dxmail(1X) dxmail(1X)
Name
dxmail - DECwindows mail program
Syntax
dxmail [ options ]
Description
The dxmail command provides a window-oriented interface to the mh Mail Handler. The mh Mail Handler software must be installed on your
system before you can use dxmail.
When dxmail starts, it checks in your home directory for the file .mh_profile. If the file is there, dxmail reads and uses the configura-
tion information that the file contains. If the file is not there, dxmail creates it and includes the minimum required default values.
At startup, dxmail displays a window that consists of seven areas:
Title Bar Displays window manager icons that allow you to move and resize the dxmail window and to shrink it to an icon. For
more information, see
Menu Bar Lists the available dxmail menus (for example, File or Edit).
Folder Index Pane Lists your current folders. By default, dxmail puts your incoming mail in the inbox folder. When you receive new
mail, dxmail draws a border around the inbox folder. Drafts of messages can be saved in the drafts folder and messages
to be deleted can be placed in the wastebasket folder. To select a folder, click on the appropriate folder button.
When a folder button is selected, dxmail highlights that button. To view the contents of a folder, double-click on the
appropriate folder button.
Global Commands Pane
Lists the general dxmail commands (for example, Read new mail or Create-Send).
Folder Title Bar Lists the name of the currently opened folder.
Message Index Pane Lists the messages in the currently opened folder. Initially, this window lists the messages contained in the inbox
folder.
Message Commands Pane
Lists those commonly used commands that affect the messages listed in the Message Index Pane. Dimmed commands are dis-
abled.
Options
-bd color Specifies the color of the window's border (color displays only). The default is specified by means of the Session
Manager's Customize Window dialog box.
-bg color Specifies the color of the window's background (color displays only). The default is specified by means of the Session
Manager's Customize Window dialog box.
-bw pixels Specifies the width (in pixels) of the window's border.
-d dispname Specifies the display screen on which dxmail displays its window. If the display option is not specified, dxmail uses
the display screen specified by your DISPLAY environment variable. The display option has the format hostname:number.
Using two colons (::) instead of one (:) indicates that DECnet is to be used for transport. The default is :0. For
more information, see
-display dispname Is the same as the -d option.
-fg color Specifies the color of the text. The default is specified by means of the Session Manager's Customize Window dialog
box.
-fn font Specifies the font used as the output font. Any fixed-width font can be used. The default is 6x13.
-n name Specifies the name that is to replace the program name.
-rv Reverses the default color values (for example, black becomes white and white becomes black). The default is On.
-t title Specifies the title to be listed in the main window's title bar.
Main Window
Global commands displayed in the dxmail window are:
Read new mail Checks to see if any new mail has arrived. If new mail has arrived, dxmail adds the new mail to the inbox folder and
displays the first message in the default Read window. If the default Read window does not exist, dxmail creates one
automatically. If no new mail has arrived, dxmail displays a dialog box that says "No new mail." The dxmail program
beeps only if you have selected the "Beep instead of putting up a No New Mail Dialog Box" option in the Customize win-
dow. The default is no beep.
Create-Send Displays a Create-Send window that allows you to compose a new message.
To specify the specific message or messages to be affected by commands in the Message Index Pane or in one of the several dxmail menus,
first select the message or messages.
To select a single message, click MB1 (the left mouse button, unless you have redefined it) on the message. To highlight a range of mes-
sages, you can follow one of two procedures:
1. Place the pointer on the first message to be selected.
2. Press MB1.
3. Drag the pointer to the last message to be selected.
4. Release MB1.
Or:
1. Place the pointer on the first message to be selected.
2. Click MB1.
3. Place the pointer on the last message to be selected.
4. Hold down the Shift key and click MB1.
To add a message to the current selection, follow this procedure:
1. Place the pointer on the icon of the message to be included.
2. Hold the Shift key and click MB1.
To remove a message from the current selection, follow this procedure:
1. Place the pointer on the icon of the message to be removed.
2. Hold the Shift key and click MB1.
To view the contents of a message, place the pointer on the icon of the message and double-click MB1. The contents of the message are dis-
played in a Read window.
The selected messages are the same as the highlighted messages, if any. The current message is marked with a plus sign (+), except when it
is open in a Read menu (when it is marked with an open envelope). The current message is the last message viewed in the default Read win-
dow within the current folder.
Message commands displayed in the dxmail window are:
Deliver mail Incorporates new mail into your inbox folder.
