previously created files to users. This is useful when sending files to BITNET nodes designated as MAILER nodes or to non-BITNET nodes. If the filemode is omitted, it defaults to A. If the filetype is omitted, it defaults to MAIL. For example, I have prepared a file called PREPREP MAIL that I want to send out: email george@cunyvm (send preprep email bob@psuvm (send preprep mail a The SEND option is completely different from the SEND subcommand; the SEND option goes on the EMAIL options line and SENDs an existing file; the SEND subcommand is typed on the XEDIT command line after you have created a message. Note: EMAIL files have a maximum record length of 80. If you use EMAIL to send a file with a longer record length, the lines will be trun- cated to 80 columns. SUBject gives a title to your mail. Everything to the right of the SUBJECT option is taken as text and placed in the mail. The SUBJECT option must be the last option on the command line. EMAIL User's Guide 6 EMAIL SUBCOMMANDS There are a few commands you can give while you are creating and editing a message. FORMAT optional-width reformats your text. All lines that do not begin with a blank are rearranged to have a ragged right margin up to the width named. If you do not name a width, 70 columns is assumed. Blank lines are retained in the text, so you can include your own natural formatting. FILL optional-width formats and fills your text. All lines that do not begin with a blank are rearranged to be both left and right justified to the width named. If you do not name a width, 70 columns is assumed. Spaces are inserted between words to force right justification. Blank lines are re- tained in the text, so you can include your own natural formatting. Both FILL and FORMAT let you use your own natural formatting by indenting lines; lines that begin with a blank are not altered in any way. This lets you mix formatted and unfor- matted text without complicated formatting commands. Also, you can use FILL and FORMAT as often as you want during the creation/editing session without destroying your text. EMAIL User's Guide 7 Examples: Raw text: OPTIONS: ACK LOG SHORT NOTEBOOK PAN Date: Wed, 16 May 89 11:14:06 DST From: "John Q. Public" To: Ralph J Enigma Here is a bunch of words that are in my first 'paragraph.' I am particularly interested in showing how the two editing subcommands will reformat this text. Sometimes it is a good idea to present a list of advantages: 1) You can concentrate on CONTENT instead of TYPING. 2) Examples can also be created a) just as you type them b) without any special format characters. It is a good idea to leave a blank line before and after examples. Also, remember to skip one space in front of any text that is to be left alone. EMAIL User's Guide 8 After giving the command: FORMAT OPTIONS: ACK LOG SHORT NOTEBOOK PAN Date: Wed, 16 May 89 11:14:06 DST From: "John Q. Public" To: Ralph J Enigma Here is a bunch of words that are in my first 'paragraph.' I am particularly interested in showing how the two editing subcommands will reformat this text. Sometimes it is a good idea to present a list of advantages: 1) You can concentrate on CONTENT instead of TYPING. 2) Examples can also be created a) just as you type them b) without any special format characters. It is a good idea to leave a blank line before and after examples. Also, remember to skip one space in front of any text that is to be left alone. After giving the command: FILL OPTIONS: ACK LOG SHORT NOTEBOOK PAN Date: Wed, 16 May 89 11:14:06 DST From: "John Q. Public" To: Ralph J Enigma Here is a bunch of words that are in my first 'paragraph.' I am particularly interested in showing how the two editing subcommands will reformat this text. Sometimes it is a good idea to present a list of advantages: 1) You can concentrate on CONTENT instead of TYPING. 2) Examples can also be created a) just as you type them b) without any special format characters. It is a good idea to leave a blank line before and after examples. Also, remember to skip one space in front of any text that is to be left alone. EMAIL User's Guide 9 After giving the command: FILL 53 OPTIONS: ACK LOG SHORT NOTEBOOK PAN Date: Wed, 16 May 89 11:14:06 DST From: "John Q. Public" To: Ralph J Enigma Here is a bunch of words that are in my first 'paragraph.' I am particularly interested in showing how the two editing subcommands will reformat this text. Sometimes it is a good idea to present a list of advantages: 1) You can concentrate on CONTENT instead of TYPING. 2) Examples can also be created a) just as you type them b) without any special format characters. It is a good idea to leave a blank line before and after examples. Also, remember to skip one space in front of any text that is to be left alone. USAGE NOTES 1. EMAIL uses the NAMES file very much as the CMS NOTE com- mand does. If you have a descriptive name for a recipient (or your- self) in your NAMES file, it will appear in the header. Your NAMES file can have nicknames and group lists, also. For more information about the NAMES command, see the "CMS Command and Macro Reference," available in the AID Center, or give the command HELP CMS NAMES 2. Composing your message. When preparing a message, you are in XEDIT, so the full power of XEDIT is available to you. Use any XEDIT com- mands to insert, delete, and alter text. 3. Sending your message. EMAIL User's Guide 10 To send your message, use the SEND subcommand. Make sure that you are in EDIT MODE, not INPUT MODE, when you type SEND or else "SEND" will be accepted as text. 4. Receiving messages. Use the CMS commands RDRLIST, PEEK, and RECEIVE to ma- nipulate mail files in your reader. See the "CMS Com- mand and Macro Reference," available in the AID Office, or give the commands HELP CMS RDRLIST, HELP CMS PEEK, and HELP CMS RECEIVE for further information. 