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NAME
     tknewsbiff - pop up a window when news appears

SYNOPSIS
     tknewsbiff [ server or config-file ]

INTRODUCTION
     tknewsbiff pops up a window when there  is  unread  news  in
     your favorite newsgroups and removes the window after you've
     read the news.  tknewsbiff  can  optionally  play  a  sound,
     start your newsreader, etc.


SELECTING NEWSGROUPS
     By default, the configuration file  ~/.tknewsbiff  describes
     how  tknewsbiff  behaves.  The syntax observes the usual Tcl
     rules - however, even if you don't know  Tcl,  all  but  the
     most esoteric configurations will be obvious.

     Each newsgroup (or set  of  newsgroups)  to  be  watched  is
     described by using the "watch" command.  For example:


     watch dc.dining
     watch nist.*
     watch comp.unix.wizard  -threshold 3
     watch *.sources.*       -threshold 20


     For each newsgroup pattern, any newsgroup  that  matches  it
     and  which  you  are subscribed to (according to your newsrc
     file) is eligible for  reporting.   By  default,  tknewsbiff
     reports  on  the  newsgroup  if there is at least one unread
     article.  The "-threshold" flag changes the threshold to the
     following  number.   For example, "-threshold 3" means there
     must be at least three  articles  unread  before  tknewsbiff
     will report the newsgroup.

     If no watch commands are given  (or  no  configuration  file
     exists), all groups which are subscribed to are watched.

     To suppress newsgroups that would otherwise be reported, use
     the  "ignore"  command.   For example, the following matches
     all comp.* and nist.* newgroups except for nist.posix or  .d
     (discussion) groups:


     watch comp.*
     watch nist.*
     ignore nist.posix.*
     ignore *.d

     The flag "-new" describes a command to be executed when  the
     newsgroup  is  first  reported  as  having unread news.  For
     example, the following lines invoke the UNIX command  "play"
     to play a sound.


     watch dc.dining -new "exec play /usr/local/sounds/yumyum.au"
     watch rec.auto* -new "exec play /usr/local/sounds/vroom.au"


     You can cut down on the verbosity  of  actions  by  defining
     procedures.   For  example, if you have many -new flags that
     all play sound files, you could define  a  sound  procedure.
     This would allow the -new specification to be much shorter.


     proc play {sound} {
          exec play /usr/local/sounds/$sound.au
     }

     watch dc.dining -new "play yumyum"
     watch rec.auto* -new "play vroom"


     As an aside, you can put an "&" at the end of an "exec" com-
     mand  to  get  commands to execute asynchronously.  However,
     it's probably not a good idea to do this when playing  sound
     files anyway.

     "newsgroup" is a read-only variable which contains the  name
     of  the  newsgroup  that  is being reported.  This is useful
     when the action is triggered by a pattern.  For example, the
     following line could run the newsgroup name through a speech
     synthesizer:


     watch * -new {
          exec play herald.au
          exec speak "New news has arrived in $newsgroup."
     }


     The flag "-display" describes a command to be executed every
     time  the  newsgroup is reported as having unread news.  The
     special  command  "display"  is  the  default  command.   It
     schedules  $newsgroup  to be written to tknewsbiff's display
     when it is rewritten.  For example, by explicitly  providing
     a -display flag that omits the display command, you can dis-
     able the display of newsgroups that are already reported via
     -new.


     watch dc.dining -new {exec play yumyum.au} -display {}


     If you want  to  execute  an  action  repeatedly  and  still
     display  the  newsgroup  in  the  default manner, explicitly
     invoke the display command via the -display flag.  For exam-
     ple:


     watch *security* -display {
          exec play red-alert.au
          display
     }


     Actions associated with the -new and -display flags are exe-
     cuted  only  once  for each matching newsgroup.  The command
     executed is the one associated with the first pattern in the
     configuration  file  that  matches  and  observes  the given
     threshold.

     Any command that is simply listed in the configuration  file
     is  executed each time before the update loop in tknewsbiff.
     The reserved (but  user-defined)  procedure  "user"  is  run
     immediately after the newsgroups are scheduled to be written
     to the display and before they are actually written.

     For example,  suppose  unread  articles  appear  in  several
     rec.auto  groups  and  you play the same sound for each one.
     To prevent playing the sound several times in  a  row,  make
     the  -new command simply set a flag.  In the user procedure,
     play the sound if the flag is set (and then reset the flag).

     The user procedure could also be used to start a newsreader.
     This  would avoid the possibility of starting multiple news-
     readers just because multiple  newsgroups  contained  unread
     articles.   (A check should, of course, be made to make sure
     that a newsreader is not already running.)


