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   1 .TH MH-DRAFT %manext5% "November 6, 2012" "%nmhversion%"
   2 .\"
   3 .\" %nmhwarning%
   4 .\"
   5 .SH NAME
   6 mh-draft \- draft folder facility for nmh message system
   7 .SH DESCRIPTION
   8 There are a number of interesting advanced facilities for the composition of
   9 outgoing mail.
  10 .PP
  11 .SS "The Draft Folder"
  12 The
  13 .BR comp ,
  14 .BR dist ,
  15 .BR forw ,
  16 .BR repl ,
  17 and
  18 .B whom
  19 commands have two additional switches,
  20 .B \-draftfolder
  21 .I +folder
  22 and
  23 .B \-draftmessage
  24 .I msg
  25 which allow you to manipulate the various draft messages you are composing.
  26 .PP
  27 If
  28 .B \-draftfolder
  29 .I +folder
  30 is used, these commands are
  31 directed to construct a draft message in the indicated folder.
  32 (The
  33 .RI \*(lq Draft\-Folder \*(rq
  34 profile entry may be used to declare a default draft folder for use with
  35 .BR comp ,
  36 .BR dist ,
  37 .BR forw ,
  38 .BR repl ,
  39 and
  40 .B whom ).
  41 .PP
  42 If the switch
  43 .B \-draftmessage
  44 .I msg
  45 is given, the specified draft is used to compose the message.  If
  46 .B \-draftmessage
  47 .I msg
  48 is not used, then the
  49 draft defaults to `new' (create a new draft) unless the user invokes
  50 .B comp
  51 with
  52 .BR \-use ,
  53 in which case the default is `cur'.
  54 .PP
  55 Hence, the user may have several message compositions in progress
  56 simultaneously.  Now, all of the
  57 .B nmh
  58 tools are available on each of the user's message drafts (e.g.
  59 .BR show ,
  60 .BR scan ,
  61 .BR pick ,
  62 and so on).  If the folder does not exist, the user is asked if it should be
  63 created (just like with
  64 .BR refile ).
  65 Also, the last draft message
  66 the user was composing is known as `cur' in the draft folder.
  67 .PP
  68 Furthermore, the
  69 .B send
  70 command has these switches as well.  Hence,
  71 from the shell, the user can send off whatever drafts desired using the
  72 standard
  73 .B nmh
  74 `msgs' convention with
  75 .B \-draftmessage
  76 .IR msgs .
  77 If no `msgs' are given, it defaults to `cur'.
  78 .PP
  79 In addition, all five programs have a
  80 .B \-nodraftfolder
  81 switch, which undoes the last occurrence of
  82 .B \-draftfolder
  83 .I folder
  84 (useful if the latter occurs in the user's
  85 .B nmh
  86 profile).
  87 .PP
  88 If the user does not give the
  89 .B \-draftfolder
  90 .I +folder
  91 switch, then all these commands act \*(lqnormally\*(rq.  Note that the
  92 .B \-draft
  93 switch to
  94 .B send
  95 and
  96 .B show
  97 still refers to the file called `draft' in the user's
  98 .B nmh
  99 directory.  In the interests of economy of expression, when using
 100 .B comp
 101 or
 102 .BR send ,
 103 the user needn't prefix the draft `msg' or `msgs' with
 104 .BR \-draftmessage .
 105 Both of these
 106 commands accept a `file' or `files' argument, and they will, if given
 107 .B \-draftfolder
 108 .I +folder
 109 treat these arguments as `msg' or `msgs'. (This may appear to be
 110 inconsistent, at first, but it saves a lot of typing) Hence,
 111 .PP
 112 .RS
 113 .nf
 114 send -draftfolder +drafts first
 115 .fi
 116 .RE
 117 .PP
 118 is the same as
 119 .PP
 120 .RS
 121 .nf
 122 send -draftfolder +drafts -draftmessage first
 123 .fi
 124 .RE
 125 .PP
 126 To make all this a bit more clear, here are some examples.  Let's assume
 127 that the following entries are in the
 128 .B nmh
 129 profile:
 130 .PP
 131 .RS 5
 132 .nf
 133 Draft\-Folder: +drafts
 134 sendf: \-draftfolder +drafts
 135 .fi
 136 .RE
 137 .PP
 138 Furthermore, let's assume that the program
 139 .B sendf
 140 is a (symbolic) link in the user's
 141 .I $HOME/bin/
 142 directory to
 143 .BR send .
