dtmail — the desktop mailer
dtmail [-h] [-c] [-fmailfile] [-a file1 |
...fileN ]
The Dtmail program is a mailer for use on the desktop. It
provides an easy-to-use interface for viewing, filing, composing and sending
electronic mail containers and mail messages.
The Mailer provides a GUI-based interface for manipulating
electronic mail messages that can have attachments. Use the interface to
compose a message, view a message or a container holding messages, load new
mail, copy or move messages from one container to another, delete messages,
reply to messages, add and delete attachments to a message when composing,
and view contents of attachments in a message. The Mailer also provides a
mail-pervasive desktop environment by providing a public Tooltalk API. Other
clients can use the Tooltalk API to compose and send messages.
- -a file1 ... fileN
- Bring up a Compose window with file1 through fileN as attachments.
- -c
- Bring up an empty Compose window
- -f filename
- This specifies the mail file to be loaded in at start up time. Ordinarily,
the mailfile pointed to by the environment variable MAIL is read in as the
user's inbox. Use of this option overrides the use of the MAIL
variable.
- -h
- Display help for command line options
The Mailer provides the following resources:
- Dtmail*Message_List*doubleClickInterval
- The double click time out (in milliseconds) for the scrolling message
header list. Default is 400 milliseconds.
- Dtmail*Message_List*background
- Color to use for the scrolling message header list background. Default is
system dependent.
- Dtmail*Message_List*foreground
- Color to use for the scrolling message header list foreground. Default is
system dependent.
- Dtmail*Message_List*fontList
- The list of fonts to use in the scrolling message header list. The list
must contain two fonts. The first must be tagged "plain" and is
the font used to render the header text. The second must be tagged
"attach" and is used to render the attachment indicator. Default
is to use system dependent fixed width fonts.
- Dtmail*Work_Area*Text*background
- Color to use for the View and Compose window text background. Default is
system dependent.
- Dtmail*Work_Area*Text*foreground
- Color to use for the View and Compose window text foreground. Default is
system dependent.
- Dtmail*Work_Area*Text*fontList
- The list of fonts to use in the View and Compose windows. Font tag
"plain". Default is to use a system dependent variable width
font.
In addition to the variables recognized by mailx(1),
dtmail recognizes those listed below. They can be set by editing your
.mailrc file; however, since most of the variables are accessible
through the Mailer Options menu, we strongly recommend that you modify them
there to reduce the chance of error. Unless otherwise noted, the default for
the following variables is off.
- additionalfields
- A list of header fields to access via the Format menu. This
variable can be accessed through the Custom Fields:, Header
Field:, and Default Value: portions of the Compose Window
category in the Mail Options dialog.
- bell
- The number of times to ring the bell when new mail arrives. This variable
can be accessed through the Signal New Mail portion in the
Message Header List category of the Mail Options dialog. The default is
0.
- composeinterval
- The interval in seconds for checkpointing to dead.letter. Default is every
600 seconds (10 minutes).
- dontlogmessages
- This variable controls whether or not the Log Message item is
selected in the File Menu in the Compose window. The default is to log
messages. This variable can be accessed through the Log all sent
messages item in the Message Filing category of the Mail Options
dialog.
- expert
- Set expert mode in which minimal confirmations are requested. This
variable can be accessed through the Show confirmation notices
check box in the Advanced category of the Mail Options dialog.
- A list of files from which to initialize the Move, and Copy
To menus. These can be absolute pathnames or pathnames relative to the
directory specified in the folder variable. This variable can be
accessed through the Move Menu and Copy To Menu: scrolling
list in the Message Filing category of the Mail Options dialog.
- Specifies the maximum number of entries in the Move, and Copy
To menus. The default is 10.
- flash
- The number of times to flash the window or icon when new mail arrives.
This variable can be accessed through the Signal New Mail portion of the
Message Header List category of the Mail Options Dialog. The default is
0.
- folder
- The directory for saving mail files. This variable can be accessed through
the Start Looking In item in the Mail Filing category of the Mail
Options Dialog.
- The number of lines to display at a time in the scrolling header list.
This variable can be accessed through the Display item in the
Message View category of the Mail Options dialog. The default is 15.
- hideattachments
- Hide the attachments pane in the Compose Message window by default. This
variable can be accessed through the Show Attachment List item in
the Compose Window category of the Mail Options dialog. The default is to
show the attachment pane.
- indentprefix
- When indentprefix is set, the string that it is set to is used to mark
indented lines from included messages. The default indentprefix is
"> ". This variable can be accessed through the Indent
String item in the Compose Window category of the Mail Options
dialog.
- keepdeleted
- Don't purge the mailbox of deleted messages when closing (exiting) dtmail.
Default is to ask the user if they would like to purge the mailbox on
exit. This variable can be set in the Destroy Deleted Messages
portion in the Message Header List category of the Mail Options dialog.
