Whale Express Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Tartan Software. No part of this document may be copied or reproduced by any means without the prior written consent of Tartan Software. Tartan Software assumes no responsibility for any errors which might appear in this document. This edition applies to Whale Express version 2.0 The Software, Whale Express and accompanying written materials are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Tartan Software has made reasonable effort to assure it's safety and worthiness. but will not be responsible for damage exceeding the price paid for using the Software. Copyright © 1993-1994 Tartan Software. All Rights Reserved C-Room is a trademark of Tartan Software America Online is a service mark of America Online Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Table of Contents What is Whale Express................................... 3 Getting Started......................................... 3 What is a Whale Express File....................... 4 Command & Data..................................... 5 Things to Notice................................... 6 Running a Whale Express (wex) file................ 7 Whale Express Commands.................................... 9 Command Variables...................................... 21 Time, Date, Input Variables........................... 37 Common Questions & Answers............................ 38 Appendix A: ReadList.................................... 39 Appendix B: Sample Files................................. 41 Ordering Whale Express.................................... 44 WHAT IS WHALE EXPRESS? Whale Express is an example of an "application specific" scripting language. Whale Express is custom designed to work with America Online for Windows. While a number of scripting languages already exist in the Windows market, most are complex and require programming experience on the part of the user. Whale Express is designed using K.I.S.S.(Keep It Simple Stupid) technology. While future versions may include complex programming structures, this version uses knowledge of WAOL to include conditional information within Whale Express. The free trial size version of Whale Express is available for downloading on America Online. The only charge is the short time required for downloading. This free version of Whale Express is fully functional but is limited to 10 commands per script. If you find yourself using Whale Express often, you'll probably wish to order the pro-version for a small fee. Ordering is simple and an order form is available by clicking here. Distribution of Whale Express is done strictly through America Online via electronic mail. There are a number of advantages to ordering Whale Express and being a registered user. Most importantly, you'll be eligible for support via electronic mail on America Online. Tartan Software will also be sure you receive any maintenance and incremental feature releases of Whale Express. Be sure to include your screen name when ordering. GETTING STARTED First let me assure you that you don't have to be a computer programmer to use Whale Express. It's easy to create straight forward, easy to use macro files which will save you time while using America Online. Probably the best way to understand how to create your own scripts is to read this document, and then review the sample macro scripts we've included with Whale Express. All of the scripts are documented under the online Help and are completely safe to use online. Some scripts are useful in that you can use them to sign you on to America Online, perform requested functions, and sign off. Other scripts are run when you're already online. For example, the forward.wex script is only used when you've recently read a mail message. WHAT IS A WHALE EXPRESS FILE? You'll notice that all Whalex scripts have the suffix, .WEX. This is used to indicate a Whale Express script, even though a WEX file is the same as an ASCII text file. Our program provides a full Windows style editor to view and edit your work. You're not required to use this editor to create or edit scripts. Since these files are ASCII text, most any text editor will do. If you're more comfortable using your favorite DOS editor, or even Windows Notepad, you'll be fine. A WEX file is made up on a sequence of instructions. Each line of the file contains a new instruction. Each instruction is processed one at a time, starting with the first line. Each one of these instruction lines contains two parts, the command and the data. No special characters are required. The command and data are separated by one or more spaces. The syntax of a Whale Express instruction is straight forward and easy. Many of the internally built application specific commands provide the error checking and conditional responses needed for useful scripting. This allows scripts to be short and easy with as few commands as necessary. The following is the simple syntax of a Whale Express instruction: Command Data * There must be at least one space between the Command and its data. * Only one instruction per line. * Data strings DO NOT require any quotes for delimiters. If you include quotes, they will be taken literally as quotes. * The Whale command processor is case insensitive so you don't have to worry if your capitalization