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X11/seyon.help
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NAME
Seyon - X11 Telecommunications Package.
SYNOPSIS
seyon [-option ...] [-toolkit_option ...] [-- -emula-
tor_option ...]
DESCRIPTION
Seyon is a complete full-featured telecommunications pack-
age for the X Window System. Some of its features are:
* Dialing directory that supports an unlimited num-
ber of entries. The directory is fully mouse-driven
and features call progress monitoring, dial time-
out, automatic redial, multi-number dialing, and
circular redial queue. Each item in the dialing
directory can be configured with its own baud rate,
bit mask, and script file. The dialing directory
uses a plain-text phone book that can be edited
from withen Seyon. Seyon also supports manual dial-
ing.
* Terminal emulation window supporting DEC VT02,
Tektronix 4014, and ANSI. Seyon delegates its ter-
minal emulation to xterm, so all the familiar xterm
functions such as the scroll-back buffer, cut-and-
paste utility, and visual bell are availabe through
Seyon's terminal emulation window. Using xterm also
means that Seyon has a more complete emulation of
VT102 than other any Unix or DOS telecommunications
program. Other terminal emulation programs can also
be used with Seyon to suit the user's need; for
example, color xterm can be used to provide emula-
tion for color ANSI (popular on many BBS systems),
and xvt can be used if memory is a bit tight.
* Script language to automate tedious tasks such as
logging into remote hosts. Seyon's script inter-
preter uses plain-text files and has a syntax simi-
lar to that of sh, with a few extra addtions. It
supports many familiar statements such as condi-
tional branching by if-else and looping by goto.
Scripts may be assigned to items in the dialing
directory for automatic execution after a connec-
tion is made.
* Unlimited number of slots for external file
transfer protocols. Protocols are activated from a
mouse-driven transfer console that uses a plain-
text file, editable from withen Seyon, for protocol
configuration. Seyon prompts the user for filenames
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only if the chosen protocol requires filenames or
if the transfer operation is an upload, for which
Seyon also accepts wildcards. Multiple download
directories can be specified for the different
transfer slots.
* Support for Zmodem auto-download. Seyon detects
incoming Zmodem signature and automatically acti-
vates a user-specified zmodem protocol to receive
incoming files. Zmodem transfers can thus be com-
pletely automatic and require no user intervention.
* Translation modes. Seyon can perfrom useful
trasnlations on the user's input. From example,
Seyon can translate backspace to delete (useful on
may Unix systems), newline to carriage return (use-
ful on many BBS hosts), and my favorite, meta key
tranlation: to send keys pressed while the meta
(ALT) key is held down as an escape (ESC) followed
by the key press. The latter mode simulates the
meta key on hosts that do not support 8-bit-clean
connections and makes possible the use of the meta
key in programs like Emacs on such hosts.
* Other features: interactive setting of program
parameters, on-line help, software (XONN/XOFF) and
hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control, session capture to
a file, and temporary running of a local shell in
the terminal emulation window.
Seyon is intended to be both simple and extensively con-
figurable. Almost every aspect of Seyon can be configured
via the resources to suit the user's taste.
OPTIONS
Besides the toolkit options, Seyon recognizes the follow-
ing command-line switches:
-modems <device-list>
Overrides the resource modems. Refer to the
description of that resource below. Unlike the
resource, however, the list here has to be quoted
if it consists of more than one entry.
-emulator <terminal-emulation-program>
Instructs Seyon to use the specified program as the
terminal emulator. If Seyon fails to execute that
program, it will fall back to xterm. If this option
is not given, Seyon will try to use seyon-emu,
which should be a link to your favorite terminal
emulation program. Seyon will fall back to xterm in
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this case as well if it fails to execute seyon-emu.
-- This switch instructs Seyon to pass the rest of the
command-line to the terminal emulation program. All
options following this switch will be passed
blindly to the emulator. This switch cannot be com-
bined with -noemulator.
-nodefargs
Seyon usually invokes the terminal emulation pro-
gram with some options to set the application name
and window and icon titles (those are -name Seyon
-T "Seyon Terminal Emulator" -n Terminal). If this
switch is given, Seyon will not pass those options
to the emulator. This is to accommodate terminal
emulation programs that use a different command-
line syntax than xterm -- like xvt, cmdtool, shell-
tool, ..etc. You can use the '--' switch to pass
your own options to the emulator.
