Clarence Verge ( )
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Arachne configurations for automating email download.

Arachne allows you to make application specific configurations. Today I will describe a few changes you can make to Arachne.cfg that may help you with your email.

You will start with a configuration that has already been tested to work manually with your email service. One simple change you can make is to assign hotkeys to your email functions. I now use shiftF1 to get my email (pop3) and shiftF2 to send any mail (smtp) in my outbox. Just edit arachne.cfg with a text editor. I use the built-in one. Hit F3 and enter file:arachne.cfg in the URL window. Hit enter. Hit F4. Scroll down the screen until you find the hotkey definitions. Edit your choice to this form:
ShiftF1 pop3:
ShiftF2 smtp:
Save this Arachne.cfg. (F2) WARNING! This change does not affect your current settings. You must got to the Options screen (O) and select "Use new Settings". Then, from the dialer screen,(D) select Profiles. Finally, select "Save Profile".

If you wish to make a more advanced improvement, like being able to tell Arachne to get your mail from the command line, or even have her get the mail automatically, start with a working configuration that has been saved as above and make the following changes to arachne.cfg with an editor:

[profile]
Profile MAIL.acf

[dialer]
Dialpage POP3:
Use terminal No
Autologin Yes

[internet]
HomePage file:mail.htm

[misc]
Autodial Yes
AfterPOP3 Arachne:Hangup
ExitOnHangup Yes

Save the above  (F2). Shell to DOS  (altE). Copy Arachne.cfg to Mail.acf. IMPORTANT!  Now copy your previous working .acf to Arachne.cfg or Arachne will attempt to get your mail immediately when you return. You couldn't have used the Save Profile function at this point because the file you edited isn't active (and available for saving) until you select "Use new Settings" and then it becomes an automatic Arachne configuration. Type Exit [enter] to return to Arachne.

To use this new configuration properly, you must have a configuration switching batch file as described in VOL1NUM2. To test it, at the DOS prompt type: SPIDER MAIL [enter]. Arachne should load, dial in, download mail and exit to the DOS prompt. If there is any kind of problem, you may have to re-boot and start Arachne with SPIDER (your working acf name).

After making any necessary adjustments and confirming that MAIL.acf is working properly, you may want to make one more change. Optionally, you can have the modem connection made silently. If you wish, change the modem init string so it contains an L0 (zero) instead of whatever it had before. If there was no "L" in the string, just add L0 to the end.

If you add the line SPIDER MAIL to the end of your autoexec.bat, Arachne will automatically get your mail as soon as you boot up. An even better option is to use a timer launched mail pickup. Download the DOS scheduler AT.com from: ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/simtelnet/msdos/schedule/doat.zip and place it in your path. I would put it in C:\. Others might prefer to place it in C:\DOS. Now, if you wanted to get your mail automatically at 6:00 p.m., you would place this line in your autoexec.bat:
AT 18:00 SPIDER MAIL

Space has run out, so we will have to wait until next week to add some finishing touches to this function. We will be adding a command to tell Arachne to pick up the mail periodically at any interval from 1 hour to one day. We will also display a count of the total unread messages when Arachne returns to the DOS prompt - and more. One late note:
It now seems that the latest versions of Arachne won't delete the lock file when Exit on Hangup is set to Yes. This will definitely be fixed soon.
Have FUN. 8-)