matches the examples in this document. * Many data fields have default values so data is optional or not required. * In many cases, the full text is not required in the data field. Whale Express allows partial text matches. COMMAND & DATA A complete list of commands is available in the online help. Most relate directly to operations you're familiar with online. Some examples include; Keyword, Menu, SelectButton, Signon, SendText, and others. The data portion of the instruction line varies depending on the command but is often, a filename, text label, or control number. Some scripts are useful in that you can use them to sign you on to America Online, performs requested functions, and sign off. Other scripts are run when you're already online. For example, the forward.wex script is only used when you've recently read a mail message. Suppose you're online, and you'd like to attend a conference in the Windows chat room. Here's a simple script which will take you there. Keyword Windows SelectIcon Conference Perhaps this doesn't seem like it would be very helpful. It only saves you from a couple clicks right? Well, it also saves you from staring at the computer screen waiting when the system performance might be a little slower than normal. You might want to go ahead and add some additional instructions. If you already know you're planning to attend the Windows conference, you might add the Signon command to the beginning of your script. If you're already online, the Signon command is ignored so you can still use this script. You might also want to add an automatic greeting when you enter the room. This can be done with the SendText command. This command will send text to an AOL chat room just as if you typed it in. So, we end up with the following. Signon Keyword Windows selecticon Confer SendText Hi everyone, What's the topic tonight? So, here we have four simple instructions which will get you online, and get you started while you go grab a snack, stop by the little boy's or girl's room, or explain to your spouse why you need to use the computer. THINGS TO NOTICE You'll notice a few things about the macro script we created on the previous page. If you look at the Signon instruction you'll see there is no data. Not all commands require a data field. In the case of Signon, if you don't specify the number of your account name, we'll default to the last account you used to access America Online. There are no quotes in the text we used in SendText. This is something programmers are used to, but not required for Whale Express. Everything after the last space after the command is considered data. You might also notice that the "selecticon" command isn't capitalized in this example. Whale Express doesn't care whether you capitalize it or not. The same is true with the word Conference. You don't have to know the exact capitalization used by AOL and you won't even need the complete word. The first icon with the text you provide will be used. You setup your instructions so they are visually appealing to your own tastes. RUNNING A WHALE EXPRESS(WEX) FILE Under the File menu, you'll find the item, "Run". Selecting Run bring up the standard File open dialog which allows you to select the Whalex macro file you want to execute. Just find the WEX file you want to run, and select the OK button. Anytime you run a WEX file successfully, the name of the file will be added to the Express menu. This allows you quick access to those macros which you use most often. Up to 10 WEX files will be stored here. The F3 key can be used to abort a script in progress. FILE / EDIT MENUS You'll find that the File and Edit menus with our program work just like ever Windows program. Using the File New, Open and Save allows you to create, view and edit Whalex files. The Edit menu also provides the same abilities to Undo, Cut, Copy and Paste the text when your editing a Whale Express file. OPTIONS MENU "Stay on Top" is something you turn on or off. This tells our program that you want the Whale Express program to always be visible and not blocked by other windows on your desktop. "Save Settings" tells Whale Express to remember it's size and position for the next time you use the program. "Font" allows you to select the font and font size to use used when editing WEX file. EXPRESS MENU "NewScreenName" is a built in macro which will sign you off-line, and back on again using a new account name. "Instant Message" is another built in macro which allows you to keep others from sending you Instant Messages which might disturb you while you're running your macro. HELP MENU When in doubt, use the online Help to learn more about each of the Whale Express commands. Whale Express Commands AddText Begin Bitmap Call CloseChatLog CloseLog CloseWindow Copy Cut Download Error Exec Exit InstantMessage Keyword Menu Message Movie NewScreenName OnError OpenChatLog OpenLog Pause Paste PasteFile PlayWav Rem ReadList Repeat Quit SelectButton SelectEdit SelectIcon SelectList SendMail SendText SetText SignOn Upload AddText AddText Text message This command will add your text to an edit field with the current focus, just as if you had typed it in. Use SelectEdit if needed to set the focus to the desired AOL edit field. AddText also adds End of Line characters so that multiple AddText commands