XMAILBOX(1)
NAME
xmailbox - mailbox checker for X using XPM icons
SYNOPSIS
xmailbox [-toolkitoption ...] [-option ...]
DESCRIPTION
The xmailbox program displays, by default, an image of a
mailbox. When there is no mail, the image shown is that
of a mailbox with its flag down. When new mail arrives,
the image changes to that of a mailbox with the flag up,
its door open and a letter visible inside. It can also
optionally play a sound through the SUN workstation's
internal speaker or a PC equipped with a sound-card run-
ning Linux. The NCD audio server, the rplay sound pack-
age, the standard SUN audio driver, Linux and FreeBSD Sun-
compatible audio drivers, and an external sound player
program are supported. By default, pressing any mouse
button in the image forces xmailbox to remember the cur-
rent size of the mail file as being the ``empty'' size and
to change its image accordingly. In addition, the user
can optionally invoke his/her favorite mail retrieving
program.
This program is nothing more than a wrapper around the
Mailbox widget included with the program's source distri-
bution.
OPTIONS
xmailbox accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command
line options along with the additional options listed
below:
-help This option indicates that a brief summary of the
allowed options should be printed on the standard
error.
-update seconds
This option specifies the frequency in seconds at
which xmailbox should update its display. If the
mailbox is obscured and then exposed, it will be
updated immediately. The default is 30 seconds.
-file filename
This option specifies the name of the file which
should be monitored. By default, it watches
/usr/spool/mail/username, where username is your
login name.
-volume percentage
This option specifies how loud the bell should be
rung when new mail comes in, or, if the sound
option is used, how high the playing volume should
be. The default is 33 percent.
The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments
are commonly used with xmailbox:
-display display
This option specifies the X server to contact.
-xrm resourcestring
This option specifies a resource string to be
used. This is especially useful for setting
resources that do not have separate command line
options.
X DEFAULTS
The application class name is XMailbox. This program uses
the Mailbox widget. It understands all of the core
resource names and classes as well as:
checkCommand (class CheckCommand)
Specifies a shell command to be executed to check
for new mail rather than examining the size of
file. The specified string value is used as the
argument to a system(3) call and may therefore
contain i/o redirection. An exit status of 0
indicates that new mail is waiting, 1 indicates
that there has been no change in size, and 2 indi-
cates that the mail has been cleared. By default,
no shell command is provided.
file (class File)
Specifies the name of the file to monitor. The
default is to watch /usr/spool/mail/username,
where username is your login name.
onceOnly (class Boolean)
Specifies that the bell is only rung the first
time new mail is found and is not rung again until
at least one interval has passed with no mail
waiting. The window will continue to indicate the
presence of new mail until it has been retrieved.
The default is false.
update (class Interval)
Specifies the frequency in seconds at which the
mail should be checked. The default is 30.
volume (class Volume)
Specifies how loud the bell should be rung, or, if
the sound option is used, how high the playing
volume should be. The default is 33 percent.
mailXpmFile (class MailXpmFile)
Specifies the XPM file used when mail exists in
the mailbox.
nomailXpmFile (class NomailXpmFile)
Specifies the XPM file used when there is no mail
(or no new mail) in the mailbox.
mailSndFile (class MailSndFile)
Specifies the sound file used when mail exists in
the mailbox. If no file is specified, the standard
X Window beep sound is used.
mailSndComm (class MailSndComm)
Specifies an external sound player program to exe-
cute when new mail exists in the mailbox. You can
use "%s" in the command to include the sound file
defined in mailSndFile. In the following example,
"%s" will be replaced by "/usr/lib/sounds/ugot-
mail.au" when xmailbox executes.
xmailbox*mailSndFile: /usr/lib/sounds/ugotmail.au
xmailbox*mailSndComm: /usr/bin/play %s
mailapp (class MailApp)
Specifies the mail retrieving application to run
when the user clicks on the mailbox image. The
specified string value is used as the argument to
a system(3) call.
mailNumOfXpmFile (class MailNumOfXpmFile)
Specifies the number of Xpm files to be used for
animation. The range of values can be between 1
and 8. The default value is 1 = no animation.
