Chapter 11 - Using the Banyan Messages Application with a Windows NT or Windows 95 Client
The Banyan Messages application is a Windows application that lets you view and send network messages. In a Banyan network, network messages notify you that you received mail or your print job spooled to the network printer. You can also send network messages to other users, and receive messages from other users or applications.
The Banyan Messages application lets you manage any network messages you receive.
You do not have run the Banyan Messages application to receive network messages. A common example of a message is shown below.
By default, the message pop-up window appears for six seconds before it disappears from the screen. To clear the screen sooner either:
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Click the OK button. ![]()
Press CTRL-X. Note: You can set the message pop-up window to not appear at all, or change the time-out interval. To change message pop-up windows options, see "Setting Message Notification Options" later in this chapter.
You do not have to run the Banyan Messages application to receive messages. But you must run the application to view a history of your messages or to change message notification options. See "To View the Message History" for instructions on how to view and delete messages.
1. Open the Messages window:
- From Windows NT 3.51, double-click the Messages icon in the Banyan program group.
- From Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 95, click Start and select Programs, Banyan, Message.
The Banyan Messages window appears, listing any network messages you received since you logged in to the network.
The Message window displays the last five messages received since you logged in to the Banyan network. If you keep the Messages application running, it stores up to 50 messages. Once you exit Windows and log out of the network, however, your messages clear.
2. To view the time and date a particular message was sent, click on the message and select Message - Information from the menu.
1. Select the messages you want to delete:
- One message: Click on the message to select it.
- Multiple messages: Click on one message, then shift-click on additional messages.
- All messages: Select Edit - Select All from the Messages menu.
2. Press DELETE.
The Messages application lets you send a one-line message to one or more users on the network. The recipient is the person or group of people who receives the message. Recipients must be logged in to the network to receive messages.
The rest of this section describes the Send dialog box, and how to send a message.
To send a message, choose the Send command from the Message menu. The Send dialog box appears.
The Send dialog box has three elements:
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A text box labeled "To:" for the recipient ![]()
A text box labeled "Message:" for the message itself ![]()
A row of command buttons
The command buttons are described in Table 11-1.
Click | To | See |
Send | Send the message. This button is dimmed if either the "To:" or "Message:" fields are empty. | "To Send a Message" |
Browse | Search for users, nicknames, or lists. | "Searching for Addresses" |
Done | Finish sending a message. The Send dialog box is replaced by the Messages window. | N/A |
Help | Access on-line help information. | N/A |
1. Click the Messages icon in the Banyan program group. The Messages window appears.
2. Enter one of the following in the "To:" field:
- StreetTalk name of a user or a list: Include the group name if the recipient is in your organization, but not in your group or the complete StreetTalk name if the recipient is not in your organization.
- StreetTalk nickname: Include the group and organization names, if necessary.
- StreetTalk pattern: For example, *@Sales@WCT. The wildcard asterisk (*) stands for "all," so the message is sent to everyone in the Sales group at the organization WCT.
Note: You can enter only one address at a time. You can include wildcards (*@group@organization) or lists to send messages to multiple users at one time. If you are not sure of the proper StreetTalk name of your recipient, click the Browse button to search for users, nicknames, or lists. This is described in "Searching for Addresses" later in this chapter.
3. Enter your message in the Message field. You can enter a message up to 72 characters. If you enter a message longer than the text box, the text box scrolls to accommodate the length of your message.
4. Click Send. The message is sent to the indicated address.
Note: The Send command button is dimmed until you enter a message and at least one StreetTalk address.
The Browse command button provides access to StreetTalk Directory Assistance (STDA). STDA is a database of StreetTalk names. This database is made up of classes that include users, lists, and nicknames.
The Browse feature allows you to:
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Scroll through the STDA database of names. ![]()
Enter the first few characters of a name to locate a name in the database. ![]()
Use the Subset command to search for names based on patterns.
This section describes how to use the Browse Recipients dialog box to search for users, nicknames, and lists for use in addressing your message.
When you click on the Browse command button in the Send dialog box, the Browse Recipients dialog box appears.
The Browse Recipients dialog box has five elements:
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A Class drop-down list box that contains the STDA classes: Users, Nicknames, and Lists. ![]()
A search text area for entering characters to search for StreetTalk names. ![]()
A list area in the Browse Recipients dialog box that displays the STDA database of names. By default, the list of user names appears when you first open the dialog box.
The command buttons are described in Table 11-2.
Click | To | Browse Dialog Box Replaced By |
OK | Copy the selection to the "To:" field in the Send dialog box. | Send dialog box |
Cancel | Cancel the Browse command. | Send dialog box |
Help | Access on-line help about browsing for StreetTalk names. | Help window |
Subsets | Search for names based on pattern matching. | StreetTalk Subset dialog box |
1. Click Browse. The Browse Recipients dialog box appears.
2. Click the Class drop-down list select the STDA class of names you want to see in the list area of the dialog box. Click the drop-down list to display all the available classes.