can be used within the same Edit field. Unlike SetText, this command will not replace the text currently in the edit field. See Also: SelectEdit, SetText Bitmap Bitmap BMP filename This command will display a bitmap in the center of the screen for the default number of seconds or number of seconds set by the Delay variable. This command can be used within a script which might be used for applications using Express scripts for demos. Delay 10 Bitmap c:\windows\tartan.bmp Begin/Repeat BEGIN/REPEAT number of times The Begin/Repeat structure allow scripts to repeat a certain number of times. Example: Lobby.WEX OnError PlavWav Hello.wav SelectIcon List BEGIN SelectList Lobby SelectButton No REPEAT 30 This is an example of wanting to get into a particular room in the People Connection area. This script will bring up the room list and make the selection to enter the room named Lobby. In many cases, rooms you want to enter are full and you get a message asking if you'd like to enter a similiar room. This script will continue to knock on the door of the room for 30 times or until it finally likes you enter. When you enter, it won't find the No button and the OnError condition will play a wav to let you know. You could also use BEGIN/REPEAT to look for people online using the Get Info menu. Don't forget you can include a Pause in your loops and create operations which are performed every minute or so. Call Call Express Script name This command allows you to call scripts from within another script. This allows the creation of small reusable scripts which can be called from other main scripts. Example: Signon 1 Call C:\whalex\myscript1.wex Call C:\whalex\myscript2.wex Another good use of Call is in conjunction with the OnError command. This allows you to execute multiple commands following a script error. Example OnError Call myerror.wex Note if your scripts are in the same directory as the Whale Express application, you aren't required to use the full path. CloseLog / CloseChatLog CloseLog / CloseChatLog These two commands are used to close respective logs of the previous OpenLog commands. You may Exit America Online without closing the Log file, but some data loss may occur. Also see: OpenLog, OpenChatLog CloseWindow CloseWindow This command will force the current top most window to close. Copy Copy Edit field 1..n This command will select all the text in the text box and copy it into the Windows clipboard. Copy will also access non-editable text messages allowing scripts to copy text from on-line articles and messages. It will also act on Edit fields similar to Cut, but will not delete the text from the edit field. Current focus can be set using the SelectEdit command or you can specify the edit field as data. Cut Cut Edit field 1..n This command will select all the text in the edit field specified in the data field and delete the text, placing it into the Windows clipboard. If no data field is used, then the field with the current focus is used. Current focus can be set using the SelectEdit command or can be specified in the data field. Download Download This command is the proper way to exit the system and download all the files in the download manager before exiting. Download should be the last item in a script file. All files found in your Download Manager will be downloaded, and Whale Express will exit America Online. also see: Exit Exec Exec This command allows you to run other programs from within a Whale Express script. This is handy for running other WAOL Add-On programs which you might enjoy as much as Whale Express. You should include the full path name of your program unless the program exists in one of your path directories. Example: Exec C:\waol\croom.exe Exit Exit When you have completed your on-line duties, Exit will sign you off America Online, and will exit the America Online program. You may notice a short pause while Whale checks if you have files in your Download Manager. If the Download Manager has files, they will not be downloaded using this command. You can use the Download command if you'd like files downloaded when you exit. InstantMessage InstantMessage off | on This is handy little-known feature of America Online. This command will tell America Online to hold sending you Instant Messages and Promotional banners. This command can be used to make sure that your automated operation isn't disrupted by a well meaning friend. The data tells whether you want messages on or off. Example: Signon 1 InstantMessage off Keyword StockLink SelectEdit 1 SetText AMER SelectButton Get While turning off Instant Message isn't required for using Whale Express, it will prevent people from thinking you might be ignoring them. Keyword Keyword keyword Just like the CTRL-K for doing Keywords on-line, this command will take you to the department on-line which is specified in the data field. For Compuserve users, this is the same as using GO. For Prodigy users this would be the same as a JUMP. Example: Keyword TITF SelectList 1 TITF is the short keyword for "Tonight in the Forums". By selecting the first list item, it will currently display a list of open conference rooms. Menu Menu Menu Text Menu allows Whale Express to select a menu item just as if you pulled down a menu and selected an item. You won't have to include all the text