MH-DRAFT(5)                                           MH-DRAFT(5)

NAME
       mh-draft - draft folder facility for nmh message system

SYNOPSIS
       any nmh command

DESCRIPTION
       There  are a number of interesting advanced facilities for
       the composition of outgoing mail.

       The comp, dist, forw, and repl  commands  have  two  addi-
       tional      switches,      `-draftfolder +folder'      and
       `-draftmessage msg' which allow you to manipulate the var-
       ious draft messages you are composing.

       If  `-draftfolder +folder'  is  used,  these  commands are
       directed to construct a draft  message  in  the  indicated
       folder.  (The "Draft-Folder:" profile entry may be used to
       declare a default draft folder for use  with  comp,  dist,
       forw, and repl).

       If  the  swith `-draftmessage msg' is given, the specified
       draft   is   used   to   compose    the    message.     If
       `-draftmessage msg'  is  not used, then the draft defaults
       to `new' (create a new draft) unless the user invokes comp
       with `-use', in which case the default is `cur'.

       Hence,  the  user may have several message compositions in
       progress simultaneously.  Now, all of the  nmh  tools  are
       available  on  each  of  the  user's message drafts (e.g.,
       show, scan, pick, and so on).   If  the  folder  does  not
       exist,  the  user  is  asked if it should be created (just
       like with refile).  Also, the last draft message the  user
       was composing is known as `cur' in the draft folder.

       Furthermore,  the send command has these switches as well.
       Hence, from the shell, the  user  can  send  off  whatever
       drafts  desired  using  the standard nmh `msgs' convention
       with `-draftmessage msgs'.  If no  `msgs'  are  given,  it
       defaults to `cur'.

       In  addition,  all  five  programs have a `-nodraftfolder'
       switch,   which   undoes   the    last    occurrence    of
       `-draftfolder folder'  (useful if the latter occurs in the
       user's nmh profile).

       If the  user  does  not  give  the  `-draftfolder +folder'
       switch,  then  all  these commands act ``normally''.  Note
       that the `-draft' switch to send and show still refers  to
       the  file  called `draft' in the user's nmh directory.  In
       the interests of economy of expression, when using comp or
       send,  the  user  needn't prefix the draft `msg' or `msgs'
       with `-draftmessage'.  Both of  these  commands  accept  a
       `file'  or  `files'  argument,  and  they  will,  if given
       `-draftfolder +folder' treat these arguments as  `msg'  or
       `msgs'.   (This  may  appear to be inconsistent, at first,
       but it saves a lot of typing) Hence,

            send -draftf +drafts first

       is the same as

            send -draftf +drafts -draftm first

       To make all this a bit more clear, here are some examples.
       Let's  assume  that  the  following entries are in the nmh
       profile:

            Draft-Folder: +drafts
            sendf: -draftfolder +drafts

       Furthermore, let's assume that  the  program  sendf  is  a
       (symbolic)  link  in  the  user's  $HOME/bin/ directory to
       send.  Then, any of the commands

            comp
            dist
            forw
            repl

       constructs the message draft in the `draft'  folder  using
       the  `new'  message number.  Furthermore, they each define
       `cur' in this folder to be that  message  draft.   If  the
       user  were  to  use  the quit option at `What now?' level,
       then later on, if no other draft composition was done, the
       draft could be sent with simply

            sendf

       Or,  if  more  editing  was  required,  the draft could be
       edited with

            comp -use

       Instead, if other drafts had been composed  in  the  mean-
       time,  so  that  this message draft was no longer known as
       `cur' in the `draft' folder, then the user could scan  the
       folder  to see which message draft in the folder should be
       used for editing or  sending.   Clever  users  could  even
       employ a back-quoted pick to do the work:

            comp -use `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`

       or

            sendf `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`

       Note  that  in the comp example, the output from pick must
       resolve to a single message draft (it makes  no  sense  to
       talk  about  composing two or more drafts with one invoca-
       tion of comp).  In contrast, in the send example, as  many
       message  drafts  as desired can appear, since send doesn't
       mind sending more than one draft at a time.

       Note  that  the  argument  `-draftfolder +folder'  is  not
       included  in  the profile entry for send, since when comp,
       et. al., invoke send directly, they supply send  with  the
       UNIX   pathname   of   the   message   draft,  and  not  a
       `draftmessage msg' argument.  As far as send is concerned,
       a draft folder is not being used.

       It  is  important  to  realize  that  nmh treats the draft
       folder like a standard nmh folder in nearly all  respects.
       There are two exceptions:

       First,      under     no     circumstancs     will     the
       `-draftfolder folder' switch cause  the  named  folder  to
       become the current folder.

       Obviously,  if  the  folder  appeared  in the context of a
       standard `+folder' argument to an nmh program, as in

            scan +drafts

       it might become the current folder, depending on the  con-
       text changes of the nmh program in question.

       Second,  although  conceptually  send  deletes  the `msgs'
       named in the draft folder, it does not call  `delete-prog'
       to perform the deletion.

       When  the  comp, dist, forw, and repl commands are invoked
       and the draft you indicated already exists, these programs
       will prompt the user for a reponse directing the program's
       action.  The prompt is

            Draft   ``/home/foobar/nmhbox/draft''   exists    (xx
       bytes).
            Disposition?

       The appropriate responses and their meanings are:

       ^replace - deletes the draft and starts afresh
       ^list - lists the draft
       ^refile - files the draft into a folder and starts afresh
       ^quit - leaves the draft intact and exits

       In addition, if you specified `-draftfolder folder' to the
       command, then one other response will be accepted:

       ^new - finds a new draft,

       just as if `-draftmessage new' had been  given.   Finally,
       the comp command will accept one more response:

       ^use - re-uses the draft

       just as if `-use' had been given.  None

[nmh-0.27]                    MH.6.8                            1