
Internet Config Help

                                               version: 1.1
                                               created: 12/27/1995 {11:56:24 am}
                                           last update: 11/26/2003 {06:46:32 PM}


This help files describes the "Internet Config Menu", and also includes
documentation (however outdated) for the IC application/control panel.


	  	Table Of Contents


"# Introduction"
"# Activating the Internet Config menu"
"#   URLs submenu"
"#   Main Internet Config menu"

"# Internet Config User Documentation"
"#   Introduction "
"# Getting Started"
"#   System Requirements"
"#   Quick Start"
"# Parts of the System"
"# Internet Configuration Application Reference"
"# Menus"
"# Windows"
"# Credits"
"# Release Notes"
"# License and Disclaimer"

<<floatNamedMarks>>


	  	Introduction


Internet Config is a freeware utility that holds system-wide Internet
preferences, especially preferences that might be accessed by more than one
application.  For example, Internet Config stores pointers to helpers for web
services, ftp, etc.

Alpha supports Internet Config in the following ways:

¥ Command-clicking on any text causes Alpha to try find a URL anywhere near
  where you click.  If Alpha finds one it sends it to Internet Config which
  passes it to the right helper application.  Unfortunately, this feature is
  rather buggy.  Whenever there is a colon nearby where you click Alpha
  usually thinks there is a URL, although there is not, and sends it to
  Internet Config.  This bug prevents command-double-clicking to work
  properly.

¥ The Internet Config menu allows either Internet Config itself, or several
  of it's internet helpers, to be started.

¥ Alpha can get the helper application for http and ftp from Internet
  Config.  Checking the box 'Synchronize with Internet Config' in the
  preferences dialog "Config > Preferences > Input-OutputPrefs > WWW" will
  make Alpha get the helper for http and ftp from Internet Config every time
  Alpha is launched.

  Preferences: WWW


	  	Activating the Internet Config menu


The menu is activated in the "Config > Preferences > Menus" dialog.  Check
the checkbox 'Internet Config Menu' among the global menus.

Preferences: Menus

	  	 	URLs submenu

The 'URLs' submenu allows you to store a few commonly used URLs and to launch
them, regardless of what helper they are directed to.  You add a URL to the
menu by using 'Add' and specifying a name and the URL.

Some examples:

Alpha's home page                   http://www.kelehers.org/alpha/
Alpha's ftp                         ftp://ftp.ucsd.edu/pub/alpha/
Ftp requiring userid and password   ftp://userid:passwd@some.site.edu/path/
Mail to someone                     mailto:somebody@somewhere.net

"View" opens a window with a list of all URLs in the menu, so you can see how
they are defined.

"Remove" lets you remove a URL from the menu.


	  	 	Main Internet Config menu


	Pick Url            

To pick a URL from the URL submenu.

	Go To               

Launches Internet Config

	Help                

Opens this file

	Web Browser         

Launches the web browser specified as your http helper in Internet Config

	News Client         

Launches the news reader specified as your news helper in Internet Config

	Mail Client         

Launches the mail program specified as your mailto helper in Internet
Config

	Ftp Client          

Launches the ftp client specified as your ftp helper in Internet Config

	Gopher Client       

Launches the gopher client specified as your gopher helper in Internet
Config

	Telnet Client       

Launches the telnet client specified as your telnet helper in Internet
Config

	Finger              

To finger someone using Peter Lewis's 'Finger' program.  Specify who to
finger and the result from Finger will be display in a window in Alpha.

	Telnet              

To open a telnet connection.  This function works with NSCA Telnet, Better
Telnet, and Nifty Telnet.

	Resolve Url         

Sends the selected text to Internet Config trying to resolve the selection
and send it to the appropriate helper.  View Html File

Sends the current window to your web browser.  (This is the same function
as 'Send File to Browser' in the HTML menu.)

Below is the documentation for using the Internet Config application.

	  	
	====================================================================


	  	Internet Config User Documentation


Created by <ic@stairways.com>


	  	 	Introduction

The Internet Configuration System was designed to make your life easier by
reducing the number of times which you need to enter your Internet
preferences into the various preferences windows of all your Internet
applications.

For example, currently you need to enter your email address into many common
Macintosh Internet applications, for example Claris Emailer, NewsWatcher and
Anarchie.  The goal of the system was to get each of these applications to
get this information from one common place and to give you a tool to edit
these common preferences.

It is important to realize that applications will have to be modified to take
advantage of the Internet Configuration System.  It will take some time for
all applications to be revised and until then you will have to enter your
preferences in those applications in the traditional manner.


	  	Getting Started

	  	 	System Requirements

The Internet Configuration system requires System 7 or later, and Component
Manager.