found in the WAOL menu, but you'll need to provide enough so there's no confusion with other menu items. The entire text of the menu is not required. Whale Express will start with the File menu and check all menus until a match if found. Example: Menu Lobby SelectIcon List SelectButton Private SelectEdit 1 SetText Whale Express SelectButton Go Message Message Text Message This allows some interaction during the script playback and can be helpful for OnError situations. Using this command will create a popup message box with the text you specify as the text message. If you include the following in your script, anytime there is an error you'll received a message. Example: OnError Message There has been an error. NOTE: The text does not require single or double quotes. All text following the Message command will be considered part of the message. Movie Movie AVI filename This command will center a dialog on the screen and play the Video for Windows movie specified by the AVI file name. It's not necessarily something you'll need to automate your America Online scripts, but it does provide an easy way to play AVI files. The Video for Windows runtime package is required for this command. If you require this software contact Tartan Software and it will be sent to you free of charge(excluding AOL download costs). Example: Movie c:\windows\media\earth.avi NewScreenName NewScreenName 1..5 This is a very useful command which combines all the commands needed to allow you to sign off, and back on-line using a new screen name. This command is so useful that it's also available from the Express menu for easy access. NOTE: Signon requires that auto-password is enabled. You can set this feature using CTRL = from the America Online options dialog. OnError OnError Express command In case of a command failure, the command from the last OnError statement is executed. Common examples would allow you to Exit AOL if a script failures, or begin other scripts with the Call statement. Multiple OnErrors are allowed within a script, but only the last OnError command will be used. Example: OnError Call error.wex OpenChatLog OpenChatLog Filename This command uses the Chat Logging feature of America Online which allows you to maintain a file which will capture all the conversations in a conference room or in People Connection. The filename parameter should be any normal DOS file or path name. If the file already exists, the log file will be opened in Append mode and will not delete information previously contained in the file. see also: CloseChatLog OpenLog OpenLog Filename This command uses the Logging feature of America Online which allows you to maintain a file which will capture all the message read while on-line. The filename parameter should be any normal DOS file or path name. If the file already exists, the log file will be opened in Append mode and will not delete information previously in the file. Example: Signon 1 OpenLog c:\mail.txt Menu Read ReadList CloseLog Exit see also: CloseLog Pause Pause Seconds This command will create a pause in the Whale script. The data field is the number of seconds you wish to wait before continuing on to the next Whalex instruction. A common use for this command is in creating a lecture in a conference room. A Pause should be used between successive SendText to users have time to read your messages. The number of seconds is optional and defaults to the current value of the Delay variable. The default for Delay is 10 seconds. Example: SendText I'd like to thank you all for coming tonight Pause 2 SendText Next weeks topic will be Windows Pause 2 SendText Goodnight Paste Paste Edit field 1..n This command will copy any text in the Windows clipboard into the currently selected Edit field. You can also set the paste field by using a number in the data field. This can be a handle command to export data from other applications. see also: Cut, Copy, PasteFile PasteFile PasteFile Filename PasteFile allows you to read a file directly into an America Online edit field. Before using PasteFile it might be necessary to use SelectEdit to set the typing focus to the edit field you're pasting into. Example: SelectEdit 2 PasteFile c:\waol\document\help.txt see also: Paste, SelectEdit PlayWav PlayWav WAV filename This feature allows you to add fun sounds to your scripts. This command will play a sound "wav" file using the installed Windows sound driver. The wave file name can be the wav name listed in the WIN.INI file, or just filename if the wav file is in a directory found in the directory Path. You can also use the full path name of the wav file. The .WAV suffix is not required. Example: PlayWav c:\sounds\coool.wav You can also utilize the PlayWav command with the OnError by setting the following example. OnError PlayWav c:\sounds\bummer.wav Rem Rem Like most languages, Whale Express allows comments and remarks within a file. You can use a Rem statement to add comments to your Whale scripts. ReadList ReadList Express command ReadList is a powerful command which is used in a variety of places to process list items. Use this command when you've reached an area online which presents you with a list box, like Mail, or Message boards. This command will read each item one at a time. The number of items can be set with the Read variable. In