MORE VARIABLES
     The following example lines show variables that  can  affect
     the behavior of tknewsbiff


     set delay          120
     set server         news.nist.gov
     set server_timeout 60
     set newsrc         ~/.newsrc
     set width          40
     set height         20
     set active_file    /usr/news/lib/active
     tknewsbiff alternates between checking for unread  news  and
     sleeping  (kind  of  like many undergraduates).  The "delay"
     variable describes how many seconds to sleep.

     The  "server"  variable  names  an  NNTP  news-server.   The
     default  is  "news".   The "server" variable is only used if
     the "active_file" variable is not set.

     The "server_timeout" variable describes how how many seconds
     to wait for a response from the server before giving up.  -1
     means wait forever or until the  server  itself  times  out.
     The default is 60 seconds.

     The "newsrc" variable describes the  name  of  your  .newsrc
     file.   By  default, tknewsbiff looks in your home directory
     for a newsrc file.  A  server-specific  newsrc  is  used  if
     found.    For   example,   if   you   have   set  server  to
     "cubit.nist.gov",  then  tknewsbiff  looks  for   ~/.newsrc-
     cubit.nist.gov.   (This is the Emacs gnus convention - which
     is  very  convenient  when  you  read  news  from   multiple
     servers.)  If there is no server-specific newsrc, tknewsbiff
     uses ~/.newsrc.

     The "width" variable describes  the  width  that  tknewsbiff
     will use to display information.  If any newsgroup names are
     long enough, they will be  truncated  so  that  the  article
     counts can still be shown.  You can manually resize the win-
     dow to see what was truncated.  However, if your  configura-
     tion  file  sets  the  width  variable,  the  window will be
     restored to that size the next time that  tknewsbiff  checks
     for unread news and updates its display.

     The "height" variable  describes  the  maximum  height  that
     tknewsbiff  will use to display information.  If fewer news-
     groups are  reported,  tknewsbiff  will  shrink  the  window
     appropriately.   You  can  manually resize the window but if
     your configuration file sets the height variable, the window
     will  be restored to that size the next time that tknewsbiff
     checks for unread news and updates its display.

     The "active_file" variable describes the name  of  the  news
     active  file.   If  set, the active file is read directly in
     preference to using NNTP (even if the "server"  variable  is
     set).   This is particularly useful for testing out new con-
     figuration files since you can edit a fake active  file  and
     then  click  button  2  to  immediately  see  how tknewsbiff
     responds (see BUTTONS below).

     If the environment variable DOTDIR is set, then its value is
     used as a directory in which to find all dotfiles instead of
     from the home directory.  In particular,  this  affects  the
     tknewsbiff configuration file and the .newsrc file (assuming
     the newsrc variable is not set explicitly).


WATCHING DIFFERENT NEWS SERVERS
     To watch multiple servers, run  tknewsbiff  multiple  times.
     (Since you need different .newsrc files and the servers have
     different newsgroups and article numbers anyway, there is no
     point in trying to do this in a single process.)

     You can point tknewsbiff  at  a  different  server  with  an
     appropriate  argument.  The argument is tried both as a con-
     figuration  file  name  and  as  a  suffix  to  the   string
     "~/.tknewsbiff-".   So if you want to watch the server "kid-
     ney", store  the  tknewsbiff  configuration  information  in
     ~/.tknewsbiff-kidney".  The following two commands will both
     use that configuration file.


          tknewsbiff kidney
          tknewsbiff ~/.tknewsbiff-kidney


     In both cases, the actual server to contact is  set  by  the
     value of the server variable in the configuration file.

     If no configuration file is found, the argument is  used  as
     the  server  to  contact.   This allows tknewsbiff to be run
     with no preparation whatsoever.

     If the argument is the special keyword "active" (or ends  in
     "/active"),  it is used as the name of an active file.  This
     is in turn used to initialize the variable "active_file"  so
     that  tknewsbiff  reads from the active file directly rather
     than using NNTP.

     Creating your own active file is a convenient way of testing
     your  configuration  file.   For  example, after running the
     following command, you can repeatedly edit your active  file
     and  trigger the update-now command (either by pressing but-
     ton 2 or setting the delay variable very  low)  to  see  how
     tknewsbiff responds.

     The active file must follow the  format  of  a  real  active
     file.   The  format  is  one  newsgroup per line.  After the
     newsgroup name is the number of  the  highest  article,  the
     lowest  article.   Lastly is the letter y or m.  m means the
     newsgroup is moderated.  y means posting is allowed.


WINDOW
     When unread news is found, a window is popped up.  The  win-
     dow  lists  the  names  of  the newsgroups and the number of
     unread articles in each (unless suppressed by  the  -display
     flag).   When there is no longer any unread news, the window
     disappears (although the process continues to run).


BUTTONS
     Button or key bindings may be  assigned  by  bind  commands.
     Feel free to change them.  The default bind commands are:


     bind .list <1> help
     bind .list <2> update-now
     bind .list <3> unmapwindow


     By default button 1 (left) is bound  to  "help".   The  help
     command causes tknewsbiff to pop up a help window.