3. Click the Names drop-down list and choose the StreetTalk search pattern you want to use. The default pattern is *@*@*.
Note: A StreetTalk search pattern retrieves a subset of the StreetTalk names on the network. To create new StreetTalk search patterns, see "Adding StreetTalk Search Patterns" later in this chapter.
4. Click the Name field so that it is highlighted.
5. Press TAB. The first StreetTalk name from the list appears in the Names field.
6. To move through the list, either:
- Use the scroll bar, arrow keys, or paging keys.
- Type the first letters of the StreetTalk name. The letters appear above the STDA List window and the first available match appears at the top of the list.
Note: Typing the first letters of the StreetTalk name is the quickest way to locate user names, nicknames, or lists.
7. Double-click a name. The name appears in the To: field of the Send dialog box.
Adding StreetTalk Search Patterns
You can create smaller lists of StreetTalk addresses that match a StreetTalk pattern, such as *@Sales@WCT. A StreetTalk search pattern is a mixture of the three parts of a StreetTalk name (item, group, and organization) and wildcards (*). StreetTalk search patterns let you search subsets of StreetTalk names by having you specify part of a StreetTalk name. The default search pattern is *@*@* which access all network resources. If you want to browse a smaller subset, you can create new StreetTalk search patterns. To be a valid StreetTalk search pattern, one of the fields must have an asterisk.
Example
If you want to access all of the usernames, nicknames, and listnames under the Sales group of the WCT organization, you would add the following ST search pattern:
*@Sales@WCT
You can then double click on *@Sales@WCT to view all of the StreetTalk addresses in the Sales group in the WCT organization.
To Add StreetTalk Search Patterns
1. From the Browse Recipients dialog box, click Subsets. The StreetTalk Directory Assistance Subset dialog box appears.
2. Enter a StreetTalk pattern in either the:
- Name Pattern field, such as *@Sales@WCT. The default pattern is *@*@*.
- Description Pattern field. The default pattern is *.
3. Click Add to save the new pattern. The new pattern is added to the Names drop-down list in the Browse Recipients dialog box.
Note: If you want the new pattern to appear as the default, click Make First. Your pattern appears as the default pattern when you next choose to browse for StreetTalk names.
4. Click OK to return the Browse Recipients dialog box.
To Remove StreetTalk Search Patterns
1. From the Browse Recipients dialog box, click Subsets. The StreetTalk Directory Assistance Subset dialog box appears.
2. Select a StreetTalk search pattern from the Name pattern field.
3. Click Remove. The pattern is deleted from the Class drop-down list in the Browse Recipients dialog box.
Setting Message Notification Options
The Options menu in the Messages window lets you set your message notification preferences. When you click on Pop-up from the Options menu, the Messages Options dialog box appears.
Network messages are sent by other users or generated by network printers and servers. For example, a message informing you that your document is printed appears in a dialog box on your screen as a network message.
Note: The SETMSGS statement in your user profile determines how you are notified of messages. Any changes you make through the Message Pop-up Options dialog box are valid for your current login session only.
The Messages Options dialog box has four options, described in Table 11-3.
Click | To |
Do not display pop-up | Prevent the network from notifying you of any messages. |
Display pop-up and wait | Cause a message pop-up window containing your message to appear for OK indefinitely. To clear the message window, click OK. |
Display pop-up for n seconds | Specify the number of seconds you want the message pop-up window to remain on the screen. The default number of seconds is 6. To clear the messages window, click OK. |
Play multimedia sound file | Select the multimedia checkbox and enter the path and name of a .WAV file in the Sound file field. Every time you receive a message, the sound file plays. |
To Set Message Notification Options
1. Click the Messages icon in the Banyan program group. The Messages window appears.
2. Click Options on the Messages menu bar.
3. Choose either:
- Pop-up: The Message Options dialog box appears. Go to Step 4.
- Beep in Messages: Your workstation beeps when you receive a message.
4. Choose the following options from the Message Options dialog box by selecting one of the following radio buttons:
- Do not display pop-up: Prevents the network from notifying you of any messages.
- Display pop-up and wait for OK: Causes the message pop-up window to remain on the screen until you either press ENTER or click OK.
- Display pop-up for n Seconds: Causes the message pop-up window to remain on the screen until a set number of seconds has passed or you click OK. Specify the number of seconds in the Seconds to Wait box. The default number of seconds is six.
5. If you want to play a multimedia sound file instead of the standard Windows beep when you receive a message, select the multimedia checkbox and enter the path and name of a .WAV file in the Sound file field. Every time you receive a message, the sound file plays.