Web Messaging Professional 98 for WINS
Enhanced Inbox Notification -- an addon for WMP98 version C.1

Author:       Earl Borah          earl.borah@bbs.chemek.cc.or.us
Home Site:    Chemeketa Online    http://bbs.chemek.cc.or.us




INTRODUCTION

This is an optional add-on component for Web Messaging Pro 98. It follows the
same license as its parent. Please see the README.TXT file in the WMP98*.ZIP
archive for the appropriate licensing information.




WHAT FILES ARE IN THIS ARCHIVE?

NAME                STORED PATH           DESCRIPTION
default.htm         http\                 User home page - includes frames
default.htm         http\template\home    User home page, with inbox stuff
html-WMPhome.wcx    none                  Program file
readme.txt          none                  This documentation
PATHS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, SINCE THERE ARE 2 FILES WITH THE SAME NAME



WHAT DOES IT DO?

This Enhanced Inbox Notification addon gives you more options than ever before
for notifying your users of new mail when they log into your system. There is
a limitation, however -- it works best if you use frames on at least your
first login page. Here's what it does.

With the freeware Inbox Notification program, your only option was to select a
GIF file to display if the user had new mail, and a different GIF file to
display if they didn't. You couldn't play sounds, change the text of the web
page, or do anything else that might help your user know they have mail. The
Enhanced Inbox Notification addon has more flexibility, but because of how it
earns that flexibility is is chained a little bit, too.

In order to use the Enhanced Inbox Notification program, you must have a
template file created and saved in your http\template\home directory. This
file can look like a normal web page, with two exceptions: it should have a
@IF newmail@, @ELSE@, and @ENDIF@ in it somewhere, and it can have other @
codes in it (such as @USER.NAME@, which will display the name of the user on
the web page) as well.

The template file itself is the easiest to create. Just take any normal web
page, and where you want the user to receive notification, use the @ codes
from the paragraph above. Here's a simple example:

@IF newmail@<H3>You have new mail!</H3>@ELSE@Sorry, no mail for you.@ENDIF@

If the user has mail, they see a big "You have new mail!" comment. If they
don't, they just see "Sorry, no mail for you." You can customize this however
you want, including a link to the inbox, various graphic files, and so on.
There is no limit to how much can be placed between each of those @ commands.

The harder part is how you load this page. The page must be loaded using the
following URL:

  /code/html-WMPhome/URL=filename.htm

Now since the user's home page (that is, the first page they see after they
log into the system) can't be in that directory, you have to either redirect
them there somehow (using META tags, for example), or use frames to load the
template page in a frame.

If you use frames already, just copy your main page (or whichever page you
want to have the inbox notice on it) to the \http\template\home directory.
Next, make sure you make the edits and add the @ codes, as mentioned above.
Finally, reference the new document use the URL described above. That's it,
and if you're using frames already it probably won't be too difficult.

What if you don't use frames already? You can forget about this program, or
you can add frames to your site -- either option is valid, and is up to you.
One idea might be a button bar, like we use on our site. Another might be the
keyword dialog -- check out the freeware Keywords for WINS application,
released by the author of Web Messaging Pro 98 (like how I fit plugs for other
products in here?), available on our web site at
http://bbs.chemek.cc.or.us/public/ring/sysop.htm

I'm not going to try to teach you how to use frames here, but the default.htm
file that goes in the http directory gives you an example. Take a look at it,
or go somewhere like http://webreference.internet.com for more information.




WHO CAN USE IT?

The registration code that unlocks WMP98 will also unlock the Enhanced Inbox
Addon. If your version of WMP98 works only for the System Administrator, then
EIN will work only for the System Administrator. Such is life...and this gives
you yet another reason to register!




FREE OPTION

HTML Inbox Notification for WINS will always be freeware. It has a similar
function, and although it is less versatile, it will not require the use of
frames for you to get the most out of it. You can grab it at our web site, at
http://bbs.chemek.cc.or.us/public/ring/sysop.htm




Web Messaging Pro 98
copyright 1998, Earl Borah. All rights reserved
This program should be distributed *ONLY* with Web Messaging Pro 98, under the
license and terms of the WMP98 archive.