6 - Saving an outgoing message - Background Information
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RexxMail checks the message contents on a number of points.

First, the contents of the message header are examined. Any header entries starting with an illegal keyword will cause RexxMail to reset the message file status to 'not ready for sending'.

RexxMail will accept only header entries that start with either of the following:

All keywords are case-INsensitive. A keyword must end with a colon (':') and be followed by at least one space or TAB character.

Header entries may span more than one (CRLF-terminated) line, in which case the second and subsequent lines must start with at least one space or TAB character.

If all is well, the message file's status is set to 'ready for sending' and the object icon changes to reflect the new status (the sheet of paper now shows lines, and the envelope has an 'address' on it).

At the same time, the object's name changes. The new name consists of four lines. Reading from the top, these contain the file's date and time stamp (i.e. the time it was saved), the sender's address, the recipient's address, and the subject of the message.

If the 'ISODates' option in the 'settings.txt' file is set to 'yes', RexxMail will rewrite all date strings it displays to comply with the ISO 'sorted date' standard, adding the time zone and the day of the week (the latter between brackets).

RexxMail offers three options for address strings in the object title: Full, Name, and Address (the option can be set in the 'settings.txt' file).
Full will insert the full address as Name (address@domain).
Name will insert just the Name part, unless no name is found, in which case the (address@domain) part is used.
Address will insert just the address@domain part.
Multiple addresses are separated by full stops, and any "CC" or "BCC" addresses are included in the list of recipients.

If any error is found in the message contents, i.e. the sender's or recipient's name or the subject has been omitted, or illegal keywords or addresses are found, or there is no blank line between the header and the body text, or the body text has been omitted completely, the message's status and icon will revert to the empty state to indicate that the message is not ready for sending, and appropriate error message lines will be inserted into the object's title.

If the message is subsequently reopened (e.g. for further editing), the message file status is reset to 'not ready for sending', and the editing cycle restarts.


© 2001 M.C. de Geus
Last updated 20010920