So when I use the built-in ANSI editor and try to simply edit the color of the header font in the message reader file ansimrd.ans, it completely deletes the display variables (Author, To, Subject, etc) and screws up the spacing of the headers. Is there
a trick to editing this file?

Thanks,

Todd

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

So when I use the built-in ANSI editor and try to simply edit the color
of the header font in the message reader file ansimrd.ans, it completely deletes the display variables (Author, To, Subject, etc) and screws up
the spacing of the headers. Is there a trick to editing this file?

That is the old 1900s ANSI style template which are being removed/replaced with an easier to edit format (albeit very slowly lol)

I would say the easiest way is probably to make the ANSI look like how you want it to look and then edit the .ans file in a text editor and add the ! and & codes using [X and [Y location codes to move the cursor to where you want them displayed. You can see an example of how the default ansimrd.ans at the bottom uses the X/Y codes to set the "read" boundaries where the message text would go if you open it in a text editor.

It sounds like the issue you may be having is because you're doing something like this:

From: &1 To: &2

You have to format those codes because the value of &1 and &2 are not always the same size. So for example

You would want to do something like |$R60<pipe>&3 to format the subject to always be 60 characters in length. IE:

From: |$R30<pipe>&1 To $R30<pipe>&2

I've replaced the | with <pipe> there because Mystic by default will allow you to use those message info codes and pipe color codes while reading messages.

You could also just add [X and [Y to locate the cursor where you want the information and then outpuit &1 etc at the bottom of the ANSI which seems easiest for most people.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2020/12/04 (Windows/64)
* Origin: Sector 7 | Mystic WHQ (1:129/215)

On Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 11:20:13 AM UTC-6, g00r00 wrote:

That is the old 1900s ANSI style template which are being removed/replaced with
an easier to edit format (albeit very slowly lol)

I would say the easiest way is probably to make the ANSI look like how you want
it to look and then edit the .ans file in a text editor and add the ! and & codes using [X and [Y location codes to move the cursor to where you want them
displayed. You can see an example of how the default ansimrd.ans at the bottom
uses the X/Y codes to set the "read" boundaries where the message text would go
if you open it in a text editor.

It sounds like the issue you may be having is because you're doing something like this:

From: &1 To: &2

You have to format those codes because the value of &1 and &2 are not always the same size. So for example

You would want to do something like |$R60<pipe>&3 to format the subject to always be 60 characters in length. IE:

From: |$R30<pipe>&1 To $R30<pipe>&2

I've replaced the | with <pipe> there because Mystic by default will allow you
to use those message info codes and pipe color codes while reading messages.

You could also just add [X and [Y to locate the cursor where you want the information and then outpuit &1 etc at the bottom of the ANSI which seems easiest for most people.

Ok, thanks for detailed explanation and the help!

Todd

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

What about the !1, !2, etc in those files. Should those be replaced with &1 and &2?

Todd

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

What about the !1, !2, etc in those files. Should those be replaced
with &1 and &2?

In that file the !1 and !2 determine where the "view" of the message text starts and ends (!1 being the first line and !2 being the last line). So what I would recommend doing is just opening the ANS file in a text editor and using those [X and [Y codes to place the !1 and !2. This is what the default ansimrd.ans does and you can open that up in a text editor to use as a reference.

This format is left over from back in the DOS days and back then we used TheDraw which could do that for you. Now its a bigger pain than it was back then, so I have been moving over to using .ini files. I haven't converted the ANSIMRD over to the .ini format yet but I do still plan to. It'll be much easier to work with then.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2020/12/04 (Windows/64)
* Origin: Sector 7 | Mystic WHQ (1:129/215)