Qusnetsoft NewsReader Help

Qusnetsoft NewsReader

Overview

Reader - Split
Reader - Articles
Reader - Text

Groups - List
Groups - Subscribe

Outbox
Drafts
Sent

Carbon Copies

Settings
Group Properties

Define Server
Group list from Server
Writing articles

Copyright © 2004, Dmitry G. Qusnetsov. All rights reserved.

Overview

Qusnetsoft NewsReader is a full-function NNTP client for Pocket PC. Subscribe accounts for several NNTP servers at the same time, threads tree in topic list, easy to read, synchronize, reply via email or to groups and posting of new articles. Offline reading feature. Automatic age-oriented database size control. Secure NNTP login support.

Requirements:

Pocket PC 2002 or higher.
2Mb of RAM or more (depends on subscription content).
Internet connection (periodically).
Storage Card recommended.

Interface

The NewsReader have multithread interface. All long time processes works with separate tasks. This concept allows you for example reading groups during background synchronization.

In most view modes you can see top information bar on top of the screen. This bar have 5 sections which described below:

Folder Icon
This icon allows you any time select working mode of NewsReader. Tap this icon and select from pull down menu desired working mode.
Group name or Mode description
The string containing currently opened Group name or title of current working mode. You can tap this string to go to Group List mode.
Timer
This section shown only in Full Screen mode. Current time shown.
Counter
Multi - purpose counter. Shows current item number / items count in current list.
Full Screen Icon
Tap this icon to toggle Full Screen mode.

When concurrent processes active the status bar shown at the bottom of the screen.

This bar have 3 sections:

Mode Icon
Icon indicates current process mode. You can tap this icon any time for terminate concurrent process flow.
Description
The description of currently processed item.
Progress bar
Progress indication.

Groups - Subscribe

When NewsReader is started for the first time you would see Subscription dialog. There are two ways to subscribe for a group: just type in a group name directly or select a few groups from Group list. First way is definitely faster, but you have to know exact name of each group you wanted to subscribe for. The second way would be to receive group list from a server and select desired groups from that list. You may have experience delays while receiving large lists. Though the good thing is that once you retrieved the Group list from a server it would remain available for later re-use, even while you would want to check it offline.

First way: subscribe directly

You would need to type in a few values and press [OK] button:

Server
Enter your NNTP server url. For example:
news.mydomain.com
If your server needs an NNTP authentification or your server port is not standard nntp port (119) you would have to enter your login and password as follows:
login:password@news.mydomain.com:port

If you use several NNTP servers you can store server data in special database. Use extension button at right side of input field to define server or select previously defined server.
Group
Enter the usenet group name. For example:
fido.su.anybody
Period
You may set refresh period for a specific group in a range of 3 days to one year. The NewReader would keep articles of this age and newer in its message database and purge older articles.
Mode
The NewReader will download up to a hundred headers or articles per session. During next session it will use read pointers saved from the previous session to download another portion of a hundred articles. You may define count method for download process.

- Keep last read pointer
This mode is only for changing existing group setting. It would not change the pointers.

- Reset to old messages
If set the synchronization process will start from the first article on server. Be carreful with this mode, because servers may store many articles and then it would take many download sessions before you would be able to get to newest articles.

- Reset to new messages
If set the synchronization process will start from the bottom of server message list. The NewsReader will retrieve only a hundred latest articles from the group. Read pointers would be reset to latest articles. You would receive only newer articles in later session.

Second way: receive Group list

To subsribe via Group list you would have to:

Enter your NNTP server url in field Server, as it was described or select alredy defined server from list.
Press Extension button at right side of group input field. If you have started NewsReader for the first time or enter new server name you will see empty Group list. You have to synchronize with server to receive Group list. If you already received list of groups from server - just enter word for filtering or asterisk for viewing whole list and go to step 5. Remember that this list can be very large and process can take long time, so it's strongly recommended to use filter keywords.
Establish internet connection.
Press [Refresh] button in toolbar. You will see message receiving progress. This process may take some substantial time to finish. After synchronization is completed you will be back in Group list.
You may navigate through this list and select a desired group by Tapping on group name. After selecting a group you may check subscription parameters in group settings dialog and then press [OK] to create group record.