many cases , before using this command you'll probably wish to use the OpenLog command so that text will be saved in file. The optional data parameter allows extra processing of each item. You many add any command here which will be executed for each item in the list. An example is the Download Later button while viewing a list of files in a library. The following script will search for all the files which have been uploaded during the pass week and queue them for download at a later time. Example: Keyword File Search SelectButton Past Week SelectButton List ReadList Download Later Here the SelectButton command is done after each item is processed putting the file into the download manager. At the end of this script you could add the Download command which would exit America Online after downloading all items in the download manager. ReadList Options: Under normal circumstances when ReadList processes an item, it will look for a valid Next icon which is used in many message boards. This is extremely helpful for reading complete folders. In some message boards however, the messages read with the Next icon are the same as those in the the list. To prevent this redundancy, you can turn the processing of the Next icon off with the listNext variable. ReadList processes the list by selecting each item on the list. This is the same action as a user double clicking. In some cases you may want to process a list by highlighting an item and selecting one of the buttons on the current list. This can be accomplished with the help of the listSelect variable There will be times when you might only want to read a particular set of messages in the list. You can specify those messages you wish to process by using the listMatch command variable. Also See: listStart, listEnd, listNext, listEnd, listMatch, Read Repeat See: Begin Quit Quit This command provides a way for you to quit the Whale Express program from within a script. This is not the same as the Exit command which will quit the Windows America Online software. SelectButton SelectButton Button text Works just like SelectIcon in that it simulates a user pressing or double clicking on a button. This allows you to select any button on the current top window. Partial matches are supported. NOTE: SelectButton will also work on radio buttons and check boxes. Example: Menu Lobby SelectIcon List SelectButton Private SelectEdit 1 SetText Whale Express SelectButton Go SelectEdit SelectEdit Edit field 1..n This command will set the focus to an edit field control. This command is important for using the SetText command and can also be used in setting focus for the Cut/Copy/Paste/PasteFile commands. The relative position of the edit control is determined by AOL form designers. Any changes made in form definition by AOL programs could affect your scripts. You might have to experiment a little to find the correct field number, but in most cases AOL have created fields in a logical order. Example: SelectIcon Forward SelectEdit 1 SetText BillP SelectEdit 4 SetText ---- Forwarded by Whale Express ---- SelectIcon Send This short script is handy if you'd like to forward mail to another user or screen name. In this case, while reading mail, this script will click on the Forward icon bringing up the Forward Mail form SelectEdit is used prior to using SetText to fill in the form with the user name BillP SelectIcon SelectIcon Icon label text This command will simulate a mouse click on an Icon picture on the current window. Whale Express will search for the icon immediately above the text you specify. Partial text matches are allowed and recommended. In fact, if icon text is contained on two lines, you should only match with the first line. In cases where multiple icons have the same text, such as "Click Here", the first icon found will be selected. To handle these situations, there is an alternate way to select your icon by icon number. Examplea: SelectIcon #3 SelectIcon Send SelectList SelectList list text or #number This command will simulate the user selecting an item in a list box. SelectList assumes only one List control is in the current top most AOL window. The first item in the list is considered list item number 1 when selecting an item by its position. Using text to find a list item works for the first item withing the list range which contains your text anywhere in the item. Example: SelectList Check for live discussions or SelectList #1 SendMail SendMail Mail Filename SendMail is used to send text files which have been formatted as an off-line mail file. SendMail allows you to write all your Email off-line with the Whale Express editor, and use a Whalex script to automatically send your Email as quickly as possible. The format of an off-line mail message contains all of the information found in the Mail Compose form Online. With the exception of the text of the message, each line of the file contains one item. Each line can wrap within the Whale Express editor, but ends when you press the Enter key Line 1> TO: information Line 2> CC: information. Leave a blank line if no Carbon Copies are to be sent. Line 3>SUBJ: This is required field and must contain the title of your message Line 4>File: This is also optional, but if you'd like to send a file via Email, enter the full path on this line. Line 5> The