Zink Software

Messaging System Documentation

Version 4.x 1/1/1999
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Index
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1) System and Network Requirements

2) Installation Notes
3) Setting Preferences
a) User Names
b) Verification Levels
c) Sound Notification
d) Other preferences
e) Changing default reply buttons
4) Viewing The Log
5) Auto Response & Auto Forwarding
6) Using the Administrative Utility
7) Random System Facts
8) Year 2000 Compliance

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I. System and Network Requirements

Network:

Computers running the system must be on a TCP/IP based network. All users of the system
must have a TCP/IP stack installed on their computer. Computers configured to use the
DHCP protocol are OK. The messaging system will work over a wide area TCP/IP network,
including the internet.

The following workstation operating systems are currently supported:

Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows NT 3.51, 4.0

A server based configuration is recommended, but not required. NT or Novell servers are
both OK to use.
II. Installation Notes

It is recommended to install the messaging system on a common network directory. An

install must be done for each client. Point the install to the network location. Each client must have
read and write access to the specified drive. A log file will be created for each user the first time he
or she starts the program.

It is not required to install the system on a network drive. If you install the system locally,
you can manually add users on the network at a later time. (Note: you can change where the
program looks for the list of users by changing the registry entry -
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA applications\Messaging\VERSION4\InstallDir)

III. Setting Preferences

a.) OverView of User Names

The first time the messaging program is started, you will be prompted for your user
name. The program will default to the name of your Windows computer. You do not have
to use this name; it is just brought up for convenience. You can call yourself anything you
want. (Spaces are OK). Once you log on, other users can add you to there “Send List”
Users can change their name by choosing Change Your Messaging Name under the
Options Menu. This will be useful for machines which commonly have more than one user.
Checking “permanent change” will keep the change the next time the program is started. If
you change your name, users will have to updates their “send list”.

b.) Verification Levels

When you send a message to someone, there are three levels of verification –

High - On this level, every time you send a message or answer an incoming message the
recipient of that message will send a hidden message back to your machine confirming the
receipt of the message.

Med – On this level, the first time you send a message in a stream of conversations to
someone, you will get a confirmation of receipt; however, on any subsequent flashing of
messages in the same stream of conversation, no receipt will be given. This is the default
setting.

Low – No confirmation will ever be sent to you, but you will be notified if you’re message is
not received.

When you receive an incoming message, there are two options that will apply to you
discarding a message
 High - The user who sent you a message will get a response back when you discard a
message that he or she sent.

Low - A sender does not receive any information when you discard a message that he or she
sends.

c) Sound Notification

Under Preferences, you have three options on an incoming sound notification – no

sound, a default beep, or a windows “.WAV” audio file to be played. The default beep is
useful for PCs without sound cards. You can test the “.WAV” file in the area where you
pick your sound. You can use any “.WAV” file you want, even if it did not come with the
messaging system.

d) Other Preferences

Sort Send List by Name – Sorts a users send list

Auto Minimize on Send – The program will minimize itself after you send a message. This
is useful, if you often send messages and want to get the program out of the way.

Incoming messages burn through other apps – Incoming messages will effectively cover all
other Windows, even if you click on the windows underneath the messaging system.

Block “user chose not reply” incoming messages – If a recipient’s “Receive” verification
level is set to “High”, and you send he or she a message, you will get a response back if he
or she discards the message. You can block the response by checking this option.

e) Custom Reply Buttons

Any user can change the default "Yes" and "No" buttons that appear on an incoming
message. You can change the buttons by going to OptionsàChange Custom Reply
Buttons. Custom replies can be anything you want, but should be limited to 255 characters.

IV. Viewing the Log

Click on the “View Log” button to view your log file.

The log file shows all messages that were sent and received from your computer. The
messages can be sorted in a variety of ways. In this dialog, you can also resend a message in
your log, or print the log of messages.