Groups - List

Database concept

Information of a subscription group would be saved as a separate database in predefined folder. Every group database contains following files:

newsgroup.name.eco - Newsgroup descriptor.
newsgroup.name.ttl - Newsgroup article titles.
newsgroup.name.art - Article contents.
newsgroup.name.xtl - Index file.
newsgroup.name.ytl - Index titles.

After launching the NewsReader you would see subscribed Group list. For every record indicated:

Group state icon
Group name
Number of articles in group
Number of unread articles
Number of locked articles

You may select group for reading by single tap. After the long tap you can get access to context menu related with selected group.

State icons

- Normal state
- Group have new articles
- Group in Passive Mode
- Group busy for synchronization or another process
- Group broken or hard busy

Operations of Context menu

Synchronize
Download new article titles and bodies for selected group. You have to be connected to the Internet before initiating this procedure.
Unsubscribe
Unsubscribe for selected group. All Group database files will be permanently removed.
Pack Database
Operation packing selected Group database. All articles older than age set in group list will be removed except marked as Locked.
Toggle Passive
Set Passive state for selected group ON or OFF. When this state is OFF selected group doesn't included in group operations such as Synchronization or Pack process.
Mark all as Read/Mark all as Unread
Set state of articles of selected group to Read or Unread.
Properties
Allows to change properties of selected Group database.

Common operations

Synchronize All
Downloads new article titles and bodies for all groups you are subscribed for. You have to be connected to the Internet before initiating this procedure.
Send All
Send all entered articles from Outgoing Queue. You have to be connected to the Internet before initiating this procedure.
Pack Database
Operation packing all databases from list. All articles older than age set in group list will be removed except marked as Locked.
Sunscribe
Subscribe to a new group directly. See subscription topic.

Group list from Server

You can manage NewsGroup list received from a server. To request Group list you have to:

Enter your NNTP server url in Subscribe dialog or select server from list.
Connect your device to the Internet.
Start [Refresh] operation.

The NewsGroup list refresh process may take some substantial time on some servers due to huge volumes of articles stored. We recommend to use direct subscribe operation if you know exact names of groups desired.

The alphabetically sorted Group list stored in a file with name corresponding with nntp server. You may browse all list records or define filter keyword and tap [Set] button. Tap on group name to subscribe. After selecting a group you may check subscription parameters with group settings dialog and then press [OK] to set the group.

Reader - Articles

The Article list shows all articles headers in selected group in hierarchical tree with the following information:

Article state indicated as icon on the left side of window. There are three states defined:

- Article not loaded from server.
- Article ready to read.
- Article was read.
- Article have a Lock status.
- Article was read but have unread replies in collapsed thread.
Subject
Author
Topic thread tree. All titles organized as a tree sorted by creation date with hierarchical links support. So you may read conversation threads as discussion goes in long topics.

Context menu operations

Toggle Locking
Toggle lock status for selected article. Locked articles never been removed or marked as read. Locked articles indicated with special icon.
Toggle Read Mark
Set state of selected article to Read or Unread.
Mark thread as Read/Mark thread as Unread
Set state of articles in selected thread to Read or Unread. All branch will be marked from root.
Group Properties
Allows to change properties of selected Group database.

Common operations

New Article
Create new article for selected group. See Writing articles for more details.
Set Filter
You can apply filter for article list. Press the button, enter the keyword and select [Set]. Only messages contains entered keyword will be displayed in list.
Undread Only
If set only articles with unread state will be shown. All read messages will be skipped. Tap this button again to return to full view mode.
Properties
Setting up properties for selected group.

Outbox

Newly created articles and replies for all the groups placed into a separate storage - Outbox database. Database is stored in two files - outbox.nt and outbox.mt in the predefined folder and contains all outbound messages with all information needed for posting, Drafts, Sent Items and Carbon Copies. After post Outbox messages moved to Sent Items section of outbox.