text of your message begins here. SendText SendText Text message This command allows you to broadcast text in a conference or room in People Connection. This command is intended for people who run conferences or teach classes on-line where text can be prepared ahead of time. Data must be less than 93 characters. NOTE: Misuse of this command in such a way to be disturbing to other America Online members can be a violation of terms of service. Loss of your America Online account could result. Example: SendText I'd like to thank you all for coming tonight Pause 4 SendText Next weeks topic will be Windows Pause 4 SendText Goodnight You'll notice the pause statements between multiple SendText statements. These are very important in making your text readable by both new users and old- timers. SetText SetText Text message This command will enter text into the edit field with the current focus, just as if you had typed it in. Use SelectEdit if needed to set the focus to the desired AOL edit field. Example: Menu Compose SelectEdit 1 SetText Tartan SelectEdit 3 SetText Whale Express test SelectEdit 4 SetText Hi! I'm testing the mailform.wex script SelectIcon Send This example brings up the Email compose form and fills in text based on the edit field number. The edit field numbers are determined by America Online forum designers and are subject to change. In most cases, they won't change and field numbers will be created in a logical order. SignOn SignOn name This command initiates the signon process to America Online, including the selection of screen name and dialing America Online. The name should be the screen name or Email address you wish to use. If no name is provided, the current screen name will be chosen. If you are already signed on to America Online, this command is ignored. NOTE: Signon requires that stored-passwords are enabled. You can set this feature using CTRL = from the America Online options dialog. Upload Upload filename Note: Upload will only be available to registered Whale Express users. The Upload command may only be used when the current America Online window is an Upload form. This form is usually in response to selecting the Upload icon, or using "SelectIcon Upload". Before using the Upload command it's appropriate to set the values of the various fields. These values can be set once and used for each upload or can be reset before each Upload command. If no values are set, default values will be used. Subject Author Equipment Needs Description Subject data This field is required by America Online Data field is limited to 32 characters Author data Data field is limited to 20 characters Equipment data Data field limited to 32 characters Needs data Data field is limited to 36 characters Description filename This data field should be the name of a description file. If no file is specified default value is used. Example Upload script In the following example we have a number of files, all with the same Author, Needs and Description. We set these fields once and then instruct Whale Express to upload the file. After the initial upload, we change the Subject line and upload other parts of the program. SelectIcon Upload Subject PAINT: v1.3 Basic Paint Program Author My Software Company Needs An UnZIPing program Description C:\paint\mypaint.txt Upload c:\paint\mypaint.exe Subject PAINT: Utility for MyPaint Upload c:\paint\paint1.dll Upload c:\paint\paint2.dll Upload c:\paint\paint3.dll Upload c:\paint\paint4.dll CloseWindow Command Variables The following commands are used as modifiers for Whale Express commands. Most are used to modify the powerful ReadList command. The only exception is the Delay which is used as the default time for Pause command and Bitmap display. Delay Error listStart listEnd listMatch listNext listSelect Read Delay Delay 1..n This variable is used to specify default waiting periods for commands such as Bitmap or Pause. Default value is 10 seconds. Example Delay 10 Error Error On | Off Under most cases, your script will fail to continue an error occurs in any of the commands. There may be times when you'll want to continue even if are button or icon is not found in previous commands. You can turn Error checking off by using the statement, Error Off Error On will reset the default error checking condition. listStart listStart 1..n Under default conditions ReadList will begin on the first list item and process the max. items available. Setting listStart in your script will allow you to begin the list processing on the item you need. Example: listStart 3 listEnd listEnd 1..n Example: listEnd 9 Under default conditions ReadList will process max. items available. Setting listEnd in your script will allow you to specify the last item you need. Sample Use: listStart 3 listEnd 9 ReadList listMatch listMatch text to search on The ReadList command will use listMatch to decide which items to select. Normally, ReadList will select all the items in the list. With the addition of a listMatch instruction, you can tell ReadList to only select those messages with particular text in the list item text The default for listMatch is to read all items. To set listMatch back to it's default status use the wildcard character. listMatch * At this time no logical operations are supported. Only single text matches are