Installation notes for  GetMM V3.05, the  'Get Miscellaneous
Messages' addon for Ameol.

© 1994-2000 Zonko Enterprises Ltd., All rights reserved

This  version  of  the  addon  is  for the 32-bit version of
Ameol, release level 1.22.04 or higher.  It will *not*  work
with any earlier versions of Ameol.

Please report any  problems or bugs  in the addons  topic in
the ameol.support conference.


ARCHIVE CONTENTS
================

GETMM32.TXT  this file
GETMM32.ADN  the Ameol Get Miscellaneous Messages addon
GETMM.HLP    the Help file for this addon

DESCRIPTION
===========

This addon provides facilities to retrieve specific sets  of
messages from any conf/topic to  which you are joined.   You
can:

* Get all messages that are missing which  have numbers  that 
  are  between the earliest and latest messages in your local
  message base. This  can  be  done  by  topic  or  globally.
  Optionally  you  can limit the number of  days examined for
  missing messages.

* Retrieve a number of  messages before the earliest  one in
  your local message base by topic or globally.

* Backfill  to  a  specific  message  number  by  topic   or
  globally.

* Get an arbitrary range of messages from a specific topic.

* Set  the  topic  pointer  so  as  to retrieve an arbitrary
  number of messages prior to the 'last' message in the  CIX
  conf/topic.  Again this can be done by topic or globally.

* Set  the  topic  pointer  so  as  to  retrieve  all the of
  messages that have been posted in the last 'n' days in the
  CIX  conf/topic.    This  too  can  be  done  by  topic or
  globally.

* Get the missing root messages for a topic or globally.


INSTALLATION FOR AMEOL2 USERS
=============================

GetMM32.ADN should  be installed  in the  Ameol subdirectory
where you normally place your addons.  The default directory
is c:\ameol\addons.   The  help file  (GetMM.HLP) should  be
placed in the same directory.

Install  the   addon  using  the  Settings|Install Addons...
menu   entry.   Click   on   the  "Add"  button  and  select
GetMM32.ADN using the file selector that  will appear; click
on  "OK"  in  both the "Select Addon"  and "Addons"  dialogs.
The addon will appear at the end of your Folder menu.

You may assign a shortcut key to the addon.

You  can  add the addon to your toolbar. Right-click on  the
toolbar  and  choose  Customise. In  the  Customise  Toolbar
dialog,  select the Customise tab and choose Folder from the
list  of  Categories.  At the end of the Buttons list  is  a
button  titled "Invoke the GetMM addon".  Select the  button
and drag it onto the toolbar.


INSTALLATION FOR AMEOL1 USERS
=============================

GetMM32.ADN should  be installed  in the  Ameol subdirectory
where you normally place your addons.  The default directory
is c:\ameol\addons.   The  help file  (GetMM.HLP) should  be
placed in the same directory.

Install  the  addon  using  the  Settings|Utilities...  menu
entry.   Click on  the "Add"  button and  select GetMM32.ADN
using the file selector that  will appear; click on "OK"  in
both the "Add Utility"  and "Utilities" dialogs.   The addon
will appear in your Utilities menu.

You may assign a shortcut key to the addon.

GetMM32.ADN contains  a bitmap  suitable for  placing on the
Ameol  toolbar.    Use  the  Settings|Toolbar...  menu item;
select the  "Spares" category  from the  drop-down list box;
drag  the   spare  tyre   button  to   the  toolbar;  choose
GETMM32.ADN from the Assign Button dialog; and click OK.

Additionally the addon appends  an item to the  Topic menus:
"Get Misc Msgs".


HISTORY
=======

The   original   addon   was   written   by   Mike  Pilsbury
(mpilsbury@cix).

Jerry Ozaniec (joz@cix) added some additional  functionality
to produce version 1.20 and beyond.

Steve Palmer  (spalmer@cix) provided the  fixes for versions
3.03 and 3.05.

3.05  Fixed Y2K issues.

      GetMM now accepts 4-digit years in date fields.

      Fixed tab order in dialog.

3.03  Fixed backfill bug where incorrect initialisation of iLimit
      left many missing messages undetected.

      Fixed bug where missing penultimate message in a topic was
      never detected.

      Added test for attempt to explicitly backfill a resigned
      topic and display a more meaningful error message in this case.

      Modified source code slightly to be compatible with Microsoft
      VC++ compilers.

3.02  Changed User Interface so that:

      1.  All changes are recorded as they occur.
      2.  Selection of an edit control (number) automatically
          selects the radio button option.
      3.  The maximum message number allowed may be up to 6 digits
          long.

      Fixed bug where a range could be invalid, e.g., 200 to 100;
      now a message pops up telling you that is not allowed.

      Enhanced numeric values validation; numbers must now be
      positive; also the 'from' and 'to' values in a range may
      be the same.

      Added 'Date range' option.