-noemulator
This option is valid only if Seyon is invoked from
withen a terminal emulation program in the fore-
ground of an interactive shell session. If given,
Seyon will not launch a new terminal emulator, but
will use the existing one instead. You cannot use
the '--' switch if this option is given.
-script <script-file>
Causes Seyon to automatically executes the speci-
fied script after the startup script is run. The
specified script file will be looked for according
to the rule mentioned under the description of the
resource scriptDirectory below.
-entries <entries-list>
Overrides the resource defaultPhoneEntries. Refer
to the description of that resource below. Unlike
the resource, however, the list here has to be
quoted if it consists of more than one entry.
-dial, -nodial
Overrides the resource dialAutoStart and sets it to
'on' and If both -dial and -nodial are specified on
the command-line, the override value will be set
according to the last of the two on the command-
line.
RESOURCES
Besides the toolkit resources, Seyon defines the following
proprietry resources:
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autoZmodem (boolean)
Specifies whether Seyon is to look for Zmodem auto-
download signature. If enabled, Seyon will detect
Zmodem signature and execute the action given by
the resource autoZmodemAction (typically to start a
local rz). Otherwise, Zmodem signature will be
ignored. Default value: on
autoZmodemAction (string)
Specifies a simple or compound action that will be
executed when Zmodem auto-download signature is
detected. This action will be executed only if the
resource autoZmodem is enabled (see above). Refer
to the section entitled SeQuickKeys for a descrip-
tion of available actions. Default value: Shell-
Command($rz);
backspaceTranslation (boolean)
Whether to translate user's backspace to delete.
When the remote host is a Unix system, it's better
to set this to on, since many Unix systems are not
happy with backspace. Default value: off
captureFile (string)
The name of capture file. Seyon will write session
captures to this file when capture is enabled. This
file will be placed in Seyon's default directory.
The capture file will not be overwritten by succes-
sive capture sessions. Seyon will merely apped new
capture to its end. Default value: capture
connectString (string)
The modem connect string. This the string response
the modem gives when a connection is made after
dialing. Default value: CONNECT
defaultBits (int)
The default number of bits (character size). Seyon
will set the number of bits to this value on
startup and will use it for items in the dialing
directory for which no such parameter is given.
Valid values are 5, 6, 7, and 8. Default value: 8
defaultBPS (string)
The default baud rate. Seyon will set the baud rate
to this value on startup and will use it for items
in the dialing directory for which no baud rate is
given. Default value: 9600
defaultDirectory (string)
Seyon's default directory. When looking for its
files, Seyon will first try this default directory,
then the current directory. Seyon will also put the
capture file in this directory. Default value:
4
~/.seyon
defaultParity (int)
The default parity. Seyon will set the parity to
this value on startup and will use it for items in
the dialing directory for which no such parameter
is given. Valid values are 0 (no parity), 1 (odd
parity), and 2 (even parity). Default value: 0
defaultPhoneEntries (int array)
This resource specifies a list of numbers corre-
sponding to the order the entries in the dialing
directory appear at. Seyon will highlight (select)
those entries on startup and whenever you click
``Default'' from the dialing directory. This is
useful if there is a set of entries that you most
frequesntly dial that want to be highlghted auto-
matically instead of doing that every time by hand.
You can override this resource by the -entries com-
mand-line switch. Unlike the command-line switch,
however, the list here should not be quoted. Phone-
book entries numbering starts at one. No default
value.
defaultStopBits (int)
The default number of stop bits. Seyon will set the
number of stop bits to this value on startup and
will use it for items in the dialing directory for
which no such parameter is given. Valid values are
1 and 2. Default value: 1
dialAutoStart (boolean)
This resource specifies that Seyon should start
dialing the entries specified by the resource
defaultPhoneEntries (or its override command-line
switch) on startup. Seyon will commence dialing
those entries after executing the startup script
and any script specified at the command line. A
more convenient way of automatic dialing on startup
is to use the override command-line switch -dial,
which overrides this resource and enables. If the
resource is enabled, it can be disabled at the com-
mand line by the override switch -nodial. Refer to
the description of these switches above. Default
value: off
dialCancelString (string)
The string Seyon sends to the modem to cancel dial-
ing while in progress. Default value: ^M
dialDelay (int)
How long in seconds Seyon should wait after no con-
nection is made withen dialTimeOut before ciculat-
ing to the next number. Default value: 10
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dialDirFormat (string)
This is a format string that specifies the layout
of the dialing direcotry. The default is '%-15s
%-15s %6s %1c%1c%1c %1c%1c %s' (no quotes).
