4 .TH PROMPTER %manext1% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
6 prompter \- prompting editor front-end for mmh
11 .RB [ \-prepend " | " \-noprepend ]
12 .RB [ \-rapid " | " \-norapid ]
13 .RB [ \-body " | " \-nobody ]
20 is an editor front-end for
23 composition of messages. This program is not normally invoked directly by
24 users but takes the place of an editor and acts as an editor front-end.
25 It operates on an RFC-822 style message draft skeleton specified by
27 normally provided by the
37 is particularly useful when composing messages over slow
38 network or modem lines. It is hardly invoked directly by
39 the user. The commands
47 as an editor, either when invoked with
50 or by the profile entry `Editor:\ prompter',
51 or when given the command
53 at the `What now?' prompt.
55 For each empty component
57 finds in the draft, the user
58 is prompted for a response. An empty response will cause the whole component
59 to be left out. Otherwise, a `\\' preceding the Newline will continue
60 the response on the next line, allowing for multiline components.
63 begin with a space or tab.
65 Each non-empty component is copied to the draft and displayed on the
68 The start of the message body is denoted by a blank line or a line
72 is specified, the user is queried to enter the message body.
73 If the body of the draft is non-empty, the typed-in text will be prepended
74 or appended to the existing body, depending on the
79 In these cases, the prompt (which isn't written to the file) is
82 \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-Enter additional text
90 \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-Enter initial text
93 Message-body typing is terminated with an end-of-file (usually
95 At this point control is returned to
96 the calling program, where the user is asked `What now?'.
99 for the valid options to this query.
103 switch, the user is only queried to fill in header fields, but not to enter
106 .BR \-body and \-nobody
107 switches had already existed already in
109 in undocumented/hidden form,
110 but with a slightly different meaning.
112 .B "prompter \-nobody
113 would change the draft to have an empty body,
114 by ignoring any existing body and not querying the user for body text.
118 switch, the user can add type-in to the
119 beginning of the message body and have the rest of the body follow.
122 the typed-in text is appended to the message body.
126 switch, if the draft already contains text in
127 the message-body, it is not displayed on the user's terminal. This is
128 useful for low-speed terminals.
130 An interrupt (usually CTRL-C) during component typing will abort
134 command that invoked it. An interrupt
135 during message-body typing is equivalent to CTRL-D, for historical
136 reasons and to avoid losing the typed-in message text. This means that
138 should finish up and exit, usually putting the user back to the
141 The first non-flag argument to
143 is taken as the name of
144 the draft file, and subsequent non-flag arguments are ignored.
149 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
150 ^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user profile
151 ^/tmp/prompter*~^Temporary copy of message
154 .SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
158 .ta \w'ExtraBigProfileName 'u
159 prompter\-next: The editor to be used on exit from \fBprompter\fP
160 ^Msg\-Protect:~^To set mode when creating a new draft
164 comp(1), dist(1), forw(1), repl(1), whatnow(1)
179 switch is particularly useful with
183 The user may wish to link
185 under several names (e.g.,
186 `rapid') and give appropriate switches in the profile entries
187 under these names (e.g., `rapid: \-rapid'). This facilitates
188 invoking prompter differently for different
191 `forw: \-editor rapid').
195 users might find it useful to create a shell script
201 prompter \-nobody \-rapid "$1"
206 and use that as the default editor for
208 by adding a profile entry like:
212 comp: \-editor hprompter