BIXjoe Version 1.14.0 User Guide BIXjoe is an online assistant that makes it easier to interact with the BIX and Noise Level Zero online conferencing systems. The program and documentation are Copyright 2000 to 2002 by David G. Holm, Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA. INSTALLING BIXJOE The class files that compromise BIXjoe are packaged in a jar file named BIXjoe.jar, which is in turn packaged in a zip file named BIXjoe.zip, along with the support files that are needed, such as this documentation file and several icon image files. First Time Installation Create an empty directory in some convenient location, such as /usr/bin/ or C:\Program Files\ and extract the contents of BIXjoe.zip into the new directory. Note: should you not desire a Java console window, simply substitute JREW, JREPM, JAVAW, or JAVAPM for JRE or JAVA in the next two sections. Installing for Use with JRE Create a command script or shortcut that runs JRE from the BIXjoe directory, includes the BIXjoe.jar file in the -cp command line parameter, specifies the BIXjoe entry point, and optionally specifies the name of the BIXjoe option file to use (if one is not specified, it defaults to BIX.ini). Command file examples: jre -cp BIXjoe.jar BIXjoe myid.ini jre -cp BIXjoe.jar BIXjoe C:\JDK1.1.8\bin\jre.exe -cp BIXjoe.jar BIXjoe C:\jdk1.3\jre\bin\java.exe -cp BIXjoe.jar BIXjoe C:\jdk1.3\jre\bin\java.exe -jar BIXjoe.jar Installing for Use with Java Create a command script or shortcut that will run Java from the BIXjoe directory, lists the BIXjoe.jar file in the -classpath or -cp command line option, along with the BIXjoe entry point, and the optional BIXjoe option file name (if one is not specified, it defaults to BIX.ini). Command file examples: java -classpath %classpath%;BIXjoe.jar BIXjoe C:\jdk1.3\bin\java.exe -cp BIXjoe.jar BIXjoe C:\jdk1.3\bin\java.exe -jar BIXjoe.jar myid.ini Updating an Existing Installation Extract the contents of BIXjoe.zip into your existing BIXjoe directory. You do not need to make any changes to your command scripts, shortcuts, etc. SETTING BIXJOE OPTIONS Before BIXjoe can be used to connect to a conferencing system, you should set up your user name and possibly your password, both of which are stored as plain text, and choose from among several options. Choose File, then Options from the BIXjoe menu to pop up the dialog. The dialog has input fields for system type, host name, login name, login password, read mode, keep alive, automatic who, echoing input sent from the conferencing system to BIXjoe to the Java console, echoing output sent to the conferencing system from BIXjoe to the Java console, tracing various BIXjoe events to the Java console, word wrapping of displayed messages, the optional external web browser path, the optional external mailer path, and a list of user IDs to be ignored (messages authored by any user ID in the list are not displayed). The dialog also has buttons for OK, Save, and Cancel. System Type This is where you choose the system type, which can be BIX, NLZ, or TESTNLZ (using this choice box avoids some of the problems that would arise from hardcoding the system system type based on the host name). Host Name This is where you type in the optional host name that BIXjoe will use when connecting to BIX via telnet. If left blank, BIXjoe defaults to "nlzero.com", making this field mandatory for all systems other than NLZ. Login Name This is where you type in your login name for the conferencing system. If you are not yet a member of the conferencing system, BIXjoe will sign you up with this login name the first time you attempt to log in. Note: If the login name is not available, you have to exit and restart BIXjoe, then select a new login name and try to log in again. If you leave the login name field blank, you will be prompted to enter it at the appropriate point during the login process. Leaving your login name blank is not recommended, because then you must remember to include the login option ";;-blink" after your login name in order to ensure that the conferencing system is configured properly for use with BIXjoe. Login Password This is where you optionally type in your password for the conferencing system. The password input field is not protected and the password is saved in your BIXjoe option file without using any encryption. If you don't enter your password, you will be prompted to enter it at the appropriate point during the login process. Read Mode The read mode defaults to reference and has choices for forward and backward, all of which correspond to the conferencing system read modes of the same names. Keep Alive When set to Yes, then when the conferencing system sends the timeout query "Are you there?", BIXjoe automatically responds with "yes", which prevents the conferencing system from disconnecting the session, thus keeping the connection alive. If keep alive is set to no, then when the conferencing system sends the timeout query "Are you