Reply Creates a Create-Send window in reply to the first selected message.
Forward Creates a Create-Send window whose body is initialized to be the contents of the selected messages.
Print Prints the selected messages.
Move Moves the message to the selected folder. However, dxmail does not remove the message from the original folder until
you close and reopen the folder, select the Commit Changes menu item, or double-click on the open folder name. For
example, you can remove a message moved out of inbox by closing and reopening inbox, selecting Commit Changes, or by
double-clicking on inbox. If the selected folder is the same as the viewed folder, this command just beeps. You can
move the messages back to the current folder by selecting the Undo move/delete menu item.
Delete Places the selected messages in the wastebasket folder for deletion. However, dxmail does not remove the selected mes-
sages from the current folder until you close and reopen the original folder, select the Commit Changes menu item, or
double-click on the folder name. You can move the messages back to their original folder by selecting the Undo
move/delete menu item.
Menus
Less commonly used functions are available only through the Menu bar. The Menu bar contains the following menus:
File
Edit
Pick
Create-Send
Read
Maintenance
Customize
File Menu
Move Moves the message to the selected folder. However, dxmail does not remove the message from the original folder until
you close and reopen the folder, select the Commit Changes menu item or double-click on the folder name. If the
selected folder is the same as the viewed folder, this command just beeps.
Copy... Copies the selected messages to the selected folder.
Extract... Creates a file from the selected message.
Print Prints the selected messages.
Open folder Opens the currently selected folder.
Open folder in new Opens the currently selected folder in a new main window.
Deliver mail Incorporates new mail into your inbox folder.
Exit Closes the main dxmail window. If the main window being closed is the only main dxmail window on the screen, then
invoking this menu item exits dxmail.
Edit Menu
Delete Places the selected messages in the wastebasket folder for deletion; if no messages are currently selected, this item
is disabled. However, dxmail does not remove the messages from the current folder until you close and reopen the orig-
inal folder, select the Commit Changes menu item, or double-click on the folder name. You can move the messages back
to their original folder by selecting the "Undo move/delete" menu item.
Undo move/delete Undoes any move or delete operations for the selected messages; if no messages are currently selected, this item is
disabled. Once you commit changes to messages by reopening the folder, selecting the Commit Changes menu item, or dou-
ble-clicking on the folder name, you cannot undo the changes.
Select all Selects all messages from the Message Index pane.
Pick Menu
The Pick menu lets you select, define, and manipulate groups of messages. Groups of messages, called sequences, further organize messages
within a folder. For example, you can create sequences that consist of all of the messages that meet some common criterion (such as those
to or from a certain person, received on a certain date, pertaining to a certain subject, or containing a specific word).
Message sequences and their names are specific to folders; therefore, the same sequence name can exist in multiple folders. In each
folder, all messages belong to a predefined sequence called all. Only one sequence can be displayed at a time; its name is next to the
folder name in the title bar above the message list, When you view messages, the next and previous messages are defined in relation to
the current sequence.
The Pick menu contains the following items:
Pick from selected folder ...
Displays the Pick dialog box, which lets you specify criteria for selecting messages from any folder and creating a
new sequence.
Pick from opened folder ...
Displays the Pick dialog box, which lets you specify criteria for selecting messages from the current folder and cre-
ating a new sequence.
Create new sequence...
Lets you specify the name of a new sequence. The sequence does not contain messages until you explicitly add some. The
sequence name must begin with an alphabetic character and should not contain any non-alphanumeric characters (such as
punctuation marks).
Open sequence Displays the last specified sequence or one that you select from the submenu. This item is disabled until the folder
contains sequences other than all.
Add to sequence Adds selected messages to a sequence that you select from the submenu. This item is disabled until the folder con-
tains sequences other than all.
Remove from sequence
Removes selected messages from a sequence that you select from the submenu. This item is disabled until the folder
contains sequences other than all.
Delete sequence Removes a sequence that you select from the submenu. The messages themselves are not deleted; they are still part of
the folder's all sequence,
Create-send Menu
The Create-Send menu contains the following items:
New message Displays a Create-Send window that allows you to compose a new message.
File Displays the File Selection dialog box, which lets you send an existing file as a mail message. Once the File Selec-
tion dialog box is dismissed, dxmail displays a Create-Send window whose body is the specified file.
Reply Creates a Create-Send window in reply to the first selected message.