Briefly: the fields represent the host name, num-
ber, the baud rate, bits, parity, stop bits,
whether there is a custom prefix, suffix, and the
script name. You can understand more what each
field refers to by comparing with dialing direc-
tory, fields that use the current setting (via the
keyword CURRENT) are designated by a question mark.
Notice that you cannot change the order the items
in the dialing directory appear at, only the for-
mat. For example, if the numbers you call are all
7-digits, your host names are short, you never use
baud rates above 9600, and you like dashes between
the baud rate, bits, parity, and stop bits fields,
then you may prefer to use the format string '%-10s
%-8s %5s-%1c-%1c-%1c %1c%1c %s', which would be
narrower than the default format. Default value:
%-15s %-15s %6s %1c%1c%1c %1c%1c %s
dialPrefix (string)
The string Seyon sends to the modem before the
phone number. To use pulse dialing, set this
resource to .IR ATDP . Default value: ATDT
dialRepeat (int)
How many times Seyon should try dialing a number.
Seyon will give up on dialing a number if no con-
nection is made after this many tries. Default
value: 5
dialSuffix (string)
The string Seyon sends to the modem after the phone
number. This string has to contain a carraige
return or the number will never get sent to the
mode. Default value: ^M
dialTimeOut (int)
How long in seconds Seyon should wait for a connec-
tion to made after dialing is complete. Seyon will
cancel the dialing if no connection is made withen
this period. Default value: 45
exitConfirm (boolean)
Whether Seyon should prompt for hanguping up before
exiting. If off-line and the resource ignore-
ModemDCD is set to 'off', Seyon will not prompt for
hanging up upon exiting even if this resource is
set to Default value: on
funMessages (string array)
The fun messages to be displayed when Seyon has no
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other important information to show. This should be
a list of double-quoted [funny] sentences. Default
value: varies, version-dependent
funMessagesInterval (int)
The temporal interval in seconds between successive
fun messages. Default value: 15
idleGuard (boolean)
If set to on, Seyon will send a string to the
remote host whenever the terminal session is idle
(no keyboard input) for a given amount of time. The
resources idleGuardInterval and idleGuardString
specify the above time interval and the string to
be sent to the remote host when idle. It is useful
to enable this features to keep the session alive
when one is away from the computer for a while
(e.g. to prevent auto-logout). Default value: off
idleGuardInterval (int)
The amount of time in seconds Seyon is to consider
the session idle when there is no keyboard activity
at the terminal for that long. Seyon will send a
string to the remote host every such interval as
long as the session is idle. Default value: 300
idleGuardString (string)
The string to be sent to the remote host when the
session is idle. This string will be sent at a
regular interval as long as the sesiion remains
idle. Note that the current translations will be
used in sending this string; for example, if
backspaceTranslation is enabled, then the default
string <Space><BS> will be sent as <Space><DEL>.
Default value: \s^H (space then backspace)
ignoreModemDCD (boolean)
If this resource is set to 'on', the modem DCD
(Data Carrier Detect) status will be ignored. Some
of the consequences of setting this to 'on' is that
Seyon will always prompt for hangup (if the
resource exitConfirm is set to 'on') even if the
modem DCD status indicates that it is off-line, and
dialing will be attempted even if the modem DCD
status indicates that it is on-line. It is highly
recommended that you keep this set to 'off' unless
your modem does not honor the DCD line. Consult
your modem's manual for more details. Default
value: off
hangupBeforeDial (boolean)
When set to on, Seyon will hangup the line (if con-
nected) before dialing the phone number. Otherwise,
the number will be dialed without hanging up, and
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it is the user's responsibility to ensure that the
line is clear (no connection) when dialing.