The Outbox window splitted to two parts - Tree and Text windows. Tree window contains list of article headers (subject and author) separated by group names. Text window contains selected article details and text.

Operations

Send all
Submit all outgoing messages for posting in groups to NNTP server. You have to be connected to the Internet before initiating this procedure. After successful posting all sent messages will be deleted from queue list and moved to Sent Items list.
Edit
Opens selected article for editing. During editing you may change subject and text of prepared article and then save it back to the Outbox queue or to Drafts section.
Delete
Selected - Delete selected items. If you select single article only one article will be deleted. If you choose group name - all articles for this group will be deleted. Delete All - clears all outgoing queue.
Pack Database
Physically erase deleted articles from volume and rebuild database structure.
Font size
You may select font size for text window for your convenience. There are three settings available: [Small], [Medium] and [Large]. Font setting will be stored in registry and restored every time you start the reader.

Also, you may use all standard operations in edit mode like [Copy], [Cut], [Paste], [Clear], [Undo] and [Select all]. Use Tap-and-hold to access to Edit menu.

Reader - Text

Reader window would open for an article if that article is selected from Article list. On top of the window the article header is displayed: Group name, "From", "Subject" and "Date" fields. Long subject line may be shown partially, so you may want to tap on "Subject" to see the whole subject line. This line will be scrolled. Tap again for stop scrolling.

At right top of window places status icons which indicates following:

- Lock state for current article
Article can be locked so never be deleted or hide. You can set the Lock state of currently selected article by using context menu in articles list or just tap this small icon.

- Article have a HTML MIME part
Article may have a HTML section which can be viewed by NewsReader. Tap this icon to view currently selected message as Web Page if icon shown active.

- Article have an attached files
Article may contains attached files. I� attaches exists in article you can tap this icon for view list of attached files. Any file can be opened or "Saved As..." from this list.

- Article body stored in database
Database contains viewable source of received article. Store mode can be defined in Settings and allows to save all message body in database. This optional feature allows to manage attaches and HTML messages but grows database size. If you want to have attaches switch this option on. If you want to save storage space switch this option off in Settings. You can tap this icon to view article source.

- Article text stored in database
Database contains readable text of currently selected article. Tap this icon for switching to main view from another modes.

- Thread position indicator
Indicates presence Next and Previous articles in current thread relative to current article.

You can tap on icons to select view mode of Reader. If you request data which not downloaded you will asked about download. You can tap-n-hold on any icon space for force download complete article data and save it to database.

You can use defined keys (by default Left and Right arrows) to select previous or next article in thread and scroll text in reader window by page or line (by default Up and Down keys).

Operations

New Article
Create new Article in selected Group. The NewsReader will open message editor window. You may enter subject and text of your message and then send it or place to Drafts folder. Sent message will be placed in Outbox. See Writing articles topic for details.
Reply by E-mail
Reply to author of current article by e-mail. The NewsReader will open message editor window. You may enter subject and text of your message and then send it. Once sent the message will be placed in Drafts folder of default e-mail account of Pocket Outlook. Check Writing articles topic for details.
Reply to Group
Reply to group operation opens message editor window. You can enter or edit message subject and message text and then send or place to Drafts folder. Sent message will be placed in Outbox. See Writing articles topic for details.
Toggle Autofotmat
The program automatically reformatted article text for comfortable reading. You could disable or enable this feature.
Font size
You may select font size for text window for your convenience. There are three settings available: [Small], [Medium] and [Large]. Font setting will be stored in registry and restored every time you start the reader.
Properties
Allows to change properties of selected Group database.

Also, you may use standard operations in edit mode like [Copy] and [Select all]. Use Tap-and-hold to access to Edit menu.