      Changed menu items to be consistent; noted for Ameol2

      Changed to set up correct Usenet folder name depending on
      Ameol version.

3.01  Fixed bug where GetMM  was not picking up  the correct
      directory for scripts.

      Fixed  bug  where  some  scripts  were being generated
      incorrectly  when  the  (All  Conferences)  option was
      used.

3.00  No functional  changes but  the code  was revamped  in
      order to make it portable between 16-bit Windows (3.x)
      and 32-bit Windows (95 and NT).


2.06  Changed the "Messages back to number N" option so that
      it will no longer ignore  the number if you specify  a
      number higher than the  lowest you have in  your local
      message base.

      Increased  the  edit  controls  for  the "Get specific
      range from N to M" option to allow 5 digit numbers.

      Made minor internal changes to accommodate  changes in
      the Ameol API.

      Changed the copyright information in the About dialog.

      Made the corresponding change to the Help file.

2.05  Added the "Get missing root messages" option.

      Fixed bug in "Missing messages for last N days" option
      where it didn't operate correctly when the dialog  was
      in the collapsed state.  It manifested as inconsistent
      behaviour under some  conditions since it  did operate
      correctly when the dialog was expanded.

      Changed the logic so that after a successful build the
      Close  button  has  the  focus  rather  than the Build
      button.    This  aids  those  who  prefer  to  use the
      keyboard.

      Fixed bug in the Get Last Days or Get N Days  scripts.
      The  macro  name  was  permanently assigned to 'fred'.
      CIX does not allow the redefinition of a macro, so  if
      multiple scripts  were generated  for use  in the same
      blink, the second  and subsequent scripts  would fail.
      Now the macro  in all cases  is generated as  a unique
      name so that each script will work.

      Fixed bug in he Get  Last Days or Get N  Days scripts.
      The  script  was  not  properly  handling the 'Topic?'
      prompt  that  CIX  presents  when joining a conference
      without a topic.  This caused the scripts to fail when
      requesting  either  function  for  all  topics  in   a
      conference.

2.04  Fixed a bug where it was possible to enter a number of
      days to go  back which would  take the scan  to before
      the dates that  are possible on  CIX.  The  result was
      that no  missing messages  would be  found due  to the
      internal Ameol structure of dates.

      Modified  the  generated  scripts  so  as to allow for
      multiple  topics  in  cixnews  for  the  "Get last 'n'
      messages" and "Get last 'n' days worth" functions.

      Changed  so  the  cursor  is  an  hourglass when it is
      adding items to the Ameol out basket.

2.03  Fixed bug where  right-clicking on some  dialogs would
      result  in  an  erroneous  "Popup  Help not available"
      message.

      Added the ability to limit the script building process
      for missing  messages to  a specified  number of  days
      prior to the current date.  However since GetMM cannot
      know the dates  of the messages  on CIX, it  relies on
      finding a gap before an existing msg which has a  date
      within the criteria specified.  This is not ideal  but
      it is the best that can be done.

2.02  Fixed the bug which meant  that if a Build was  chosen
      when the dialog was collapsed, GetMM would perform the
      default action of finding missing messages  regardless
      of  which  actual  option  had been previously chosen.
      Note that  this did  not happen  when t  he dialog was
      expanded.

      Fixed  the  bug  where  a  conference  or  topic  name
      starting with certain special characters would produce
      incorrect results or a GPF.

      Eliminated  the  hot-key  conflict  on  the   expanded
      dialog.

      Fixed About dialog to include a static control  rather
      than a group box.

2.01  This is a radically revised version.

      There is a new main dialog layout.

      The text in both dialogs was revised.

      Added a Help file.


1.20  First Version by Jerry Ozaniec - Released 23 Aug  1994
      Compiled with Rev14 of  the Ameol SDK and  Borland C++
      V4.0

      Added an icon for use on the toolbar.

      Changed several internal methods.

      Added 3 new options on the dialog:

         Get a range of messages
         Get last 'n' messages
         Get last 'n' days worth

      Changed    to     get    ini     file    name     from
      GetInitialisationFile for multi-user setups.


CONFIGURATION
=============

The initial  dialog may  be expanded  to set  the options to
indicate  which  messages  should  be  retrieved.    See the
on-line help for more detail about the options.


PLANNED FEATURES
================

None at the moment.

Suggestions  should  be  posted  in  the addons topic in the
ameol.support conference.


KNOWN ANOMALIES/PROBLEMS/BUGS
=============================

The "Get missing  root messages" option  cannot fill in  any
gaps in  a thread  since it  doesn't know  what the  message
number of the root is.  If there are missing comments within
the thread, repeated use of the option will have no apparent
effect  other   than  to   increase  the   scratchpad  Ameol
downloads.  The normal  "Get missing messages" option  after
the  blink  including  the  use  of  the  "Get  missing root
messages" option should be employed to fill in the gaps.