See ANIMATION section below for details.
mailAnimUpdate (class MailAnimUpdate)
Specifies the interval of displaying a series of
Xpm icons in milliseconds. The default is 1000
milliseconds or 1 second. See ANIMATION section
below for details.
mailAnimOnce (class MailAnimOnce)
Specifies the whether the XPM icon animation
sequence is repeated continuously or only once.
The default is "false", that is, repeat until the
user clicks on the icon.
ACTIONS
The Mailbox widget provides the following actions
for use in event translations:
check() This action causes the widget to check for new
mail and display the flag appropriately.
ack() This action causes the widget to lower the flag
until new mail comes in.
unset() This action causes the widget to lower the flag
until new mail comes in, and to start any mail-
reading application defined via the mailapp
resource.
set() This action causes the widget to raise the flag
until the user resets it.
The default translation is
<ButtonPress>(2): unset()
<ButtonPress>: ack()
i.e. with a double click you lower the flag and start your
mail-reading application, while with a single click you
only acknowledge the mail in your mailbox, lowering the
flag.
ANIMATION
xmailbox has built-in support for eye-catching animation
when new mail comes in, in addition to the optional sound
support. Animation can be achieved by displaying a
sequence of XPM icons with slight differences in each
icon. The interval of displaying different icons is con-
trolled by mailAnimUpdate measured in milliseconds. Val-
ues between 500 and 1000 seems to provide smooth anima-
tion. However, you should experiment with this parameter
on your system.
In order to use this feature, you have to create a series
of XPM icons with a base name such as "xmail.xpm" in a
directory such as "/usr/X11/lib/icons/pixmap". Now, for
each XPM icon created, prepend a number before the base
name starting from 0. For example, you've created
"0xmail.xpm", "1xmail.xpm", "2xmail.xpm", and
"3xmail.xpm". Now, set the mailNumOfXpmFile entry to a
value of "4" since there are four XPM icons created.
Finally, set the mailXpmFile entry to
"/usr/X11/lib/icons/pixmap/xmail.xpm". Note that
"xmail.xpm" does not have any numbers prepended. When you
start xmailbox and a new mail comes in, xmailbox will show
the icons "0xmail.xpm", ..., "3xmail.xpm", "0xmail.xpm",
..., "3xmail.xpm", ... in that sequence until you've
pressed the icon.
Note: If you do not specify mailXpmFile but set a value
other than 1 to mailNumOfXpmFile, xmailbox will toggle
between the internal "mail" and "nomail" icons.
ENVIRONMENT
DISPLAY to get the default host and display number.
XENVIRONMENT
to get the name of a resource file that overrides
the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MAN-
AGER property.
SEE ALSO
X(1) xrdb(1)
AUTHORS
Dimitrios P. Bouras dbouras@hol.gr
The first version of xmailbox was a hack based on the
X11R5 XBiff written by Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium, and
Ralph Swick, DEC/MIT Project Athena.
William K. W. Cheung wcheung@mail.spiralcomm.com
Added optional sound output using the standard SUN audio
driver, Linux's Sun-compatible audio driver, the rplay
sound package, or the NCD audio server, as well as
optional mail application execution upon clicking on the
mail icon. Added the capability to show a series of XPM
icons when new mail arrives.
CONTRIBUTORS
Brian Clapper bmc@telebase.com
Added extra compiling options to allow sound support under
FreeBSD 2.0.5 and 2.1.
Laurent Martin martin@@isia.cma.fr
Added the capability to use an external sound player
application to play a sound when new mail arrives.
COPYRIGHT
Xbiff is Copyright 1988, X Consortium. See X(1) for a
full statement of rights and permissions.