XZWRITE(1)XZWRITE(1)NAMExzwrite - X application to write to another user via
Zephyr
SYNOPSISxzwrite [ -toolkitoption ... ] [-s signature] [+d | -d]
[+n | -n] [+v | -v] [+yd | -yd] [+av | -av] [+ci | -ci]
[-my yanks] [+l | -l] [+a | -a] [+x | -x] [+z | -z] [+pong
| -pong] [+reply | -reply]
DESCRIPTION
Xzwrite is an X application that sends messages to other
users through the Zephyr(1) notification service. It puts
an icon on the screen that allows the user to send a mes
sage, select the destination of a message, or exit. The
program remains active until explicity told to exit, thus
eliminating the need to run a program every time the user
wants to send a zephyr message.
USING THE DESTINATION LIST
Xzwrite maintains a list of 'destinations'; that is, a
list of <class, instance, recipient> triples that a user
can send messages to. When a user selects a destination,
all subsequent messages will be sent to that triple, until
a new destination is selected. Xzwrite can get its list
of destinations from the files .xzwrite.dest, user's home
directory. These files must consist of a list of lines,
and each is interpreted in the following way: a line con
taining no commas is taken to mean <MESSAGE,PER
SONAL,string>; a line with one comma is taken to be either
<class,instance,*> or <MESSAGE,instance,recipient> depend
ing on the value of the classInst resource (see below); a
line with two commas is taken to be <class,instance,recip
ient>. A line that begins with an exclamation point (!)
is treated as an "unsubscription" and has the effect of
removing destinations read from any other file that match
the destination on that line. The lines must appear WITH
OUT WHITESPACE between the fields and with a linefeed
between each line. Blank lines and lines beginning with
an octothorpe (#) are ignored.
Clicking the left button in the xzwrite icon pops up the
editor and destination list. Clicking with the left but
ton in the destination list selects the highlighted desti
nation; clicking with the right button deletes the high
lighed destination. Clicking the middle button invokes
the action CreateDest (see ACTIONS below) that prompts the
user for a new <class,instance,recipient> triple to be
added to the list.
If the user specifies a destination in the .xzwrite.dest
file with an instance or recipient of "...", xzwrite will
prompt the user to enter an instance or recipient when the
message editor is popped up. Setting both instance and
recipient to "..." (ie: <MESSAGE,...,...>) works. The new
<class,instance,recipient> triple formed each time a des
tination with "..." is used may or may not be added to the
destination list, depending on the addVars resource (see
below.)
While the mouse pointer is inside the xzwrite icon, the
mouse buttons have the following effect:
Left button:
Pops up the editor and destination list so the user
can create and send messages.
Right button:
Pops up a list of things that can be changed while
xzwrite is running. Clicking the "Change Signa
ture" box causes xzwrite to prompt for a new signa
ture, to be used in future messages. All the oth
ers toggle options which are initially set by
resources or command-line arguments. The "Quit
XZWRITE" causes xzwrite to exit.
Ctrl-Right button:
Exits xzwrite.
USING THE MESSAGE EDITOR
There are four buttons in the message editor. The Send
button sends the text currently in the message editor to
the current destination, optionally clearing the message
editor at the same time. The Clear Editor button clears
the message editor. The Yank-Prev button yanks the previ
ous message, along with its destination, into the message
editor. The Yank-Next button yanks the next message (or
the first message in the yank buffer, if Yank-Prev has not
been called) into the message editor. The yank buffer is
circular, so old messages are periodically overwritten by
new ones, and stores the previous (by default) 25 mes
sages.
The following key sequences have been defined for conve
nience:
Ctrl-Return Send message
Meta-O Store current message, yank previous
Meta-P Yank Previous
Meta-N Yank Next
OPTIONS
Xzwrite will accept all X Toolkit command-line options and
resource database specifications, under the name
'XZwrite'; for more information, see X(1). The instance
names of the different parts of xzwrite are as follows
(each should be preceded by XZwrite* in the user's .Xre
sources file. For examples of how to use these resource
names, look in /usr/athena/lib/zephyr/XZwrite.)
toplevel - the top level shell
icon - the top level "Z" icon
sendWindow - the popup shell for the editor/destlist
sendForm - the form holding the edit tree and dest tree
sendClose - button to close sendWindow
editPane - the pane holding editor widgets
editTitle - the label holding the zephyr triple
editForm - the box holding editor command buttons
editSend - button to send message
editClear - button to clear editor
editPrev - button to yank previous
editNext - button to yank next
editor - the text editor
destForm - the form holding the destinations list/button
destScroll - the scrollbar holding the list
destList - the destination list
menuWindow - the popup shell for the menu
menuForm - the form holding the menu list/button
menuClose - the Close Window button for the dest list
signature - button to change signature
closeOnSend
pings
verbose
authentic
yankDest
addGlobals
classInst
exitProgram
getStringWindow - the popup shell for dialog boxes (GetString.c)
getStringForm - the form containing the dialog widgets
getStringTitle - the title label width
getStringEdit - the text editor
getStringAccept - the accept button
getStringCancel - the cancel button
In addition, xzwrite will accept the following command-
line options (or resource database specifications). Each
should be preceded by XZwrite* in the user's .Xresources
file. When a command-lie
+d (auth = true)
-d (auth = false)
When true, Zephyr messages to be sent authentic.