Forward Creates a Create-Send window that contains the contents of the selected message or messages.
Use as comp Creates a Create-Send window that contains the contents of the selected message. This menu item is often used to com-
pose a new message with the contents of a message previously saved in the drafts folder.
Read Menu
The Read menu contains the following items:
In new Displays the selected message in a new Read window, regardless of whether a default Read window is already displayed.
In default Displays the selected message in the default Read window. If a Read window is not displayed, dxmail creates a new Read
window automatically. You can also invoke this command by double-clicking on the envelope icon for the appropriate
message.
In window # Displays a submenu that lets you display the selected message in one of several already displayed Read windows.
New mail Checks to see if any new mail has arrived. If new mail has arrived, dxmail incorporates the new mail and displays the
first message in the automatically created default Read window. If no new mail has arrived, dxmail displays a dialog
box that says "No new mail." The dxmail program beeps only if you have selected the "Beep instead of putting up a No
New Mail dialog box" option in the Customize Window. The default is no beep.
New mail in new Checks to see if any new mail has arrived. If new mail has arrived, dxmail incorporates the new mail and displays the
first message in a new Read window that is created automatically. If no new mail has arrived, dxmail displays a dialog
box that says "No new mail." The dxmail program beeps only if you have selected the "Beep instead of putting up a No
New Mail dialog box" option in the Customize Window. The default is no beep.
Maintenance Menu
The Maintenance menu contains the following items:
Create folder... Creates a new folder and displays a dialog box that prompts for the new folder name.
Empty wastebasket Deletes the messages previously placed in the wastebasket folder with the Delete command.
Delete folder... Deletes the selected folder and displays a Caution dialog box that prompts for verification.
Commit changes Removes from the message list of the current folder any message that you previously marked to delete or move. When you
close and reopen a folder or double-click on a folder name, dxmail invokes this command automatically.
Renumber messages Renumbers the messages in the viewed folder starting from 1 and incrementing by 1 for each following message.
Sort by date Sorts the messages in the folder into increasing order by date.
Rescan folder Causes dxmail to check and make sure its information about the folder is correct. This command can be useful if you
have invoked mh commands directly from the command line while dxmail is running.
Customize Menu
The Customize menu contains the following items:
Modify mail profile Displays the Customize dialog box, which lets you modify characteristics of dxmail. The customize options are:
Skip to next message upon deleting current one.
Skip to next message upon moving current one.
Commit changes in a folder upon closing it.
Renumber messages in a folder after every commit.
Put deleted messages into wastebasket instead of deleting immediately.
Incorporate new messages when invoking Show Unopened Buttons
Affect the current message if no messages are selected.
Beep instead of putting up a No New Mail dialog box.
Read Windows
Most Read window commands are the same as the message commands by the same name. However, the Read window commands affect the viewed mes-
sage instead of the selected message, and there are three additional commands:
Next Displays the message after the message displayed currently.
Previous Displays the message before the message displayed currently.
Close Closes the read window.
Less commonly used functions are available only through the menu bar. The menu bar contains the following menus:
File
Edit
Sequences
Create-Send
Read
File Menu
File menu items unique to the Read window are as follows:
Make default window Specifies that the current Read window is the default Read window.
Close Closes the Read window.
Edit Menu
Edit menu items unique to the Read window are as follows:
Select all Selects all text displayed in the Read window.
Edit message Specifies that the message in the Read window can be modified.
Save changes Saves any changes made to the message displayed in the Read window after invoking the Edit message menu item.
Read Menu
Next selected Displays the next message selected from the main dxmail window in the current Read window.
Previous selected Displays the previous message selected from the main dxmail window in the current Read window.
Next in folder Displays the next message listed in the main dxmail window in the current Read window.
Previous in folder Displays the previous message listed in the main dxmail window in the current Read window.
Create-send Windows
The buttons associated with Create-Send windows are:
Close Closes the Create-Send window without taking any further action. If changes have been made, dxmail displays a Caution
dialog box prompting for confirmation or cancellation.
Reset Clears the Create-Send window.
Save Saves the message contained in the Create-Send window in the drafts folder. You can later view, edit, and send the
message with the Use as comp command.
Send Sends the message contained in the Create-Send window. If any errors appear in the message header, dxmail displays a
mail message containing this composition and a description of the error. The Send command does not close the Create-
Send window.