there?", BIXjoe displays the query in the BIXjoe status window and you must type "yes" into the BIXjoe command input field and press the Enter key to avoid being disconnected by the conferencing system. Automatic Who When set to Yes, BIXjoe automatically obtains a list of all online users when it returns to the top level after reading new messages or if there are no unread messages. Echo Input from BIX When set to Yes, all input to BIXjoe that originates from the conferencing system is echoed to the Java console window. Echo Output to BIX When set to Yes, all output from BIXjoe that is sent to the conferencing system is echoed to the Java console window, with the exception of your password, which is echoed as a single asterisk. Trace BIXjoe Events When set to Yes, certain internal events are traced to the Java console for debugging purposes. This option is primarily of use to the BIXjoe developer. Word Wrap When set to Yes, conferencing system messages are displayed with automatic word wrapping enabled. External Browser This field lets you specify the path and command line options for an external HTML browser that will be activated when you double-click on text that looks like it might be a URL (basically anything that does not look like an email address). A space and the extracted URL are appended and the resulting command line is handed off to the system command line handler to run. External Mailer This field lets you specify the path and command line options for an external email client that will be activated when you double-click on text that looks like it might be an email address (anything that has an @ sign and a period, but doesn't have a slash). A space and the extracted email address are appended and the resulting command line is handed off to the system command line handler to run. Black Hole Shows the current contents of your BIXjoe Black Hole list. If you select a user name from the list, it will be placed into the User Name field so that you don't have to type it in if you want to remove it. User Name A text field that is used to add or remove a user name from your BIXjoe Black Hole list. After you click on the Add or Remove button, the field is cleared. Add Button When you click on this button, the user name that is in the User Name field is added to your BIXjoe Black Hole list. Remove Button When you click on this button, the user name that is in the User Name field is removed from your BIXjoe Black Hole list. Strip Strip is a new option that can only be used by editing your BIXjoe INI file directly. Exit BIXjoe first, then locate the "[Strip]" section. Enter the text that you want BIXjoe to strip as separate lines for each string. You can't strip text that contains a semicolon (;) because ; is the INI file comment lead-in character. The string listed below is what lead to this feature, but there are no default strings in the Strip section. IMO as is everything I write that isn't quoting someone else. OK Button If you click the OK button, your BIXjoe options are put into use (but are not saved to your BIXjoe option file) and the dialog is dismissed. Note: When you exit BIXjoe, your current BIXjoe settings are automatically saved anyway, along with additional information that is mentioned in the Save Button section. Save Button If you click the Save button, your BIXjoe options are put into use and are also saved to your BIXjoe option file and the dialog is dismissed. Note: In addition to the BIXjoe options listed above, the BIXjoe message and edit window positions and dimensions are saved. Cancel Button If you click the Cancel button, your BIXjoe options will revert to the values they had when the dialog popped up and the dialog is dismissed. Note: Clicking on the window close icon has the same effect as clicking on the Cancel button. THE BIXJOE MENU BAR The BIXjoe menu bar has the following menus: File, Mail, Message, Read, Resume, and Help. The BIXjoe File Menu The BIXjoe file menu has the following items: Options, Kick to Browser (Ctrl+K), Logon (Ctrl+L), Logoff (Ctrl+G), Logon History, {System Type} Command (Ctrl+B), Keys, and Exit. Choosing File / Options takes you to the BIXjoe Options dialog described previously. Choosing File / Kick to Browser attempts to extract a URL from the highlighted text and then launches either the external browser or the external mailer with the URL attached to the command line string. Because of the advanced URL extraction, you have great leeway in what you swipe when marking a URL (such as not having to worry about whitespace in or around it or needing to excise it from an HREF tag). Note: If the URL does not span multiple lines, then you can double-click anywhere in the URL to achieve the same result. Choosing File / Logon (or pressing Ctrl+L) will log you onto the conferencing system. Choosing File / Logoff (or pressing Ctrl+G or entering "bye" in the command field) will log you off of the conferencing system. Under some circumstances, you may have