If you've never heard of Component Manager, that's OK. It's installed as part
of System 7.1 and above, and as part of QuickTime.  So chances are that it's
already on your computer.  You can just run IC and it will tell you if you
don't have it installed.

If you do not have System 7 or Component Manager installed, you can not use
this version of IC. IC 1.4 and below do not have these requirement.  You can
FTP old versions of IC from the IC home site.

IC does not require MacTCP or Open Transport, and it makes sense to install it
even if you're not directly connected to the Internet.


	  	 	Quick Start


Run the Internet Config application.  If it asks you whether you want to
install the Internet Config Extension, say that you do.  Click on each button
in the Main window in turn, enter appropriate preferences.  [If you don't
understand an item, turn on Balloon Help or look it up in the reference
section at the end of this document.]  Save and quit.

It is important to realize that you don't have to set every preference.  For
example, if you don't use WAIS, there's no need to set your WAIS Gateway
preference.  The preferences that you most probably want to set (grouped by
window) are:

   ¥ Personal
        o Real Name, eg "Santa Claus"
        o Organization, eg "Happy Holidays, Inc"
        o Signature, to be appended to email and news messages that you
          send.
   ¥ Email
        o Email Address, eg "santa@north-pole.org"
        o Email Account, , eg "santa@pop.north-pole.org"
        o Email Password, the password for the above account
        o SMTP Host, eg "mail.north-pole.org"
   ¥ News
        o NNTP Host, eg "nntp.north-pole.org"
   ¥ WWW
        o Home Page, eg "http://www.north-pole.org/MyHomePage.html"
        o Search Page, eg "www.alta-vista.digital.com"
   ¥ File Transfer
        o Download Folder
   ¥ Helpers
        o Set the "http", "https", and "file" helper to your preferred web
          browser.
        o Set the "ftp" helper to your preferred FTP client.
        o Set the "mailto" helper to your preferred email application.


	  	Parts of the System


The system contains 3 important parts:

   ¥ Internet Config application
   ¥ Internet Config Extension
   ¥ the Internet Preferences preferences file

The most important is the Internet Config application.  When you run this
application it creates and installs the Internet Config Extension (in the
Extensions folder) and creates a default Internet Preferences file (in the
Preferences folder).

For programmers there is a separate distribution that contains all the files
needed to make an Internet Config aware program.


	  	Internet Configuration Application Reference


The Internet Configuration application works much like any other Macintosh
application.  The basic document for the application is an Internet
Preferences preference file.

Unlike most Macintosh applications, when you launch the Internet
Configuration application it does not create a new untitled document. 
Instead it opens the Internet Preferences file in your Preferences folder
(creating it if it isn't there).  This is useful because, unless you're doing
something strange, you need never use the standard document features (New,
Open, Save, etc).  Instead all you need to do is launch the application,
modify your preferences and then quit with saving.


	  	Menus


The following commands are available on the Apple menu:

About Internet Config

This opens the about box.  Do not bother looking for magical Easter Eggs; we
were much too busy to mess with that sort of thing.  You can, however, click
on the blue underlined text to view the latest IC FAQ or mail the Internet
Config support address.

The following commands are available on the File menu:

   ¥ New
   ¥ Open
   ¥ Open Internet Preferences
   ¥ Close
   ¥ Save
   ¥ Save as
   ¥ Quit

These commands work as you would expect in a normal Macintosh application,
with one exception.  The application can only have one preferences file open
at any point in time, so when you open a new preferences file, by Open or New
, the previous one is automatically closed.  The Open Internet Preferences
command opens the default set of Internet Preferences (in your Preferences
folder), which is useful if you accidentally close the window.

The Edit menu is used for editing text.

The Sets menu allows you to create multiple independent sets of preferences
for different users of the computer, or different Internet personalities of
the same user.  The Sets menu contains the following commands:

   ¥ Duplicate
   ¥ Rename
   ¥ Delete

The Duplicate command allows you to create a new set by duplicating the
current set.  The Rename command allows you to give a new name to the current
set.  The Delete command lets you delete the current set.  The remaining items
on the Sets menu allow you to switch between sets.

The Extension menu lets you install the Internet Config Extension in your
Extensions folder.  As IC does this when you first launch it, there is rarely
any point to this.  It also allows you to save a copy of the extension without
installing it.

The Window menu allows you to open or bring to front any of the configuration
windows.

The Help menu (under Mac OS 7.6.1 and earlier, this is on the right side of
the menu bar with a question mark icon) lets you turn on Balloon Help.  The
application has full Balloon Help support.