     By default, button 2 (middle) is bound to "update-now".  The
     update-now  command  causes  tknewsbiff to immediately check
     for unread news.  If your news server is slow or maintains a
     very  large number of newsgroups, or you have a large number
     of patterns in your configuration file, tknewsbiff can  take
     considerable time before actually updating the window.

     By default, button 3 (right) is bound to "unmapwindow".  The
     unmapwindow  command  causes tknewsbiff to remove the window
     from the display until the next time it finds  unread  news.
     (The mapwindow command causes tknewsbiff to restore the win-
     dow.)

     As an example, here is a binding to pop up an xterm and  run
     rn  when  you  hold down the shift key and press button 1 in
     the listing window.


     bind .list <Shift-1> {
          exec xterm -e rn &
     }


     Here is a similar binding.  However it tells rn to look only
     at  the  newsgroup  that is under the mouse when you pressed
     it.  (The "display_list" variable is described later in this
     man page.)


     bind .list <Shift-1> {
          exec xterm -e rn [lindex $display_list [.list nearest %y]] &
     }


OTHER COMMANDS AND VARIABLES
     Built-in commands  already  mentioned  are:  watch,  ignore,
     display, help, update-now, unmapwindow, and mapwindow.

     Any Tcl and Tk command can also be  given.   In  particular,
     the list of newsgroups is stored in the list widget ".list",
     and the  scroll  bar  is  stored  in  the  scrollbar  widget
     ".scroll".   So for example, if you want to change the fore-
     ground and background colors of the newsgroup list, you  can
     say:


          .list config -bg honeydew1 -fg orchid2


     These can also be controlled by the X resource  database  as
     well.   However,  the  configuration file allows arbitrarily
     complex commands to be evaluated rather than simple  assign-
     ments.

     Certain Tcl/Tk  commands  can  disrupt  proper  function  of
     tknewsbiff.   These  will  probably be obvious to anyone who
     knows enough to give these commands in the first place.   As
     a  simple  example, the program assumes the font in the list
     box is of fixed width.  The newsgroups will likely not align
     if you use a variable-width font.

     The following variables are accessible and can be  used  for
     esoteric  uses.   All  other variables are private.  Private
     variables and commands begin with "_" so you don't  need  to
     worry about accidental collisions.

     The array "db" is a  database  which  maintains  information
     about  read  and  unread  news.   db($newsgroup,hi)  is  the
     highest article that  exists.   db($newsgroup,seen)  is  the
     highest article that you have read.

     A  number  of  lists   maintain   interesting   information.
     "active_list" is a list of known newsgroups.  "seen_list" is
     a list of newsgroups that have been seen so far as the  -new
     and      -display     flags     are     being     processed.
     "previous_seen_list" is "seen_list" from the previous cycle.
     "ignore_list"  is  the list of newsgroup patterns to ignore.
     "watch_list" is the list of  newsgroup  patterns  to  watch.
     "display_list" is the list of newsgroup will be displayed at
     the next opportunity.


UPDATING YOUR FILES
     tknewsbiff automatically  rereads  your  configuration  file
     each  time  it  wakes up to check for unread news.  To force
     tknewsbiff to reread the file immediately (such  as  if  you
     are  testing  a new configuration or have just modified your
     newsrc file), press button 2 in  the  display  (see  BUTTONS
     above).


CAVEATS
     tknewsbiff defines the number  of  unread  articles  as  the
     highest  existing  article  minus  the  highest article that
     you've read.  So if you've read  the  last  article  in  the
     newsgroup  but  no  others,  tknewsbiff  thinks there are no
     unread articles.  (It's impossible to do any better by read-
     ing  the  active file and it would be very time consuming to
     do this more accurately via NNTP since  servers  provide  no
     efficient  way  of  reporting  their  own holes in the news-
     groups.)   Fortunately,  this  definition  is  considered  a
     feature  by most people.  It allows you to read articles and
     then mark them "unread" but  not  have  tknewsbiff  continue
     telling you that they are unread.


UNWARRANTED CONCERNS
     Your news administrator may  wonder  if  many  people  using
     tknewsbiff  severely  impact  an  NNTP server.  In fact, the
     impact is negligible even when the delay is  very  low.   To
     gather  all the information it needs, tknewsbiff uses a sin-
     gle NNTP query - it just asks for the active file.  The NNTP
     server  does  no computation, formatting, etc, it just sends
     the file.  All the interesting processing happens locally in
     the tknewsbiff program itself.


BUGS
     The man page is longer than the program.


SEE ALSO
     "Exploring  Expect:  A  Tcl-Based  Toolkit  for   Automating
     Interactive Programs" by Don Libes, O'Reilly and Associates,
     January 1995.

AUTHOR
     Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology

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