to shut down and restart BIXjoe before you can log back into the conferencing system. Choosing File / Logon History will display everything that was received from the conferencing system from the time you attempted to log on up to the time when you were successfully logged on. Choosing File / {System Type} Command (or pressing Ctrl+B) changes the input focus to the command input field and prompts you to enter a conferencing system command. Choosing File / Keys displays a list of Java menu item shortcut key values and names. This is primarily of interest to the BIXjoe developer and Java programmers. Choosing File / Exit (or pressing Ctrl+X) will exit the program if you are not currently online. Otherwise, you will be reminded that you are online and asked if it is OK to terminate the session. A yes response does a log off from the conferencing system, saves all the BIXjoe options, and dismisses all BIXjoe windows, so be sure that you have saved or sent the contents of all of your BIXjoe edit windows first. Note: Clicking on the close window icon does the same thing, as does pressing Alt+F4 on OS/2 or Windows. The BIXjoe Mail Menu The BIXjoe mail menu has the following item: Mail (Ctrl+M). Choosing Mail / Mail enters the conferencing system's mail system and attempts to read the first waiting message in your inbox, after which you will need to enter conferencing system's mail commands manually. The BIXjoe Message Menu The BIXjoe message menu has the following items: Next (Ctrl+N), Original (Ctrl+O), Root (Ctrl+R), Say (Ctrl+S), Comment (Ctrl+C), Goto (which has a sub- menu), Skip (which has a sub-menu), and History (Ctrl+H). With the exception of History, all of the Message menu item choices should be obvious to anyone who is used to using BIX interactively, so they will not be described any further, other than to mention that Goto / Message has not been implemented and currently does nothing. Choosing Message / History (or pressing Ctrl+H) will redisplay everything that has been received from the conferencing system since you logged on (with the exception of stripped strings). Next can also be activated by using the + key. Original can also be activated by using the - key. The BIXjoe Read Menu The BIXjoe read menu has the following items: Reference, Forward, and Backward. These choices are the same as those in the BIXjoe option dialog, but they don't change your BIXjoe option file settings. The BIXjoe Resume Menu The BIXjoe resume menu has the following items: Edit (Ctrl+E), Announce (Ctrl+A), and Show (Ctrl+W). Choosing Resume / Edit (or pressing Ctrl+E) downloads your resume from the conferencing system and pops up an edit window to let you make changes to it. Choosing Resume / Announce (or pressing Ctrl+A) downloads your resume to determine how large it is and then composes a new message to be sent to windows.supp /new.resumes with information such as the following: Title: Updated file. Filename: RESUME Filetype: ASCII text Filedate: 15Apr01 Filesize: 166 bytes Auto post for the_fern by BIXjoe version 1.14.0. Even though the message includes the text "Auto post", the message is not posted automatically. You have to choose to send it to the conferencing system (see the Edit Window section). Choosing Resume / Show (or pressing Ctrl+W) will download either the conferencing system resume of the author of the current message or your own resume. The BIXjoe Help Menu The BIXjoe help menu has the following item: Program Information (Ctrl+I), which displays information about BIXjoe, such as the version number. THE MESSAGE WINDOW The BIXjoe message window is the large scrollable window that is located below the BIXjoe menu bar and is where your conferencing system messages are shown. The Command Field The BIXjoe command field is located between the BIXjoe message window and the status window and is where you can enter commands to be sent to the conferencing system. This is intended for sending commands that BIXjoe doesn't know about (such as viewing mail or dealing with the listings areas) or answering prompts. The Status Field The BIXjoe status field is located at the bottom of the window and is where status messages are displayed. THE EDIT WINDOW The BIXjoe edit window is a separate window that pops up when you compose a new conferencing system message, reply to a conferencing system message, or edit your conferencing system resume. More than one edit window may be open at any given time. If you choose a menu action that would cause your message to be lost, you will be asked if you wish to discard your text, with the exception of closing the main BIXjoe window, in which case the edit window closes without a prompt. Choosing Yes (or pressing Y) discards the text and performs the action. Choosing No (or pressing N or Esc) retains the text and ignores the action. The Edit Window Menu Bar The edit window menu bar has the following menus: File and Send. The Edit Window File Menu The edit window file menu