	  	Windows


The Main window is opened whenever you open a preferences file.  It has 10
buttons (with cutesy colour icons) that let you open the other windows.

The Personal window lets you edit all sorts of preferences related to your
person.  These include:

   ¥ Real Name -- your real name, as used by news and mail
   ¥ Organization -- the company etc that you work for, as used by news
   ¥ Quote String -- the string used to precede quoted text, as used by news
     and mail
   ¥ Signature -- a short piece of pithy text added to the end of your mail
     messages and news posting, as used by news and mail
   ¥ Plan -- as used by finger servers

The Email window lets you edit preferences related to email. These include:

   ¥ Email Address -- address to which you want replies to your mail sent
   ¥ Mail Account -- account from which you wish your mail to be fetched
   ¥ Mail Password -- password for the above
   ¥ Mail Host -- host to which to forward mail (normally the same machine
     as the one that has your mail account)
   ¥ Mail Headers -- any extra headers you want inserted in your outgoing
     mail
   ¥ On New Mail -- a group of preferences that specify what happens when
     new mail arrives

The News window lets you edit preferences related to News. These include:

   ¥ News Username -- most systems let you read news without one
   ¥ News Password -- most systems let you read news without one
   ¥ NNTP Host -- machine from which to fetch news
   ¥ News Headers -- any extra headers you want inserted in your news
     postings

The World Wide Web window lets you edit preferences related to the World
Wide Web. These include:

   ¥ WWW Home Page -- a URL for the page you want your web browser to open
     first
   ¥ WWW Search Page -- a URL for the page you want your web browser to use
     as its search page
   ¥ Colour -- various options to configure the default colours for your web
     pages

The File Transfer window lets you edit preferences related to the transfer of
files (except file types, which have their own window).  These include:

   ¥ Archie Server -- your preferred Archie server
   ¥ Info-Mac Server -- your preferred Info-Mac mirror
   ¥ UMich Server -- your preferred UMich mirror
   ¥ Download Folder -- the place where you want new files to appear

Archie is a protocol for searching archive sites looking for files.  There are
a number of Archie servers around the world.  In theory these should all be
the same but sometimes it's useful to use one in preference to another.

Info-Mac and UMich are two big archives of Macintosh software.  They are often
very busy and won't let you on.  To get around this you can get files from
other machines that mirror these archives.  Some software will use the
preferences here to automatically route requests to your preferred mirror.

The Other Services window is a collection of preferences that didn't fit in
anywhere else.  These include:

   ¥ Ph Host -- your preferred Ph server (a standard machine name)
   ¥ Finger Host -- your default finger server
   ¥ Whois Host -- your default whois server
   ¥ Telnet Host -- the default machine for telnet connections
   ¥ FTP Host -- the default machine for FTP connections
   ¥ Gopher Host -- your 'root' gopher server (a standard machine name)
   ¥ WAIS Gateway -- your WAIS gateway (a standard machine name)
   ¥ LDAP -- Stuff related to X.500, see your X.500 docs for more details

The Fonts window lets you set your preferred List, Screen and Printer font.
The List font is used in summary listings, such as mailbox summaries or FTP
directory listings.  The Screen font is used to display monospaced text, such
as the body of mail or news messages.  The Printer font is used to print
monospaced text.

The File Mappings window lets you view and edit the table that is used to set
the Macintosh file type and creator of incoming files based on their
extension.  If you don't understand this window then please don't worry.
We've done our best to set up appropriate defaults.  If you have any problems
with file transfers, then resetting to factory defaults will probably help.

The Helpers window lets you view and edit the table that is used to determine
which application to run when a specific URL is accessed.  For example, ICeTEe
uses this table to determine what application to run when you command click a
URL.

The Firewalls window lets you configure firewall information.  Most commercial
organizations on the Internet have firewalls that prevent unauthorized access
to the organization's network from outside.  Sometimes these firewalls require
you to specially configure your Internet applications.  Internet Config
maintains a central copy of this special configuration for all applications to
use.


	  	Credits

If you find a bug in Internet Config then please forward details to the
official support address for Internet Config.  Please read the Internet Config
FAQ before sending messages to this address.  If you want to discuss Internet
Config in general then we suggest you host that discussion on the
comp.sys.mac.comm newsgroup.

The Internet Configuration System was written by Quinn "The Eskimo" and Peter
N Lewis over a period of way too many late nights and weekends.  Certain
important chunks of code were contributed by Marcus Jager and Stuart Cheshire.
Craig Richmond provided a lot of help sorting out the default MIME mappings.
Much of the extension to type mapping information was gleaned from Robin D H
Walker's Extension-to-Type mappings file.  Eric Kidd maintains the Internet
Config web site and also gave invaluable insight into the problems of override
components.  John Norstad graciously contributed the resource fork sanity
checking code from his legendary Disinfectant anti-virus utility.