Writing articles

NewsReader allows you to post messages to usenet groups, send reply by e-mail or save to Drafts folder foe later editing. There are two ways to post articles: Create new article from Article list or reply to article to group from Reader window. You may also reply to author of an article by e-mail. In this case you reply will be placed in "Drafts" folder of your default e-mail account in Pocket Outlook.

This operation will open message editor window. On top of the window the article header information is displayed: "Reply to" Group name, "From" field is set to your own "Reply-to" e-mail address (see Settings topic for details) and edited "Subject" field. "Re:" letter will be appended before Subject string and text of original message will be copied into edit window with or without quoting.

Editor operations

Post
This will send edited article to Outbox queue or to E-mail Drafts folder of your default E-mail Client.
Save to Drafts
Store edited article to Drafts.
Decline
Drop edited article.

Also, you may use all standard operations in edit mode like [Copy], [Cut], [Paste], [Clear], [Undo] and [Select all]. Use Tap-and-hold to access to Edit menu.

Settings

This dialog window allows you to set general system parameters:

User

Sender name
Set sender name for outgoing messages. For example: Rick Murray.
Sender e-mail
Set sender e-mail for outgoing messages. For example: murray@mydomain.com.

Format

Default encoding
You could define the default code page for news articles. This setting acceptable from any view mode and changes encoding settings dynamically..
Reformat out text
Reader reformatted outgoing article text for comfortable reading. You could disable this feature. If feature is enabled you can set width for formatting in characters.
Hide Locked like Read
As default Locked articles always shown even if you already read its and set the Only Unread view mode. You can to switch off showing of these articles by set this option.
Hide Scrollbar
Allows hide vertical scroll bar in text window of reader.
Post as...
You could use three content transfer modes for articles which posted to group:
- 8 bit ASCII text;
- 7 bit Base64 encoded text;
- 7 bit Quoted-Printable text;

Group

Message templates
Use this settings to edit templates for create new messages. You could define templates for greetings and leaves for Group Post and E-mail Message separately. You could use following macros in templates, which will be replaces with data:
.
$N - Your name
$E - Your e-mail
$D - Current date
$F - Replyed message From field
$S - Replyed message Subject
$T - Replyed message time
$G - NewsGroup name
$H - Host server name
$V - NewsReader version
Reply modes
You could set reply mode for E-mail and Group reply separately. You have three choices:

- Copy original text
Text of original message will be placed to tail of reply message.

- Quote original text
Original message text will be placed in reply with quotation marks.

- Initials
Enable or disable sender initials in quotation marks.

- No original text
Original text don't be included to reply.

E-mail

Message templates
Use this settings to edit templates for create new messages. You could define templates for greetings and leaves for Group Post and E-mail Message separately. You could use following macros in templates, which will be replaces with data:
.
$N - Your name
$E - Your e-mail
$D - Current date
$F - Replyed message From field
$S - Replyed message Subject
$T - Replyed message time
$G - NewsGroup name
$H - Host server name
$V - NewsReader version
Reply modes
You could set reply mode for E-mail and Group reply separately. You have three choices:

- Copy original text
Text of original message will be placed to tail of reply message.

- Quote original text
Original message text will be placed in reply with quotation marks.

- No original text
Original text don't be included to reply.

Words

This section contains window where you can define keyword list for Carbon Copies. NewsReader allows you to define list of keywords which will finds in received articles. All articles which contains these keywords will be copied in special folder in Outbox database called Carbon Copies.

Keywords may contains any ASCII characters. Enter one keyword per line. Every line will be checked separately.

Keys

This section allows you to define hardware keys.

Key Map list contains operation which can be used with hardware keys. Left column contains code and right column contains operation description. Under the list window at right side placed Code window, which displayed key code.

For key definition select operation you want redefine and just press desired key. Another way - to select operation and then tap on Code window. You can then select key from popup list.

[Reset] will back keyboard settings to default value. [Clear] will release key code from selected operation.

Font

You can define default values for various font sizes for viewer. These font sizes will be used in Text window of reader, Outbox, Drafts, Sent Items and Carbon Copies.