See quietdelete
- quietdelete
- Don't ask for confirmation when purging the mailbox of deleted messages
when exiting dtmail. This variable can be set in the Destroy Deleted
Messages portion in the Message Header List category of the Mail
Options dialog. See keepdeleted
- record
- The mail file in which to record outgoing messages. You can control
recording of outgoing mail on a per message basis by the Log
Message item in the Compose window's File menu. The
dontlogmessages variable controls whether or not this item is
selected by default. The record variable may be set through the
Mailbox for Sent Messages: item in the Message Filing category of
the Mail Options Dialog. If record is not set and the user chooses
to log a message then the message will be saved in ~/sent.mail.
- retrieveinterval
- The interval in seconds to check for new mail. This variable can be
accessed through the Check for New Mail Every: item in the Message
Header List category of the Mail Options Dialog. The default is 300
seconds.
- saveinterval
- The interval (in seconds) at which to checkpoint the state of the mail box
to disk. Default is 1800 seconds (30 minutes). This variable can be set
using the Update Mailbox State item in the Advanced category of the
Mail Options dialog.
- showmsgnum
- Show message numbers in the scrolling list of message headers. This
variable can be set using the Display message numbers item in the
Message Header List category of the Mail Options dialog. Default is to not
show message numbers. showto Show the "To" field of mail
messages in the Header Window if the mail is from the same user that is
reading mail (eg. you). This variable is accessed using the Show To:
recipient when mail is item in the Message Header List category of the
Mail Options dialog.
- strictmime
- Use strict MIME character encoding for outgoing mail. In this case all
lines longer than 72 characters are broken with a newline (and a trailing
"=" is appended to the line), and all trailing spaces are
encoded (appearing as "=20"). Any time character encoding takes
place all "=" must be protected and are therefore are encoded as
"=3d". Note that 8 bit characters are always encoded, even if
strictmime is not specified. If you typically send mail to users of non
MIME compliant readers you may want to consider not specifying strictmime.
This variable can be set by selecting the Use strict MIME character
encoding item in the Advanced category of the Mail Options dialog. The
default is to use more relaxed character encoding (ie don't break long
lines and don't protect trailing spaces).
- templates
- A list of name:path pairs to access via the Templates item
in the Format menu of the Compose window. name appears in
the menu; path is the file included when name is selected. This
variable can be accessed in the Template category of the Mail Options
dialog.
- toolcols
- Default width of the primary windows (in columns). This variable can be
accessed through the item in the Message View category of the Mail Options
dialog.
In addition to the commands recognized by mailx(1) in the
.mailrc file, dtmail also recognizes the following
commands.
- ignore
[header-field...]
- Suppress displaying of the specified header fields. Examples of header
fields to ignore are Status and Received. The fields are also ignored when
the message is printed. This variable can be accessed through the
Abbreviated Header item in the Message View category of the Mail Options
dialog.
You can print messages using command invocation by selecting the
message or messages to be printed and then activating the Print...
command in the Message pulldown menu in the dtmail menu bar or
the Print... command in the Mailer - Messages popup menu that
is displayed on BMenu Down events in the message list.
In addition, you can use the Print command button located
at the bottom of the message headers list to print the currently selected
messages. In this case, the print job is started using the print setup
context from the last print command without displaying any of the print
setup dialogs.
Alternatively, you can print messages using Drag and Drop
invocation.
Messages containing attachments are printed with summary lines in
place of the attachment. You must print attachments individually in separate
print job invocations.
You can choose to print multiple messages either as a single print
job or as separate print jobs. If you print multiple messages in a single
print job, you can choose to separate the messages using a blank line or a
page break.
To print a mailboxes, use CDE Drag and Drop to drag the icon for
the mailbox from the File Manager to the printer icon in the desktop.
When you invoke printing, whether by command invocation or by drag
and drop, dtmail displays a Print Setup window that allows you to set
a number of generic and printer-specific printing options. For example, you
can send the output to a file or a printer. In the case of printed output,
you can specify how many copies you want. You can also access another window
to set options specific to the printer/spooler you are using. For example,
you can select paper size, orientation, a banner page title, one- or
two-sided printing, and email notification on completion of the print
job.
The following are environment variables taken from the execution
environment and are not alterable within dtmail.
- HOME= directory
- The user's home directory.
- MAIL= filename
- The name of the initial mailbox file to read (in lieu of the standard
system mailbox). The default is system dependent. See FILE section.
- MAILRC=
filename
- The name of the start-up file. Default is $HOME/.mailrc.
- /var/mail/* (Sun)
- /var/spool/mail/* (IBM)
- /usr/mail* (HP)
- System mailboxes
- /etc/mail/mailx.rc
- System setup file that is read in before ~/.mailrc.
- ~/.mailrc
- Start-up file for mail and dtmail.
- /usr/local/dt/bin/dtmail
- Executable for the desktop Mailer.
- /usr/local/dt/app-defaults/&<LANG>/Dtmail
- Application defaults for the desktop Mailer.