Email installation for Windows

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Here are notes on some cloud email servers that you may have to connect with.

Email user instructions and configurations

All of our email user instructions and configurations are at this link.

mvmail installation

Copy these 3 files from the MVS machine to the windows machine.

/u/mvs/win32/bin/mvmail.exe, mvmail_bdy.txt, mvmail_trl.txt

mvmail is MV Software source code and is in /u/mvs/win32/au_source/vbprojects/mvmail.  It is launched from the system printer spool command.  It uses blat.exe to format and send the email.

The system printer command string should execute mvmail  (without the .exe extension) so the same printer command and arguments will work for both unix or windows.

mvmail_bdy.txt and mvmail_trl.txt  are sequential files containing the default body and trailer of email messages.

Site.ini file maintenance

S/M task 32/22/1 "S/M General"

INI'SMTP'SERVER=                ; don't use this anymore
INI'SMTP'PORT=                  ; don't use this anuymore
INI'SMTP'RULES=                 ; each position means something different.
;              1234567890
; Position 1:  smtp username includes @domain suffix, Y/N.  blank=Y
;              Only used when users must authenticate their own emails.
;              As of 6/14/11 this only microsoftonline.com and gmail.com
;
; Position 2:  Y/N When changing email password, user must enter old password.
;                  blank=N
;
; Position 3:  Y/N include a -f blat argument to name the from address as the
;                  smtp authentication user (requires password)
;                  Default is Y
;
; Position 4:  Y/N Show company name in "from" address.  Default is N
;
INI'EMAIL'DELAY=        ; # of seconds between each batch email
;                       ; blank = no delay

INI'BLAT'OPT=           ; alternate blat_opt.txt by company
                        ; no path. Must be in win32/bin folder

Install blat email client

Blat is a freeware email client used to send outgoing emails only.  See Website: www.blat.net for documentation.

Blat is launched from the command line by Profits Plus mvmail.
 

12/16/2010 - Neil. The hosted (cloud) computer server will need multiple blat clients (one for each customer) and you can't use the instructions below.  Use this link for the hosted computer.

5/17/2010 - Neil. If the customer has no email server then gmail can be used for a server.  But you'll need to follow these instructions for stunnel used with Blat, instead of the instructions below. Gmail requires an SSL layer that Blat doesn't have.

But if SSL is not required, then the instructions below will suffice.

blat installation:
1. Copy the following files from mvs:MVS_ROOT\win32\bin to the same directory on the customer's server.

blat.exe
blat_install.bat
blat_opt.txt
blat_opt_dbg.txt     (used to replace blat_opt.txt only when debugging)
blat_readme.txt
mvmail_bdy.txt
mvmail_trl.txt

2. Edit the customer's MVS_ROOT\win32\bin\blat_opt.txt and blat_opt_dbg.txt files
 

change the -server argument to the mail server name
change the -u argument to the SMTP authentication user name
change the -pw argument to the SMTP authentication password

attention:  see this link for special cases for SMTP authentication
 

3. Edit the customer's MVS_ROOT\win32\bin\blat_install.bat file.
 

change the -server argument to the mail server name
change the -f argument to a default "from" email address
 

4. From a dos prompt, run the MVS_ROOT\win32\bin\blat_install.bat file
 

PCL2PDF installation

Follow these instructions for installing pcl2pdf.

Update menus

The windows mvmail.exe program gets its default email message from two files in %MVS_ROOT%\win32\bin.  The main body of the message is in mvmail_bdy.txt and the trailer message is in mvmail_trl.txt.

Add Software maintenance task #31. Email maintenance to the %MVS_ROOT%\dsk0\100000\menu??.ctl  files so they will be able to edit the mvmail_???.txt files. 

------------ menu??.ctl files --------------

STKLST 00 Program stack inquiry
UNUSED
EMMENU 02 Email maintenance    <------- replace the UNUSED line with this line

And make sure they have the current version of the following files  from the MVS machine /u/mvs/dsk2/100000 directory.

emlsel.ctl
emmenu.run

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The rest of this page is general information about blat and is not necessarily related to installation.

blat information

command line arguments

MVS_ROOT\win32\bin\blat_opt.txt is part of the blat command line that you can edit.
We use it to turn debugging on/off.

-server = the mail server name or IP address.
-port   = the port number for the server (default is 25)
-u      = SMTP authentication user name
-pw     = SMTP authentication password
-try    = number of retries to send before giving up.
-q      = quite mode (doesn't display much)
-debug  = log the conversation with the server in a log text file.
-log    = the path/name of the log file when -debug is used.
-ti nnn = timeout in seconds for blat to wait for email server responses
-bcc    = blind copy email address
-cc     = carbon copy email address
-organization = company name

an example blat_opt.txt looks like this:
(even though the example below is on 2 lines, the real file must be just one line)

-server smtpout.secureserver.net -port 80 -u support@mvsoftware.com -pw support1
-try 2 -q -debug -log C:\u\mvs\dsk0\100001\trash\blatlog.txt

Just an FYI: mvmail.exe in the system printer command will take the following arguments to implement
certain blat.exe features for a specific printer.

-b = background mode (no prompts)
-e = silent errors, never stop or prompt, even for errors
-g = blind copy email address
-o = an alternate filename for blat_opt.txt (no path, must be in win32/bin)
     use this to point to a different email server for certain printers
-r = return receipt requested
 

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Default text for messages

We create the default text for the email message by merging two files
in the MVS_ROOT\win32\bin directory:

mvmail_bdy.txt
mvmail_trl.txt

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Where are the work files?

Blat temporary files are created in MVS_ROOT\dsk0\100001\trash regardless of the actual
company number currently being used.

File            comment                      Function
-------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------------------------
blat.xx.bat    where xx is the job number   created by mvmail.exe to launch blat
blatlog.txt                                 the debug log file when -debug option used
blat_subj.xx   where xx is the job number   The email subject text
mvbody.xx      where xx is the job number   The final message body for the email
 

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