supported. such as AND/OR operations. Example: Menu Read New Mail listMatch Test ReadList Call treply.wex The above sample script which we use here at Tartan Software to automatically respond to those mail messages which are send to the Tartan name from people testing Whale Express. The script reads all our new Email and selects those messages with the text "Mail Test" in the subject line. We've provide you with the TREPLY.WEX below so you'll see the full picture. SelectIcon Reply SelectEdit 4 PasteFile c:\tartan\treply.txt SelectIcon Send SelectButton OK CloseWindow listNext listNext on | off Normally, when ReadList processes messages, it will automatically look for a valid Next icon. If found, the Next button is processed. On some boards the next message can be found in the list, and accessed with a Next button. This can cause redundant reading of messages. Example:: listSelect OFF ReadList listSelect listSelect on | off This command variable allows you tell Whale Express if you want to actually select a list item or just highlight it. Under normal conditions both SelectList and ReadList will act as if you double click the mouse on the list item. By turning listSelect off, you can highlight the item you desire, and then select the appropriate action. Example: listSelect OFF SelectList 3 SelectIcon Find Since SelectEdit 1 SetText 7 SelectIcon Search listSelect ON ReadList Read Read 1..n Setting this variable will allow you to set the number of messages read when reading the news, message boards or download libraries. You can set and reset Read anywhere in the script, The preference would be to set Read directly before calling a function which reads multiple messages. Example: Keyword file search SelectButton Past week SelectButton Windows SelectButton List read 10 ReadList SelectButton Download Later This will tell Whale Express you only wish the first 10 files found to be added to your Download Manager. Date, Time, Input The following special variables can be used in your data parameter to allow you to change the value of what is used based on the current date, time or what you type in during the execution of the script. %input Will prompt you for variable data to be entered. Do not use this in any scripts which you run unattended. Example: SendText Hi %input, How the heck are you? %date Will insert the current date into the data. Example: OpenLog C:\MAIL\MAIL%date.TXT The %date is four characters in the format MMDD %time Will insert the current time into the data Example: Message The date is %date, current time is %time The %time is six characters in the format HHMMSS Common Questions & Answers Q: How do I cancel a script in progress? A: Use the F3 key. Q: Will Whale Express slow my system down? A: No. Whale Express requires no special hooks that monitor your system activities. Until you run a script, the program acts like any other Windows program waiting for the user to select an action. Q: Why the name Whale Express? A: Internally at America Online, the Windows version of America Online, WAOL is pronounced "Whale". Q: I'm having trouble running a script which uses the Download Later button to store programs in my Download Manager. A: Use CTRL= in America Online and set your Download Preferences. Be sure to remove the check box item which says "Confirm Additions to my download list". Q: When I use Signon, it still asks for my password. A: Using Signon and NewScreenName requires the use of the Stored Password feature of America Online. Use CTRL = in America Online to store your passwords in your WAOL software. Note: Due to a feature in the WAOL software you'll need to redo your stored passwords after creating a new screen name. Q: When I try SelectIcon Message Board, it's not finding the icon. A: The text for Message Board is probably split between two lines. You only need to use the top line of the Icon name. Try SelectIcon Message or even SelectIcon Mess will work. Whale Express will find partial matches of text. Q: Can I use Whale Express to capture my NewsGroup messages on Internet? A: At this time, Whale Express can be used to help you capture your Newsgroup messages but can't do it all. The current structure of the newsgroup message boards is different from the regular boards on AOL. For example, the Next -> button is not disabled when you reach the end of a newsgroup folder. We'll continue to work with AOL on solutions to this in the future. Appendix A: ReadList ReadList is the key to accessing Email, and Message boards. This command provides all the error checking and logic required to so being a programmer is not required to use Whale Express. This section is provide for those users who feel more comfortable knowing what's going on. You'll notice that Readlist takes a couple of seconds to get started. During this time Whalex is checking for some conditions which are common to list processing. The following is the behind the screen processing which ReadList performs. First: We need to handle situations where no list exists when you might be expecting one. Whalex looks for a standard message with an OK button. Something like.. "You have no new mail", No more messages, etc... If such a messagebox is found, no list is processed and the script continues on with no errors reported. Next: If you do have a list then we want to be