Default value: on
hangupConfirm (boolean)
Whether Seyon should ask for confirmation before
hanging up the phone Default value: on
hangupViaDTR (boolean)
When enabled, Seyon will hangup up the modem by
dropping DTR. This is much quicker than hanging up
by sending a Hayes-like hangup string to the modem
and waiting to allow for escape guard time. How-
ever, some modems and serial drivers choke on drop-
ping DTR and others just don't hangup when DTR is
dropped, so in these cases it should be disabled.
If disabled, Seyon will hangup the modem by sending
the string specified by the resource modemAtten-
tionString, followed by that specified by the
resource modemHangupString. Default value: off
metaKeyTranslation (boolean)
Whether to transmit keys pressed while the meta
(ALT) key is held down as an escape (ESC) followed
by the key press. Most hosts do not support 8-bit
sessions, and hence do not recognize the meta key.
Therefore, this translation mode has to be enabled
when connected to such hosts to take advantage of
the meta key in programs that make use of it like
Emacs. Default value: on
modemAttentionString (string)
The string to send to the modem to get its atten-
tion (switch to command mode). This string will be
sent to the modem before the hangup string when
hangupViaDTR is disabled. Default value: +++
modemHangupString (string)
The hangup string to send to the modem when
hangupViaDTR is disabled. Default value: ATH^M
modems (string)
A list of modem devies to use. Seyon will try
modems in this list one after the other until it
finds an available modem or the list is exhausted.
No default value.
modemStatusInterval (int)
This resource controls the amount of time (in sec-
onds) between updates to the modem status toggles
(including the clock). The default is five seconds,
but you can set it to one second (or any other num-
ber) if you want the toggles to be updated more
frequently. Even if you set this to a large number,
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Seyon is intellegent enough to update the toggles
after each connect or hangup. Default value: 5
modemVMin (int)
This resource specifies the minimum number of char-
acters that should be in the buffer before the read
process is satified. The read process will wait
until that number of incoming characters is in the
buffer or 0.1 second has elapsed between the
receiption of two characters before displaying the
data in the buffer. This results in the data being
displayed in chunks and speeds up the terminal dis-
play. The speedup would be most noticeable on slow
machnes with fast modems.
Leave this resource at its default (1) or set it at
a low value (6) if you have a slow modem (e.g.
2400bps). Otherwise you might set it to the maximum
value, which is platform-dependent but generally
255. If you set it to any number greater than the
maximum value, it will be truncated to the maximum
value. Default value: 1
newlineTranslation (string)
When the Enter key is pressed, newline character
(\n) is generated. This resource determines what
to translate this character to. Three modes are
possible: no translation (newline), carriage return
(\r), and carriage return / line feed. Unix systems
usually expect newline or carrage return, DOS sys-
tems expect carraige return or carriage return /
line feed. The three keywords corresponding to the
above modes are nl, cr, and cr/lf. Default value:
cr
noConnectStringX [X = 1-4] (string)
The response strings given by the modem when con-
nection fails. Default values: NO CARRIER, NO
DIALTONE, BUSY, VOICE (respectively)
phonelistFile (string)
The name of the phone list (dialing directory)
file. See the included example to learn how this
file should be formatted. Default value: phonelist
postConnectAction (string)
Specifies a simple or compound action that will be
executed after a connection to a remote host is
made. This action will be executed before running
any script attached to that host in the dialing
directory. All actions here have to be synchronous.
Refer to the section entitled SeQuickKeys below for
a description of available actions. Default value:
Beep();
9
protocolsFile (string)
The name of the protocols file. This file tells
Seyon what file transfer protocols are available.
The user will be promted with a list based on this
file when file transfer is to be initiated.
Default value: protocols
quickKeyX
Refer to the section entitled SeQuickKeys below.
rtsctsFlowControl (boolean)
Whether Seyon should turn on RTS/CTS hardware flow
control. Make sure the modem is set to use this as
well. Default value: off
scriptDirectory (string)
Seyon's script directory. When looking for scripts,
Seyon will first try this script directory, then
the current directory. Default value: defaultDi-
rectory
showFunMessages (boolean)
Whether to display funny messages when Seyon has no
other important information to show. Seyon will
display those messages at an interval specified by
the funMessagesInterval resource when there is no
other important information to convey to the user.