5. Continuing messages. You can save a message (without sending) you are prepar- ing and continue it later by typing the XEDIT subcommand FILE. What you have prepared so far is saved on your disk as "userid MAIL A0". To continue your message, type EMAIL without any operands. To start a new message without continuing your saved one, use the REPLACE op- tion or the CMS "ERASE userid MAIL" command. 6. Adding and deleting recipients. You can change the addressee list for a message without starting over. To delete a recipient, remove the name from the "To:" or "cc:" list before SENDing the message. To add a recipient, use the EMAIL (ADD option. Make sure that you don't alter the basic format of the "To:" list when deleting names. 7. Naming conventions for userid and node. You cannot send a message to a name or node called AT or CC:, nor can your own userid be either AT or CC:. 8. Non-IBM remote system access. EMAIL formats messages so they are compatible with all systems on BITNET that accept mail. You do not need to adopt special procedures to send files to non-IBM sys- tems. 9. Format of address books The BOOK option lets you create address lists larger than you could normally service with the NAMES command. These files have one recipient per line. The following is an example of an address book: EMAIL User's Guide 11 * Comment lines begin with an asterisk GEORGE JIM@CUNYVM * Anything after the address is ignored, such as this name- SUSAN AT PSUVM Susan Georgapolous 10. Default PF key settings. For users of full screen (3270 type) terminals. The E$UPROF XEDIT macro is executed when the EMAIL com- mand is invoked. It sets the PF keys to the following functions: PF 1 Help Display EMAIL command description. PF 2 Add Add a blank line after the line containing the cursor. PF 3 Quit Quit this message if no text has been added. PF 4 Tab Tab the cursor. PF 5 Send Send the message. PF 6 ? Display the last command issued. PF 7 Backward Scroll back one screen. PF 8 Forward Scroll forward one screen. PF 9 = Repeat the last command issued. PF 10 Rgtleft Shift the view to the right; press again to shift back to the original display. PF 11 Spltjoin Split a line or join two lines, at the cursor. PF 12 Powerinput Enter power typing mode (XEDIT subcommand POWERINP). On a terminal equipped with 24 PF keys, PF keys 13 to 24 are assigned the same values as PF keys 1 to 12 as dis- cussed here. 11. Changing options while editing a message. The options that you give on the EMAIL command are also stored in your message on line 1, like this: OPTIONS: NOACK NOLOG SHORT NOTEBOOK ALL You can change these options by editing this line. Make sure not to change the basic format of the line. EMAIL checks the OPTIONS line when you SEND your message, and if there is an error, uses the default settings. 12. The DEFAULTS command. Use the CMS command DEFAULTS to set or override the normal settings for some EMAIL options. Some of the de- faults that you set for the CMS NOTE command apply also to EMAIL. To display your current options, type DE- EMAIL User's Guide 12 FAULTS. To set an option, type DEFAULTS SET NOTE. For example, to change your default notebook from ALL to MAY89, type DEFAULTS SET NOTE NOTEBOOK MAY89. Note that there are some inconsistancies between EMAIL and the DEFAULTS command: if you have never set a de- fault using the DEFAULTS command, EMAIL will disagree with what the DEFAULTS command lists: EMAIL assumes NOLOG while the DEFAULTS command says LOG is enabled. Another quirk is that EMAIL ignores any PROFILE set or listed by the DEFAULTS command. For more information on DEFAULTS, type HELP CMS DE- FAULTS. 13. Some general examples of EMAIL options. email john (nonotebook (does not store the message in a notebook when you SEND) email joe (notebook glob (stores the message in "GLOB NOTEBOOK A") email john (nonotebook Subject this is neat (No notebook; adds a "Subject: This .." line) email joe (send preprep file (Sends JOE the file "PREPREP FILE A") EMAIL User's Guide 13 APPENDIX A. TECHNICAL INFORMATION The message header created by EMAIL follows the Internet standard for such headers (as defined in Internet RFC 822). When you type SEND or PF5, EMAIL directs the message to a another program (a "mail transfer agent"; the most common one on VM/CMS is the "Columbia Mailer") which runs contin- uously, taking such messages and figuring out where to send them first. It uses the information in the message header to make this decision. It sends messages to users on the same VM/CMS system (via the CP spooling system) directly to their virtual readers; messages to other BITNET users di- rectly to the users or through other similar mail transfer agents via RSCS; and messages to users on other electronic- mail networks (such as the Internet, CSNET, JANET, or USENET) to the appropriate electronic-mail gateway via RSCS. Appendix A. Technical Information 14