When false, Zephyr messages are sent unauthentic.
+v (verbose = true)
-v (verbose = false)
When true, causes xzwrite to inform the user no one
received a sent message by beeping. This is useful
if the user wants to know if someone logged out
between the time when the editor is popped up (when a
PING is sent) and when the message is actually sent.
+z (readZephyr = true)
-z (readZephyr = false)
When true, causes xzwrite to include the .zephyr.subs
file for its initial list of destinations.
+a (readAnyone = true)
-a (readAnyone = false)
When true, causes xzwrite to include the user's .any
one file for its initial list of destinations.
+x (readXzwrite = true)
-x (readXzwrite = false)
When true, causes xzwrite to include the user's
.xzwrite.dest file for its initial list of destina
tions.
+l (trackLogins = true)
-l (trackLogins = false)
When true, xzwrite determines (at startup) if each
username on the destination list is logged on and
removes those usernames that are not. It then sub
scribes to login and logout messages for each user
name on the list, and keeps the destination list up
to date with respect to which users are zwrite-able.
+pong (pongScan = true)
-pong (pongScan = false)
Controls the method xzwrite uses determine whether a
certain user is logged in. If true, xzwrite sends a
notice with an opcode of PING (and a message body of
PONG) and awaits a response; if false, xzwrite per
forms a "zlocate". Note that this resource is only
used when trackLogins is true.
-s (signature)
Specifies the 'signature' for all messages sent. The
signature will appear as the first field in every
message sent. Xzwrite will also look in the user's
.zephyr.vars file to a signature, first for the vari
able xzwrite-signature and then for the variable
zwrite-signature. If neither is found, Xzwrite will
look in the /etc/passwd file for the user's name.
+n (ping = true)
-n (ping = false)
When ping is set to true, xzwrite sends a PING to the
destination when it is initially selected. Xzwrite
uses the PING to determine if anyone will actually
receive a message sent to that destination, and will
not allow it to be selected if not.
+ci (classInst = true)
-ci (classInst = false)
When ci is set to true, a destination that contains
two strings separated by a comma is interpreted as a
class and instance, with a recipient of "*". When it
is false, the same string is interpreted as an
instance and recipient, with a class of MESSAGE.
+yd (yankDest = true)
-yd (yankDest = false)
When yd is set to true, yanking a previous message in
the message editor also restores the original desti
nation of the message. When set to false, only the
message text is yanked, and the current destination
remains unchanged.
+av (addVars = true)
-av (addVars = false)
When av is set to true, destinations that are speci
fied as the result of a recipient or instance of
"..." are added to the destinations list so they can
be selected again.
+reply (autoReply = true)
-reply (autoReply = false)
When autoReply is set to true, xzwrite subscribes to
<MESSAGE,*,%me%> (in other words, all messages sent
directly to the user). Each time such a message is
received, a destination that will reply to the sender
on the same instance is added to the destination
list, if it is not already there.
ACTIONS
Every useful action that xzwrite can perform can be bound
to any sequence of X events through the mechanism of
translation tables. The following action procedures
available to the user.
OpenSend
CloseSend
Pops up/Pops down the message editor/destination list.
SendMessage
Sends the message in the editor to the current destination.
ClearEditor
Clears the editor.
YankStore
Stores the contents in the message editor in the Yank buffer.
YankPrev
YankNext
Puts the previous/next item in the yank buffer into the editor,
optionally restoring the destination as well.
SelectDest
DeleteDest
Selects/deletes the hightlighed destination.
CreateDest
Prompts the user for a <class,instance,recipient> triple to
be added to the destinations list.
OpenMenu
CloseMenu
Pops up/Pops down the options menu.
ToggleOption
Toggles the option corresponding to the hightlighed item on the
options menu.
Signature
Pops up a dialog box and changes the Zephyr signature to whatever
is typed into it.
For examples on how to use these action procedures, look in
/usr/athena/lib/zephyr/XZwrite.
FILES
/usr/athena/lib/zephyr/xzwrite.bitmap
Default icon bitmap
/usr/athena/lib/zephyr/XZwrite
Xzwrite program defaults
/etc/passwd
Signature field (from gecos information)
~/.Xresources
user X resources database file
~/.xzwrite.dest
The user's xzwrite destinations list. ~/.anyone
The user's .anyone file. ~/.zephyr.subs The user's
zephyr subscription file.
SEE ALSOX(1), zephyr(1)BUGSxzwrite occasionally decided to ignore the state of the
"Pings" and "Authentic" menu options, unless you happen to
be running the program under a debugger.
This man page contains many errors and omissions.
AUTHOR
Written by Barry Jaspan (bjaspan@mit.edu), MIT Project
Athena and MIT Student Information Processing Board.
7 February 1989 XZWRITE(1)