We would like to thank all of those on the Internet Config mailing list and
all of the developers who have adopted the system.

The entire Internet Config system is public domain and can be redistributed
without restriction.

The latest version of Internet Config can be FTPed from the home sites in
Australia and the USA.

	  	Release Notes

This section contains information about the various released versions of
Internet Config, in reverse order:

IC 2.0 (Feb 1998)

   ¥ Internet Config now requires System 7.0 or later, and Component
     Manager.
   ¥ The system now supports multiple separate preferences sets. Multiple
     users can now share the same machine with consummate ease. Existing
     preference files are automatically converted to a new file with a
     single set, "My Settings".
   ¥ User kit now includes a Control Strip module and Location Manager
     module for quickly switching between preference sets.
   ¥ Fixed cosmetic programs under Mac OS 8.0 and later.
   ¥ Added APIs to allow external file systems to access the IC extension
     mapping database.
   ¥ Reworked the programming environment. See the Programming Kit for
     details.
   ¥ Bug fixes and new preference defaults.

IC 1.4 (Mar 1997)

   ¥ The IC application now supports GURL AppleEvents, routing them to the
     appropriate helper application. This eliminates the need for an IC
     scripting addition for this trivial task.
   ¥ If you do not have a specific helper set for "https" and "file" URLs,
     IC will now map them to the "http" helper.
   ¥ The extension now holds the default preferences, so you get default
     preferences regardless of which application first uses IC.
   ¥ The extension now sanity checks preference files before opening them.
     It also keeps a copy of the most recent preferences in the data fork of
     the preference file, so it can revert to that backup. If that fails, it
     reverts to default preferences.
   ¥ You can now copy the IC FAQ URL out of the about box. This feature lets
     me answer IC support mail quicker.
   ¥ Removed "Internet Config RandomSignature" from the distribution --
     while the old version should still work, I don't have time to update
     and test it for this release.
   ¥ Removed "Eudora GURL Handler" from the distribution. The latest version
     of Eudora has support for GURL AppleEvents.
   ¥ Updated and extended the File Mappings database.
   ¥ Pasting into password text fields now works.
   ¥ Fixed a memory leak in the extension when you open a URL with the
     helper application not already running.
   ¥ Fixed a tiny memory leak in the extension when you delete a preference.
   ¥ Fixed a bunch of other minor bugs in the application that I found while
     doing a code review. As far as I know, no one has encountered these
     problems but me.
   ¥ Did extensive work on the internals of the extension and the
     application, cleaning up and commenting the code in preparation for
     large functional changes in the future. Removed Think Pascal from the
     build system.
   ¥ IC 1.3 broke System 6 support but IC 1.4 again supports it.

IC 1.3 (Aug 1996)

   ¥ Fixed a bug where the File Transfer would crash if the preference file
     wasn't originally created by the Internet Config application.
   ¥ Added the Firewalls window. These preferences are used by Cyberdog and
     Fetch, and will hopefully be adopted by many other applications.
   ¥ Added the World Wide Web window. Although it has very few preferences
     at the moment, I expect that to change soon.
   ¥ Added mail notification preferences to the Email window.
   ¥ Improved the error display code.
   ¥ Improved the URL parsing code. IC (and any application that uses it to
     parse URLs) will now recognize URLs surrounded by parentheses, square
     brackets, and quotes.

IC 1.2 (Dec 1995)


   ¥ Added the sort and default buttons in the File Mappings window.
   ¥ Made the about box hot.
   ¥ Switched the documentation to HTML format.
   ¥ Added a bunch of new API routines to support Cyberdog, and any other
     application that wants to act like the Internet Config application.
   ¥ Added the ICFindPrefHandle routine, which supplants ICGetPrefHandle and
     provides better semantics.

IC 1.1 (May 1995)

   ¥ This version was released to correct a number of minor problems with
     1.0, including the System 6 support and the popup menu CDEF crashing
     with lots of fonts installed.
   ¥ Added the List Font preference.
   ¥ Shipped with ICeTEe and Internet Config RandomSignature in the Goodies
     folder.
   ¥ Added API routines to support parsing and launching URLs.
   ¥ Added API routines to support the file type mapping preference.

IC 1.0 (Dec 1994)

   ¥ The first released version.


	------------------------------------------------------------------------


	  	License and Disclaimer


This document is Public Domain (really, we mean it!). No Rights Reserved

Comments: <ic@stairways.com>