Viewing Messages - You can scroll through the list of messages by using the scroll bar on
the right or by using the viewer controls at the bottom of the screen. The viewer controls
allow you to:

§ Go to the first message

 § Go to the last message
§ Find a message
§ Scroll One Page forward
§ Scroll one page backward

To find out what each viewer button does, put the mouse over that button and the program
will tell you what it does.

Note: If a message is too long to fit into the allotted area, you can hold the mouse over that
message and the are will temporarily expand into an area that will display the whole
message.

To delete messages – Either click on the “Clear All” button, or highlight a series of rows
with the mouse and then click on the delete selected rows button.

Resending A message - You can resend a message or copy the message text to the main
messaging window (if you want to send to someone else), by left-clicking on a selected row
and then clicking on the Resend button. When you click on the Resend button, you will be
prompted if you wish to immediately send the message, or just send the message to the main
window. Note: the user in question must be on your send list in order to resend a message

Network Administrator Notes on Log Files:

§ Log Files are in the format of Microsoft Access databases.

§ You can see what the name of a log file is by going to HelpàAbout
§ To clear a log file manually, you can take the file in the messaging directory called
"EMPTY.MDB" and copy it over the user's log file.

V. Auto Response & Auto Forwarding

Auto Response

You can set the messaging system to automatically respond to messages; if you happen to
walk away from your desk. Go to the "Options" menu and choose "Set Auto Response".
Just type in the automated message you wish to use, and hit OK. You should then see a
flashing indicator in green. Any messages sent to your machine with auto response on will
be automatically responded to. These messages will not appear on the screen, but will appear
in your log.

Auto Forwarding

You can set the messaging system to automatically forward all incoming messages to
another machine. You can only forward messages to one machine at a time. Go to
"Options" --> "Set Forwarding". A list will appear of all users that are logged into the
messaging system. Pick the appropriate person and hit "OK". A blinking indicator in blue
will show that messages are currently being forwarded. Messages that come to you will not
 be displayed, but will be stored in your log. Messages that you forward will be indicated as
such on the destination computer.

Note: You cannot auto forward and auto respond at the same time

VI. Administrative Utility

The administrative utility allows network administrators to view who is logged onto the
messaging system, edit the list of messaging users, and remotely shut down a user.

To install the administrative utility, choose "custom" from the main installation menu.
An icon will be created under the programs folder.

With the admin utility, you can connect to different messaging system directories. To
connect to a messaging directory, go to Options-->Connect to Messaging Directory

The main screen of the admin utility shows a list of all users to the directory you are
currently connected to. A green dot indicates "alive" and a red dot indicates "dead'. You
can refresh just one user by clicking on the Test Ping button.

You can remotely Shut Down a user by clicking on the Shutdown User button. This is
useful when doing upgrades.

Future releases of the admin utility will have more advanced features along this line.

You can also edit the master connection file. This is useful to delete a name of someone who
no longer exists, or to manually change an IP address. Click on "View Master Connection
File" to view the contents of the file. A new screen will come up where you can edit,
delete, add, or print the list of users.

VII. Random System Facts

§ As of release 4.09, a message size must be limited to 4000 characters or less.

§ There is no limit to the size of the messaging log file
§ As of release 4.09, there is a limit of 100 users that can appear on the send list
§ The system utilizes TCP ports 645 and 646

VIII. Year 2000 Compliance

As posted at (http://www.flashmessage.com/Y2K/y2k.html) :

Summary:
The flash messaging system is year 2000 ready. This means that the software will act
exactly the same past 1/1/2000 as it does before 1/1/2000.
Users of any 3.x or 4.x version of the Flash Messaging System will NOT need to upgrade
to any other version.

How the program uses dates:

The system currently only uses dates in the log file. Additionally, no calculations are done
with these dates. The are simply stored as is.

The only action done on the dates is sorting. Looking at the log file, the system displays
only the last 2 digits of the year. But, after year 2000, the system will display the full
four digits of the year.

It will also sort the dates in the log correctly.

We have tested the software with the system clock set past 1/1/2000 and have
found no problems.