To disable the display of fun messages, this
resource has be set to off. Default value: on
startupAction (string)
Specifies a simple or compound action that will be
executed on startup. This action is executed prior
to running any script (in case the -script switch
is given) or dialing any entry of the dialing
directory (in case the -dial switch is given or the
resource dialAutoStart is enabled). You can make
Seyon open the dialing directory automatically on
startup by using the simple action ``OpenWid-
now(Dial);'' as a constituent of this complex
action stack. Note that running the startup script
is just a special case of this resource. Refer to
the section entitled SeQuickKeys for a description
of available actions. Default value: Run-
Script(startup);
startupFile (string)
Seyon's startup file. Seyon will execute all com-
mands in this file upon startup. This file can have
any commands acceptable as script commands. The
most useful command to put here is the set command,
to set the various communications parameters.
Default value: startup
10
stripHighBit (boolean)
Whether to strip the high (eights) bit from incom-
ing characters. If set to on, the high bit of all
incoming characters will be stripped, which will
make an 8-N-1 setting behave like 7-N-1, even
though eight bits are used for each character.
Default value: off
xonxoffFlowControl (boolean)
Whether Seyon should turn on XON/XOFF software flow
control. Default value: off
SEQUCKKEYS
Seyon allows the user to have custom buttons, called
SeQuickKeys (z quickies), to which actions can be
attached. SeQuickKeys provide a convenient way via which
the user can invoke frequently-used operations by a singe
mouse click. SeQuickKeys are specified through the
resources quickKeyX, where X is an integer corresponding
to the order at which that SeQuickKey is to appear on the
command center. Relevant subparts of that resource are
visible, action, and label. Here is an example:
Seyon*quickKey3.visible: on
Seyon*quickKey3.action: FileTransfer(1,file); Beep();
Seyon*quickKey3.label: Upload
The first line specifies that SeQuickKey3 should be visi-
ble. The second line specifies the action bound to the
SeQuickKey (in this case, a compound action), and the
third line specifies the label for that SeQuickKey's but-
ton. Other subparts can also be specified in a similar
fashion (e.g. background, foreground, ..etc.)
Actions can be either simple or compound. A compound
action consists of a stack of simple actions and can be
used as simple mini-script. Examples:
+o Set(idleGuard,on); DialEntries(Default);
+o Echo("Uploading files..."); Transmit(rz); \
FieTransfer(1,"*.ico $HOME/acct.wks"); Echo(Done);
+o OpenWindow(Dial); DialEntries("2 5 6");
+o Echo("Goodbye.."); Hangup(); Quit();
+o Set(baud,9600); ManualDial("555-5555");
+o Echo("Will upload..."); ShellCommand("$sz *.wks");
+o Set(parity,0); RunScript(login.scr); Echo(Finished);
The following is a list of actions Seyon currently sup-
ports. Asterisks designate asynchronoous actions. Brackets
designate optional arguments.
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Beep();
Rings the bell making a short beep.
CloseWindow(window [,...]);
Closes (dismisses) the given windows. Currenly the
only valid argument to this action is Dial, which
corresponds to the dialing idrectory window. Exam-
ple: CloseWindow(Dial);
DialEntries(entries-list);*
Dials entries in the dialing directory correspond-
ing by order to the given list. Entries will be
dialed as if the user had selected them on the
dialing directory. Entries will be dialed without
opening the dialing directory. You can use the
action ``OpenWindow(Dial);'' and stack the two
actions in a compound action if you want the dial-
ing directory to be opened.
The list must be quoted if it consists of more than
one entry, and entries should be separated by white
space, not commas. If the list consists of just
the word ``Default'', then the entries given by the
resource defaultPhoneEntries will be dialed, refer
to the description of that resource for more
details.
The most common use of this action is attach fre-
quesntly-dialed hosts to SeQuickKeys, making dial-
ing those hosts a one-click operation. If this
action is not the last in a compound action stack,
actions specified by the resource postConnectAction
may not work properly. Examples: DialEntries(2);
DialEntries("2 4 5"); DialEntries(Default);
DivertFile([file]);*
Sends the given file to the remote host as a text
upload. If the optional argument ``file'' is not
specified, Seyon will pop up a dialog box asking
for the file name. In the latter case this action
is similar to clicking Divert from the Misc window.