Misc

Articles Storage
You can use Storage Card or Main Memory to store your article bodies and indexes. You may select storage by pressing [...] button or by entering storage path manually. Only article headers, bodies and indexes will be stored at that location. Group descriptors still would stay in main memory. After applying changes program will move database for all groups except descriptors to the specified location. Be careful when changing path manually! You must point to an existing location. It would be a good idea to use select button.
Count limit
NewsReader would download 100 articles only during one synch session. You may change the value using this option.
Send all during sync
The posting outgoing messages is the separate procedure. But you can include sending procedure in common synchronization process by checking this setting. If you turn this option on all your queued out message will be send during synchronization process.
Pack database during sync
Program will packing database during synchronization. If this option switched off you will need to start Pack database operation manually for saving memory,
Store articles source
You can allow to store articles source text in database. It will increase database size but will allows you to manage HTML formatted articles and attached files (See Reader - Text section for more details). Disable this option for saving storage space. In this case only raw message text will be stored in database during synchronization process.

WARNING
It is very important to define your e-mail address prior to entering any messages or replying to groups or e-mail. This information will be used in message headers fields.

Group Properties

The following settings stored in database separatelly for every groups.

Format

Select Codepage
You could define the default code page for news articles.
Post as
You could use three content transfer modes for articles which posted to group:
- 8 bit ASCII text;
- 7 bit Base64 encoded text;
- 7 bit Quoted-Printable text;
Keywords
Selected string will be used as Keywords: field for posted message header. This can be usable for some servers which used this field for password store.

Main

Server and Group
These parameters for information only and can not be changed for subscribed group. Unsubscribe selected group and subscribe again for change.
Period
You may set refresh period for a specific group in a range of 3 days to one year. The NewReader would keep articles of this age and newer in its message database and purge older articles.
Mode
The NewReader will download up to a hundred headers or articles per session. During next session it will use read pointers saved from the previous session to download another portion of a hundred articles. You may define count method for download process.

- Keep last read pointer
This mode is only for changing existing group setting. It would not change the pointers.

- Reset to old messages
If set the synchronization process will start from the first article on server. Be carreful with this mode, because servers may store many articles and then it would take many download sessions before you would be able to get to newest articles.

- Reset to new messages
If set the synchronization process will start from the bottom of server message list. The NewsReader will retrieve only a hundred latest articles from the group. Read pointers would be reset to latest articles. You would receive only newer articles in later session.

Define Server

Define Server dialog allows you to define NNTP server definition. All server definitions you entered saved in registry and can be selected from list for next subscriptions. For every server definition you can choose:

Host
NNTP server name. For example - msnews.microsoft.com
Port
Port for socket connection. Default value is 119. If 0 value entered - default value will be used.
Authentification
You can use this data for servers which required NNTP authentification. If you enter User and Password the NNTP authentification will be used for selected server. If these fields leaved empty - not.

Bottom section of screen contains list of stored server definitions.

Reader - Split

The Split mode allows you to see both threads thee and articles text in separate windows in some time. You can navigate throw tree branches and text for viewer window will be automatically refreshed. For more details see following topics:

Reader - Articles
Reader - Text

Operations

New Article
Create new Article in selected Group. The NewsReader will open message editor window. You may enter subject and text of your message and then send it or place to Drafts folder. Sent message will be placed in Outbox. See Writing articles topic for details.
Reply by E-mail
Reply to author of current article by e-mail. The NewsReader will open message editor window. You may enter subject and text of your message and then send it. Once sent the message will be placed in Drafts folder of default e-mail account of Pocket Outlook. Check Writing articles topic for details.
Reply to Group
Reply to group operation opens message editor window. You can enter or edit message subject and message text and then send or place to Drafts folder. Sent message will be placed in Outbox. See Writing articles topic for details.
Set Filter
You can apply filter for article list. Press the button, enter the keyword and select [Set]. Only messages contains entered keyword will be displayed in list.
Undread Only
If set only articles with unread state will be shown. All read messages will be skipped. Tap this button again to return to full view mode.
Toggle Autofotmat
The program automatically reformatted article text for comfortable reading. You could disable or enable this feature.
Font size
You may select font size for text window for your convenience. There are three settings available: [Small], [Medium] and [Large]. Font setting will be stored in registry and restored every time you start the reader.
Properties
Allows to change properties of selected Group database.

