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CC:	
Subj:	Re: What does DECW$MAIL.DAT mean?

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Date: 29 Jan 91 14:10:25 GMT
From: agate!shelby!unixhub!linac!uwm.edu!rpi!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!caen!math.lsa.umich.edu!sharkey!nstar!inland!allebrandi@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Tom Allebrandi)
Organization: Inland Steel Research Labs; East Chicago, IN
Subject: Re: What does DECW$MAIL.DAT mean?
Message-Id: <507.27a58251@inland.com>
References: <894@TALOS.UUCP>
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In article <894@TALOS.UUCP>, greg_a@TALOS.UUCP (Greg Askew) writes:
> Does anyone have a list of parameters and their meanings for the
> DECW$MAIL.DAT file that is usually located in SYS$LOGIN?  Digital has
> stated this file is intentionally undocumented, because they intend
> for users to make changes in their profile via pull-down menus.

Following is a note I posted locally and to DECUServe after going on
archeological expedition a week or so ago. This is a partial answer to
your question.

--- Tom
Tom Allebrandi             | Mail guru   - DECUS UUCP Development Team
Inland Steel Research Labs | Chairperson - VMSnet Working Group, DECUS VAX SIG
East Chicago, IN           | Internet:  allebrandi@inland.com
219 399 6306               | UUCP:      ...!uunet!inland!allebrandi
                           | DECUServe: allebrandi     BIX: ta2


PLEASE NOTE: This information was determined by experiment on VMS 5.3-1
             and a look into the source listings for VMS 5.3. I have no idea
             whether or not this will work with other versions!

In the file DECW$MAIL.DAT, there are three resources that control the
editor that is used when you send mail using the DECwindows Mail Utility.

Mail.editor.defaultname:

	When you are NOT using the DECwindows text editor, the box
	that it uses for text entry gets the string

		"Using editor Mumble"

	where "Mumble" is the value for the resource.


Mail.editor.defaultDCLcommand:

	If this string is non-null, and Mail.editor.defaultai is "no",
	then the string value is to contain a DCL command that is spawned
	to invoke the editor. Two "%s" are required as place holders for
	the input and output file names.

	I'm not sure exacly what goes here if .defaultai is "yes".


Mail.editor.defaultai:

	A value of "no" says to spawn the .defaultDCLcommand. A value of
	"yes" says to invoke the editor via the Applications Interface
	Library, whatever that is.


For example:

Mail.editor.defaultname:	MicroEmacs
Mail.editor.defaultDCLcommand:	@com:go_editor "%s" "%s" "Mail:Edit" "Mail:Edit"
Mail.editor.defaultai:	no

This means that when I send a mail message using DECwindows mail, the normal
edit box gets the string "Using editor MicroEmacs", and a subprocess is
spawned with the command "@com:go_editor ...". go_editor is a command procedure
that I use to invoke MicroEmacs.


When the subprocess is created, it does not have a terminal attached to it.
You do have a DECwindows display context which means that you could have
a .defaultDCLcommand of:

	edit/tpu/display=decwindows %s /output=%s

If you need a terminal, then you need to create/terminal one. Watch out
here! Let's say that you

	create/terminal/noprocess edit/tpu/display=character %s /output=%s

This won't work because the created DECterminal does not have SYS$INPUT
or SYS$OUTPUT assigned to it. DEC's solution, which you will discover if
you select "DECterm EVE" as your default editor, is to create another
subprocess, as in:

	create/terminal/wait edit/tpu/display=character %s /output=%s

My solution is to have the .defaultDCLcommand invoke a command procedure,
the command procedure creates the DECterminal and assigns SYS$INPUT and
SYS$OUTPUT to it. The command procedure follows. My example .defaultDCLcommand
above uses this procedure. (Note that COM: is where I keep command procedures.)

--- Tom

$! GO_EDITOR.COM
$!
$! Invoke your favorite text editor in a DECterm window.
$!
$! Arguments:
$!	P1 = Input file
$!	P2 = Output file
$!	P3 = Window Title - "Editor" is the default
$!	P4 = Icon Title   = "Editor" is the default
$!
$! Note - You will want to change the line marked "CHANGE ME FOR YOUR USE".
$!        I have a utility, call_editor, that invokes whatever editor
$!        MAIL$EDIT currently points at. That's how I invoke the editor
$!        I use.
$!
$! Tom Allebrandi	Inland Steel Research Labs
$! 219-399-6306		allebrandi@inland.com
$!
$ set noon
$ if p3 .eqs. "" then p3 = "Editor"
$ if p4 .eqs. "" then p4 = "Editor"
$ create/terminal/define_logical=my_edit_terminal/noprocess-
	/window_attributes=(title="''p3'",icon_name="''p4'")
$ allocate my_edit_terminal
$ define/user tt my_edit_terminal:
$ define/user sys$input  my_edit_terminal:
$ define/user sys$output my_edit_terminal:
$ mcr exe:call_editor 'p1' 'p2'		! CHANGE ME FOR YOUR USE
$ deallocate my_edit_terminal
$ exit