has the following items: New (Ctrl+N), Open (Ctrl+O), Save (Ctrl+S), Save As (Ctrl+A), and Exit (Ctrl+X), all of which should be obvious and will not be discussed further. Note: Clicking on the window close icon has the same effect as choosing File / Exit. File / New When you choose File / New (or press Ctrl+N), the edit window is cleared. File / Open When you choose File / Open (or press Ctrl+O), you get a file selection dialog that you can use to choose the file to read into the edit window. If you choose a file with the ".bix" extension, BIXjoe will assume that the file was saved by BIXjoe and will attempt to read the original conference and topic names and original message number (for a reply) from the first line of the file. File / Save When you choose File / Save (or press Ctrl+S), the contents of the edit window are saved to the current file name from File / Open or File / Save as. If there is no current file name, then the File / Save as dialog pops up. File / Save as When you choose File / Save as (or press Ctrl+A), you will get a file selection dialog that you can use to choose the name of the file to save the contents of the edit window into. If you use the ".bix" file extension, then BIXjoe will save the current conference, topic and message number (for a reply) in the first line of the saved file as a message link, so that you don't have to remember where you intended to post the message when you open it into an editor window later. Note: If you do not give a file extension, BIXjoe will *not* provide one and will not save the message link into the file. File / Exit When you chosse File / Exit (or press Ctrl+X), the edit window is dismissed. Note: Clicking on the close window icon does the same thing, as does pressing Alt+F4 on OS/2 or Windows. The Edit Window Send Menu The only item on the edit window send menu is Message (Ctrl+D), which sends the text of your new message, comment, or resume to the conferencing system, without confirmation (so don't choose Send / Message or press Ctrl+D until you are done composing your message). The message is saved to the file autosave.bix before being sent, so that you can attempt to resend your message later, in case there is a problem with your connection to the conferencing system that BIXjoe wasn't able to detect ahead of time. Note: BIXjoe never deletes this file, which means that its presence can *not* be used an indicator of a failed connection. READING NEW MESSAGES WITH BIXJOE Either choose File / Logon or press Ctrl+L to log onto the conferencing system. After you are logged onto the conferencing system, press the space bar to scroll down through the log on responses from the conferencing system. Then press the space bar again to enter the first conference topic that has unread messages. Then press the space bar to view the first unread message. Keep on pressing the space bar to page through the messages, advance to the next unread message, or advance to the next unread conference topic. If you double click on any text in the message window, BIXjoe will attempt to determine if what you clicked on is an email address and will then launch either the external web browser or email program, if you set them up under File / Options. Replying to Messages When you wish to reply to a message, highlight any text that you wish to be quoted in your reply, then choose Message / Comment or press Ctrl+C to bring up an Edit Window. Composing a new Message When you want to compose a new message, you need to be in the conference and topic that the message is for. You can use the Command Field to enter the appropriate join command (for example, "j ask.bix/cafe") if you are not in the correct conference topic. Choose Message / Say or press Ctrl+S to bring up an Edit Window. BIXjoe inserts the text "Title: " at the start of the first line, but you are under no obligation to include that text in your message. The BIXjoe Black Hole Should you for any reason wish to ignore messages from a user, you can add the user name to the BIXjoe Black Hole list using the File / Options dialog. The way this works is that when BIXjoe reads a message from anyone on your Black Hole list, BIXjoe will remind you that you are ignoring messages from this BIXen rather than displaying the message (even if you used Message / Original or Message / Root). Should you wish to see the message anyway, then simply choose Message / History and scroll to the bottom (the quickest way to do this is to press Ctrl+H and then Ctrl+End), because even ignored messages are included in the BIXjoe message history. Saving the BIXjoe Message History. If you want to save all of the messages from a BIXjoe session for future reference, choose Message / History (or press Ctrl+H), highlight all of the text in the BIXjoe message window (on Windows, pop up the context window and choose Select all), then choose then Message / Reply, followed by File / Save as, then close the edit window after the save completes.