Drafts

Newly created articles and replies for all the groups placed into a separate storage - Outbox database. Database is stored in two files - outbox.nt and outbox.mt in the predefined folder and contains all outbound messages with all information needed for posting, Drafts, Sent Items and Carbon Copies. All edited articles you can save to Drafts section of Outbox.

The Drafts window splitted to two parts - Tree and Text windows. Tree window contains list of article headers (subject and author) separated by group names. Text window contains selected article details and text.

Operations

Edit
Opens selected article for editing. During editing you may change subject and text of prepared article and then save it to the Outbox queue or back to Drafts section.
Delete
Selected - Delete selected items. If you select single article only one article will be deleted. If you choose group name - all articles for this group will be deleted. Delete All - clears all articles in Drafts section.
Pack Database
Physically erase deleted articles from volume and rebuild database structure.
Font size
You may select font size for text window for your convenience. There are three settings available: [Small], [Medium] and [Large]. Font setting will be stored in registry and restored every time you start the reader.

Also, you may use all standard operations in edit mode like [Copy], [Cut], [Paste], [Clear], [Undo] and [Select all]. Use Tap-and-hold to access to Edit menu.

Sent Items

Sent items placed into a separate storage - section of Outbox database. Database is stored in two files - outbox.nt and outbox.mt in the predefined folder and contains all outbound messages with all information needed for posting, Drafts, Sent Items and Carbon Copies.

The Sent window splitted to two parts - Tree and Text windows. Tree window contains list of article headers (subject and author) separated by group names. Text window contains selected article details and text.

Operations

Edit
Opens selected article for editing. During editing you may change subject and text of prepared article and then save it to the Outbox queue or to Drafts section.
Delete
Selected - Delete selected items. If you select single article only one article will be deleted. If you choose group name - all articles for this group will be deleted. Delete All - clears all articles in Sent section.
Pack Database
Physically erase deleted articles from volume and rebuild database structure.
Font size
You may select font size for text window for your convenience. There are three settings available: [Small], [Medium] and [Large]. Font setting will be stored in registry and restored every time you start the reader.

Also, you may use all standard operations in edit mode like [Copy], [Cut], [Paste], [Clear], [Undo] and [Select all]. Use Tap-and-hold to access to Edit menu.

Carbon Copies

NewsReader allows you to define list of keywords which will finds in received articles. All articles which contains these keywords will be copied in special folder in Outbox database called Carbon Copies.

The Carbon Copies window splitted to two parts - Tree and Text windows. Tree window contains list of article headers (subject and author) separated by group names. Text window contains selected article details and text.

Operations

Reply by E-mail
Reply to author of current article by e-mail. The NewsReader will open message editor window. You may enter subject and text of your message and then send it. Once sent the message will be placed in Drafts folder of default e-mail account of Pocket Outlook. Check Writing articles topic for details.
Reply to Group
Reply to group operation opens message editor window. You can enter or edit message subject and message text and then send or place to Drafts folder. Sent message will be placed in Outbox. See Writing articles topic for details.
Delete
Selected - Delete selected items. If you select single article only one article will be deleted. If you choose group name - all articles for this group will be deleted. Read - delete all read articles. Delete All - clears all articles in Sent section.
Pack Database
Physically erase deleted articles from volume and rebuild database structure.
Font size
You may select font size for text window for your convenience. There are three settings available: [Small], [Medium] and [Large]. Font setting will be stored in registry and restored every time you start the reader.

Also, you may use all standard operations in edit mode like [Copy], [Cut], [Paste], [Clear], [Undo] and [Select all]. Use Tap-and-hold to access to Edit menu.