sure we can access all the available messages. Whalex will look for a More button, More icon and List More Icon. Whalex will keep pressing this button or icon until there are no more items available or there are more items than READ is set to.. Now comes the real power: At this point Whalex knows how many items there are in the list, or how many you want to process per the Read variable. Here's effectively what happens... For I = listStart to listEnd { if(listMatch) SelectList I ; select each item in turn if they match If (Express command) ; check for data command and do it Execute the data command else ; comes here after reading 1st message while(Next Button Active) ; if there's a Next Icon, click it. SelectIcon Next CloseWindows ; Close Message window, get ready } ; to select the next item. "Express command" could be anything like, SelectIcon Download later or Call xxxxx.wex Or in the case of message boards where when you select a folder you just get another List of folders you can just add another ReadList so it looks like... ReadList ReadList And note that the 2nd ReadList could even have it's own data parameter so effectively you could have ReadList ReadList ReadList ReadList SelectIcon Download The simplest case is where you have a single list of folders or files and ReadList will go down DoubleClick on each of them so they will be logged. You'll find that in some message boards, processing the Next message isn't required and could be redundant. In these cases you may turn off Next processing by setting the command variable listNext listNext Off Appendix B: Sample Files AMER.WEX This is a simple script which takes the user to the StockLink area on AOL. AMER is the stock symbol for America Online Inc. This provide a quick way to check the price of America Online. Change this script to allow you to quickly check your own favorite stock. Note that Signon is used, but this script can still be used while already online. Sigon will be ignored. Signon Keyword StockLink SelectEdit 1 SetText AMER SelectButton Get GETMAIL.WEX This is an example of how you can use Whale Express to SignOn, Read all your mail, and sign off again. You can change the name of the file in the OpenLog command if you'd like your mail to be saved to another directory. Signon OpenLog c:\mail.log Menu Read ReadList CloseLog Exit NEWWIN.WEX This powerful script demonstrates using Whale Express to find recent uploads in America Online's File Search. In this case, all files in the Windows libraries uploaded in the past week at marked for Download Later. This is a good example of the powerful ReadList command. Adding the Download command will cause all files in the Download Manager to be downloaded before exiting your online session. You will need to change your download options on America Online(CTRL=) so that you no longer confirm additions to your download manager. Note how a complete command can be included in the ReadList command. When each item in the list is read, the Download Later button will be selected, adding the file to your download manager. The Download command will also exit you from AOL when downloads are complete. Signon Keyword File Search SelectButton Past Week SelectButton Windows SelectButton List ReadList SelectButton Download Later Download ROOMS.WEX A little known feature allows members to list all active discussions in conference rooms. These rooms allow up to 48 users and often have useful topics. This script keywords to the "Tonight in the Forum" area and selects the first menu item which is "Check for Live Discussions" This is a handy script and one that proves scripts don't have to be complex to be useful. Keyword TITF SelectList #1 MAILFORM.WEX This is a good example of using SelectEdit and SetText to fill in an online form such as Email. This sample will send a friendly note to Tartan Software support. We'll send you a note back to let you know this script worke ok. Menu Compose SelectEdit 1 SetText Tartan SelectEdit 3 SetText Whale Express test SelectEdit 4 SetText Hi! I'm testing the mailform.wex script SelectIcon Send FORWARD.WEX Instead of using the Reply button when reading Email. This is a sample of a script you could use to forward mail back to the original sender and then include your comments. This is handy when you might need to remind the sender what you're replying to. For this script to work, you should run it right after reading a piece of mail. SelectIcon Reply to All Copy 1 CloseWindow SelectIcon Forward Paste 1 SelectEdit 4 (Print this form) TARTAN SOFTWARE ORDER FORM AOL Screen Name ___________________________________________ Name ______________________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________________ City ___________________________ State ______ ZIP _________ Phone (optional) _____________________ Circle: home or work (New York residents must add appropriate sales tax.) County______________________________________ Whale Express v2.x ________ $ 39.95 C-Room v2.x ________ $ 19.95 TimeKard v1.x ________ $ 24.95 Tartan Booster Complete Package ________ $ 69.95 (Save $16.00) NYS Sales Tax ________ (if New York state resident) Amount enclosed: $______________ Please make all checks payable to Tartan Software Mail to: Tartan Software 143 Horstman Dr. Scotia, NY 12302 Tartan Software - 24 - Whale Express