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xlbiff - mailbox message previewer for X
xlbiff [ -option ... ]
The xlbiff program lurks in the background, watching your mailbox
file, waiting for new mail. When mail arrives, it invokes the MH scan(1)
command and pops up a window with the results. Clicking the left mouse
button anywhere in this window makes it go away. The window will also disappear
if iconified or if the mailbox size drops to zero.
Xlbiff accepts
all of the standard X Toolkit command line options along with the additional
options listed below:
- -help
- This option indicates that a brief summary of
the allowed options should be printed on standard output.
- -bottom
- This option
tells xlbiff to realize/unrealize() the output window instead of using
XtPopup/down(). This has the effect of causing the window manager to reposition
the window each time it pops up, and is useful for when you specify negative
Y coordinates, ie, at the bottom of the screen. Running xlbiff in this
situation without -bottom would cause new lines to run off the bottom edge
of the screen.
- +bottom
- Opposite of -bottom.
- -file filename
- This option specifies
the name of the file which should be monitored. By default, it watches
/var/mail/username, where username is your login name.
- -rows height
- This
option specifies the maximum height, in lines of text, of the xlbiff window.
The default is 20.
- -columns width
- This option specifies the maximum width,
in characters, of the xlbiff window. The default is 80.
- -resetSaver
- If this
option is set, xlbiff will reset the screen saver when new mail comes
in. This is useful if you're doing something near your workstation but
not on it.
- +resetSaver
- Opposite of -resetSaver.
- -update seconds
- This option
specifies the frequency in seconds at which xlbiff should update its display.
The default is 15 seconds.
- -fade seconds
- Number of seconds to wait before
popping window back down. This option can be used to monitor events of
non-lasting importance, such as syslog or UUCP queues. The default value
of 0 disables the fade option.
- -led ledNum
- This option specifies a keyboard
LED to light up when there is mail waiting in the file. The default is
zero (do not light a LED).
- -ledPopdown
- This option indicates that the LED
should be turned off when xlbiff is popped down. Ordinarily the LED stays
lit to remind one of awaiting mail. This option has no effect if the -led
option is disabled.
- +ledPopdown
- Opposite of -ledPopdown.
- -refresh seconds
- This
option specifies the number of seconds to wait before re-posting the mail
window after you acknowledge it, and it still contains the same mail. The
default is 0 (no refresh). A useful value for this is 1800 (30 minutes).
- -scanCommand command
- Specifies a shell command to be executed to list the
contents of mailbox file. The specified string value is used as the argument
to a system(3)
call and may therefore contain i/o redirection. The command's
stdout is used to generate the window. Internally, the command is generated
as
sprintf(buf, scanCommand, file, columns)
so a %s and %d respectively in scanCommand will generate the values of
file and columns. The default scanCommand is
scan -file %s -width %d
- -checkCommand command
- Specifies a shell command to be executed to check
for new mail (or some other condition) rather than simply examining the
size of the mail file. The specified string value is used as the argument
to a system(3)
call and may therefore contain i/o redirection. Like xbiff,
an exit status of 0 indicates that a change in condition demands a new
evaluation of scanCommand and subsequent popup, 1 indicates no change
in status and 2 indicates that the condition has been cleared and the xlbiff
window should pop down. By default, no shell command is provided.
This option
may be useful to monitor logins (by checking update times of /etc/utmp),
using POP, and so forth. Let your imagination go wild!
- -volume percentage
- This option specifies how loud the bell should be rung when new mail comes
in.
The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly
used with xlbiff:
- -display display
- This option specifies the X server to
contact.
- -geometry +x+y
- This option specifies the preferred position of the
scan window.
- -bg color
- This option specifies the color to use for the background
of the window.
- -fg color
- This option specifies the color to use for the
foreground of the window.
- -xrm resourcestring
- This option specifies a resource
string to be used. This is especially useful for setting resources that
do not have separate command line options.
The application class
name is XLbiff. It understands all of the core resource names and classes
as well as:
- bottom (class Bottom)
- Same as the -bottom option.
- file (class
File)
- Same as the -file option.
- scanCommand (class ScanCommand)
- Same as the
-scanCommand option.
- checkCommand (class CheckCommand)
- Same as the -checkCommand
option.
- resetSaver (class ResetSaver)
- Same as the -resetSaver option.
- update
(class Interval)
- Same as the -update option.
- fade (class Fade)
- Same as the
-fade option.
- columns (class Columns)
- Same as the -columns option.
- rows (class
Rows)
- Specifies the maximum height, in lines, of the xlbiff window. The
default is 20.
- led (class Led)
- Same as the -led option.
- ledPopdown (class
LedPopdown)
- Same as the -ledPopdown option.
- refresh (class Refresh)
- Same
as the -refresh option.
- sound (class Sound)
- Specify a command to be run in
place of a bell when new mail arrives. For example, on a Sun Sparc you might
use:
*sound: /usr/demo/SOUND/play -v %d /usr/demo/SOUND/sounds/doorbell.au
The command is generated internally with sprintf, so the characters ``%d''
will be replaced with the numeric value of the volume resource.
- volume (class
Volume)
- Same as the -volume option.
Xlbiff provides the following
actions for use in event translations:
- popdown()
- This action causes the
window to vanish.
- exit()
- This action causes xlbiff to exit.
The default
translations are
<Button1Press>: popdown()
<Button3Press>: exit()
- DISPLAY
- is used to get the default host and display number.
- /var/mail/username
- default mail file to check.
X(1)
, scan(1)
specifying dimensions
in -geometry causes badness.
The led option does not work on Suns before
SunOS 4.1/X11R5.
Ed Santiago, esm@auspex.com
Xlbiff
took shape around the xgoodbye sample program in the O'Reilly X Toolkit
Intrinsics Programming Manual. A lot of code was stolen from xbiff, including
this man page. Thanks also to Stephen Gildea (gildea@expo.lcs.mit.edu) for
the many, many contributions that made xlbiff grow from a midnight hack
to a more mature product.
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