$Id$ Owl is a tty, curses-based zephyr client. This is a quick guide to learning how to use it. ==================== OVERVIEW OF FEATURES ==================== o) As a tty client it can be run over telnet, rlogin or text ssh sessions o) It uses a perl configuration file for setting preferences and formatting messages o) emacs style editing of messages o) It is easy to use and runs without a configfile. o) There will future support for AIM and ICQ o) There will be future support for advanced sorting of messages =============== GETTING STARTED =============== Owl will run happily without a configfile, so to get started just run it. Owl will take over the terminal window it's started in. The Screen ---------- There are three main parts to the screen. The large top portion of the screen is where zephyrs are displayed. The status bar separates this area from the one below and displays some status information. The space below that is used to type in messages and is also used by owl to give warnings and information to the user. Sending a Zephyr ---------------- To send a zephyr to yourself hit the 'z' key. This will start a zwrite command, which you can finish by typing the name of the user you wish to send to, followed by enter. Begin typing your message. You will notice that most emacs-style editing is available. When you are ready to send type Control-D. If you wish to cancel type Control-C. If instead of a user you wish to send to class/instance simply supply -c and -i arguments to the zwrite command. Manipulating Messages --------------------- When there are one or more zephyrs in the message window, one of them will be the 'current' message. Owl will indicate which one it is with an arrow to the left of the message. The following keys will move you between messages n move to the next non-deleted message p move to the previous non-deleted message C-n , down move to the next message C-p , up move to the previous message < move to the first message > move to the last message right scroll the screen to the right left scroll the screen to the left P move to the next personal message M-P move to the previous personal message T Mark all 'trash' messages for deletion When you are ready to delete a message you can mark it for deletion and a 'D' will appear to the left of the message. Messages will not actually be removed until you perform an expunge. d mark a message for deletion u unmark a message for deletion x expunge deleted messages T mark all automated messages for deletion If you would like to respond to a zephyr sent to you there is a reply shortcut. This will reply to a personal zephyr, or if the zephyr is sent to a zephyr class it will reply to the zephyr class. r reply to a zephyr You can scroll within the current message using: SPACE page down b page up RETURN line down BACKSPACE line up The pointer will change to indicate that the message is not starting at the first line. Two other keys that relate to the current message: i print detailed information about the message w instruct netscape to visit a URL in the message Other Functions ---------------- Some other funcions that can be performed with a single keystroke: A toggle zaway h print the help screen C-l refresh and resize the screen C-z suspend Command Mode ------------ Owl has a command mode where you can enter more detailed commands for owl to process. To enter command mode: : begin command mode Owl will give you a command prompt and you can begin typing your command. Type Enter to execute the command, Control-C to cancel. Currently support commands are: quit , exit exit owl zwrite send a zephyr reply reply to the current zephyr set set a variable print print a variable zlog [in|out] send a login or logout message version print the owl version number subscribe subscribe to a class, instance, recipient unsubscribe unsubscribe from a class, instance, recipient unsuball unsubscribe from all messagse getsubs print a list of current subscriptions zlocate locate a user info print detailed information about a message help print the help screen next move to the next message prev move to the previous message next-notdel move to the next non-deleted message prev-notdel move to the previous not-deleted message expunge expunge messages marked for deletion first move to the first message last move to the last message resize resize owl to the current window suspend suspend owl exec run a shell command zaway [on|off|] Turn zaway on, off, or set the message load-subs load subscriptions from a file status print info about owl status about print info about owl Variables --------- The 'set' and 'print' commands let set and print the values of owl variables. The currently supported variables are these: Variables: name settings default meaning --------------- -------- ------- ------- appendtosepbar string to append to the end of the sepbar bell on,off on enable / disable the terminal bell burningears on,off off [NOT YET IMPLEMENTED] beep on messages matching patterns classlogging on,off off turn class logging on or off classpath ~/zlog/class path for logging class zephyrs debug on,off on whether debugging is enabled debug_file /var/tmp/owldebug path for logging debug messages when debugging is enabled disable-ctrl-d on,off off don't send zephyrs on C-d displayoutgoing on,off on display outgoing messages logging on,off off turn personal logging on or off loginsubs on,off on load logins from .anyone on startup logpath ~/zlog/people path for logging personal zephyrs personalbell on,off off ring the terminal bell when personal messages are receive rxping on,off off display received pings shutdownlogout on,off on send a logout message when owl exits startuplogin on,off on send a login message when owl starts summarymode on,off off [NOT YET IMPLEMENTED] txping on,off on send pings typewinsize int > 0 8 number of lines in the typing window webbrowser none,netscape,galeon netscape web browser to use to launch URLs zaway_msg "I'm sorry..." current zaway msg for responding to zephyrs when away zaway_msg_default "I'm sorry..." default zaway msg for responding to zephyrs when away zsig zephyr signature zsigproc name of a program to run that will generate zsigs ================ THE CONFIG FILE ================ *** WARNING: This interface may change substantially in the near future *** This file is interpreted by the perl interpreter. If you wish to execute an owl command use the function owl::command(). i.e. owl::command("set zsigproc \"/mit/kretch/bin/getzsig foo\""); will set the owl variable zsigproc. Note that commands will currently be executed in order after the called configuration subroutine exits. Subroutines created with the names below will be executed at the specified times: subroutine name properties --------------- ---------- owl::startup() run when owl first starts owl::shutdown() run when owl exits owl::format_msg() run when a new message arrives, the return value is used to display the message on the screen owl::receive_msg() run when a message is received, and after it has been added to the message list The following variables will be set each time a message is recevied: $owl::class, $owl::instance, $owl::recipient, $owl::sender, $owl::opcode, $owl::zsig, $owl::msg, $owl::time, $owl::host, @owl::fields, $owl::id The "appendtosepbar" variable may be set in owl::format_msg() to set text to be appended to sepbar that separates the received message list from the edit window. =================== FURTHER INFORMATION ===================