 144 Then, any of the commands
 145 .PP
 146 .RS 5
 147 .nf
 148 comp
 149 dist
 150 forw
 151 repl
 152 .fi
 153 .RE
 154 .PP
 155 constructs the message draft in the `draft' folder using the `new'
 156 message number.  Furthermore, they each define `cur' in this folder to
 157 be that message draft.  If the user were to use the
 158 .B quit
 159 option at `What now?' level, then later on, if no other draft composition
 160 was done, the draft could be sent with simply
 161 .PP
 162 .RS 5
 163 .nf
 164 sendf
 165 .fi
 166 .RE
 167 .PP
 168 Or, if more editing was required, the draft could be edited with
 169 .PP
 170 .RS 5
 171 .nf
 172 comp -use
 173 .fi
 174 .RE
 175 .PP
 176 Instead, if other drafts had been composed in the meantime, so that this
 177 message draft was no longer known as `cur' in the `draft' folder, then
 178 the user could
 179 .B scan
 180 the folder to see which message draft in the
 181 folder should be used for editing or sending.  Clever users could even
 182 employ a backquoted
 183 .B pick
 184 to do the work:
 185 .PP
 186 .RS 5
 187 .nf
 188 comp -use `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`
 189 .fi
 190 .RE
 191 .PP
 192 or
 193 .PP
 194 .RS 5
 195 .nf
 196 sendf `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`
 197 .fi
 198 .RE
 199 .PP
 200 Note that in the
 201 .B comp
 202 example, the output from
 203 .B pick
 204 must resolve to a single message draft (it makes no sense to talk about
 205 composing two or more drafts with one invocation of
 206 .BR comp ).
 207 In contrast, in the
 208 .B send
 209 example, as many message drafts as desired can appear, since
 210 .B send
 211 doesn't mind sending more than one draft at a time.
 212 .PP
 213 Note that the argument
 214 .B \-draftfolder
 215 .I +folder
 216 is not included in the profile entry for
 217 .BR send ,
 218 since when
 219 .BR comp ,
 220 et. al., invoke
 221 .B send
 222 directly, they supply
 223 .B send
 224 with the UNIX pathname of the message draft, and
 225 .B not
 226 a
 227 .B \-draftmessage
 228 .I msg
 229 argument. As far as
 230 .B send
 231 is concerned, a draft folder is not being used.
 232 .PP
 233 It is important to realize that
 234 .B nmh
 235 treats the draft folder like a standard
 236 .B nmh
 237 folder in nearly all respects.  There are two exceptions:
 238 .PP
 239 First, under no circumstancs will the
 240 .B \-draftfolder
 241 .I folder
 242 switch cause the named folder to become the current folder.
 243 .PP
 244 Obviously, if the folder appeared in the context of a standard
 245 .I +folder
 246 argument to an
 247 .B nmh
 248 program, as in
 249 .PP
 250 .RS 5
 251 .nf
 252 scan +drafts
 253 .fi
 254 .RE
 255 .PP
 256 it might become the current folder, depending on the context changes of the
 257 .B nmh
 258 program in question.
 259 .PP
 260 Second, although conceptually
 261 .B send
 262 deletes the `msgs' named in the draft folder, it does not call
 263 .I delete\-prog
 264 to perform the deletion.
 265 .SS "What Happens if the Draft Exists"
 266 When the
 267 .BR comp ,
 268 .BR dist ,
 269 .BR forw ,
 270 and
 271 .B repl
 272 commands
 273 are invoked and the draft you indicated already exists, these programs
 274 will prompt the user for a reponse directing the program's action.
 275 The prompt is
 276 .PP
 277 .RS 5
 278 .nf
 279 Draft ``/home/foobar/nmhbox/draft'' exists (xx bytes).
 280 Disposition?
 281 .fi
 282 .RE
 283 .PP
 284 The appropriate responses and their meanings are:
 285 .PP
 286 .RS 5
 287 .fc ^ ~
 288 .nf
 289 .ta \w'replace 'u
 290 .BR ^replace~^ "- deletes the draft and starts afresh"
 291 .BR ^list~^ "- lists the draft"
 292 .BR ^refile~^ "- files the draft into a folder and starts afresh"
 293 .BR ^quit~^ "- leaves the draft intact and exits"
 294 .fi
 295 .RE
 296 .PP
 297 In addition, if you specified
 298 .B \-draftfolder
 299 .I folder
 300 to the command, then one other response will be accepted:
 301 .PP
 302 .RS 5
 303 .fc ^ ~
 304 .nf
 305 .ta \w'replace 'u
 306 .BR ^new~^ "- finds a new draft"
 307 .fi
 308 .RE
 309 .PP
 310 just as if
 311 .B \-draftmessage
 312 .I new
 313 had been given.
 314 Finally, the
 315 .B comp
 316 command will accept one more response:
 317 .PP
 318 .RS 5
 319 .fc ^ ~
 320 .nf
 321 .ta \w'replace 'u
 322 .BR ^use~^ "- re-uses the draft"
 323 .fi
 324 .RE
 325 .PP
 326 just as if
 327 .B \-use
 328 had been given.
 329 .SH CONTEXT
 330 None