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.