The menu bar in a Create-Send window contains the following menus:
File
Edit
File Menu
Send Performs the same function as the Send button.
Save Performs the same function as the Save button.
Extract... Copies a message to a file.
Include file... Inserts a file into the message.
Reset Performs the same function as the Reset button.
Invoke dxvdoc Executes the CDA Viewer on the current message. This item is no longer available, because the dxmail application can
display DDIF messages in the Read window.
Quit Performs the same function as the Close button.
Edit Menu
Select Selects all text displayed in the Create-Send window.
Converting Old Mail Folders
If you have been using the program to read your mail, you can convert your existing folders into dxmail folders with the following command:
inc +foldername -file filename
foldername
Specifies the name that is to be used for the dxmail folder.
filename Specifies the name of the existing mail folder.
Note that you must run inc to access mail if you have been using the Berkeley mail handler. For more information, see
Mail Aliases
The dxmail command does not use your .mailrc file in your home directory. Therefore, dxmail does not use the user mail aliases that you
have defined in that file. However, dxmail does make use of the global alias files that sendmail uses.
To define an alias file to be used with dxmail, follow this procedure:
1. Create the Mail directory and a skeleton .mh_profile file by invoking dxmail. This skeletal .mh_profile will contain the following
line:
Path: Mail
2. Edit the .mh_profile file to add the following three lines:
ali: -alias aliases
send: -alias aliases
whom: -alias aliases
3. Create an alias file in your Mail directory with the name specified in these lines.
4. In your alias file, add lines in the following format:
alias: person1, person2,....
The person to whom you assigned an alias can have another alias, and you can mix previously defined aliases and people on the same line.
However, because the file is read from top to bottom, you must make sure that aliases used in other aliases have already been defined in
the file.
X Defaults
The dxmail application uses the values in the .Xdefaults file that were active when you logged in and uses the appropriate resource speci-
fication to customize the appearance or characteristics of its displayed dxmail window. The format for a resource specification in the
.Xdefaults file is:
[name*]resource: value
name Specifies the application name or the name string that restricts the resource assignment to that application or to a component of
an application. If you do not specify this argument, the resource assignment is globally available to all X applications.
resource Specifies the resource.
value Specifies the value that is to be assigned to the resource.
For more information, see
Because each toolkit-based application can consist of a combination of widgets (for example, push buttons and a scroll bar), you can form
the name string by adding widget class and name identifiers to the string. For further information about adding class and name identi-
fiers, see
For dxmail, the available class identifiers are:
AttachedDialogBox
CautionBox
Command
Dialog
Form
Label
MainWindow
Menu
Menubar
Message
Pane
Pulldown
Pushbutton
Scroll
ScrollWindow
Text
Toggle
For dxmail, the available name identifiers are:
compButtons
confirm
createSend
customize
ddifHeaders
dxmail
folderArea
folderCommandBar
folders
innerFolderArea
innerMsgArea
messageArea
messageButtonsArea
messageCommandBar
messagePaneLabel
messageText
pick
prompt
read
titlebar
toc
tocButtons
tocform
viewButtons
workArea
In addition to the general resources listed in the resources available for dxmail are:
send.geometry Specifies the initial geometry (window size and screen location) for the Create-Send window. For more information
about the geometry specification and screen coordinate system, see
main.geometry Specifies the initial geometry (window size and screen location) for the main dxmail window.
read.geometry Specifies the initial geometry (window size and screen location) for the Read window.
pick.geometry Specifies the initial geometry (window size and screen location) for the Pick window.
PrintCommand Specifies the command to be executed to print a message. (Standard out and standard error must be redirected explic-
itly.) The default is
lpr > /dev/null 2 > /dev/null.
Each specification included in the .Xdefaults file for the translations resource modifies a key setting for the editor that dxmail uses.
For more information about key and mouse specifications in the .Xdefaults file, see
Restrictions
The dxmail application requires Version 6 of mh. If a line in the .mh_profile starts with Current-Folder, you have been using Version 4 or
earlier. To convert to Version 6, remove that line. For more information, refer to
Printing support is minimal.
Sequence names and message lists together cannot exceed 1024 characters. In practice, this means that sequences can have a maximum of 200
messages.
Files
~/.Mail
~/.mh_profile
~/.Xdefaults
~/Mail/*
See Also
inc(1mh), mh(1mh), dxwm(1X), X(1X)
DECwindows Desktop Applications Guide
dxmail(1X)