Examples: DivertFile("/tmp/acct.wks"); Divert-
File();
Echo([string]);
Echos the given string to the terminal. Does not
send it to the modem (use Transmit for that). If
the string consists of more than one word, it must
be quoted. Note that unlike the shell command of
the same name, this command does not accepts the
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switch -n but always appends newline to the string.
If the argument is omitted, an empty line will be
echoed. Examples: Echo(Hello); Echo("Hello there");
Echo();
FileTransfer(entry, [file-list]);*
Executes the transfer protocol corresponding by
order in the trasfer console (protocols file) to
``entry''. If that protocol requires a file name
and file-list is omitted, Seyon will pop up a dia-
log box asking for the file. Otherwise file-list
will be passed to that protocol. The list must be
quotes if it consists of more than one word and
items in it should be separated by white space. It
can contain wild cards and shell variables. Exam-
ples: FileTransfer(1); FileTransfer(2,acct.wks);
FileTransfer(2,"*.wks $HOME/acct.wks");
Hangup();
Disconnects the line. Does not pop up a confirma-
tion box.
IconifyWindow(window [,...]);
Iconifies the given windows. Valid arguments to
this action are Main, Dial, and Term, corresponding
respectively to the command center, dialing direc-
tory, and terminal emulator windows. When the argu-
ment is Term, this action will work only if the
terminal emulator sets the envirenment variable
WINDOWID, like xterm does. Examples: IconifyWin-
dow(Main,Dial,Term); IconifyWindow(Dial);
ManualDial([number]);*
Dials a number as if the Manual button had been
clicked from the dialing directory. If ``number''
is specified, it will be dialed directly and no
dialog box will be popped up asking for the number.
Examples: ManualDial(555-5555); ManualDial();
Message([string]);
Echos the given string to the message box of
Seyon's command center (main window). If the string
consists of more than one word, it must be quoted.
If the argument is omitted, an empty line will be
echoed. Examples: Message(Hello); Message("Hello
there"); Message();
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OpenWindow(window [,...]);
Opens each of the given windows by popping it if
closed or de-iconifying it if in an iconic state.
Valid arguments to this action are Main, Dial, and
Term, corresponding respectively to the command
center, dialing directory, and terminal emulator
windows. When the argument is Term, this action
will work only if the terminal emulator sets the
envirenment variable WINDOWID, like xterm does.
Examples: OpenWindow(Main,Dial,Term); OpenWin-
dow(Dial);
Quit();
Exits Seyon completely and returns to the shell.
Does not pop up a confirmation box.
RunScript([script-name]);*
Executes the script given by the file script-name.
The script will be executed as if the user had
selected it via the Script button. If script-name
is omitted, a dialog box will be popped up asking
for the script name. This is a very versatile
action, as many remote and local commands or series
of commands can be performed by attaching appropri-
ate scripts to SeQuickKeys. Examples: Run-
Script(login.scr); RunScript();
Set(parameter, value);
Sets the specified parameter to the given value.
Can be used to set the various communications
parameters. Available parameters are listed under
the script command ``set''. Examples:
Set(baud,9600); Set(parity,0); Set(idleGuard,off).
ShellCommand(shell-command);*
Executes the given shell command via the user's
shell pointed to by the SHELL environment variable,
or /bin/sh if that environment variable is not set.
Note that the command must be quoted if it consists
of more than one word. If the first non-space let-
ter of the command is the character ``$'', then
standard input and standard output will be redi-
rected to to the modem. This action can be used to
execute any external program from withen Seyon.
Example: ShellCommand(ls); ShellCommand("$cd $HOME;
sz -vv *.wks");
Transmit(string);
Transmits the given string to the remote host. The
14
string must be quoted if it consists of more than
one word. The string is transmitted as is (no case
conversions are performed). No newline character or
carriage return is appended to the string, use the
prefix characters for that (e.g. ^M, ^J). See the
discripttion of the script command ``transmit'' for
more details. Example: Transmit(ls^M); Transmit("ls
-CF^M");
SCRIPT LANGUAGE
Script files can automate some tedious tasks such as log-
ging into a system. A script file is an ascii text file
and may be entered or edited using any standard text edi-
tor.
The script file is read line by line. Empty lines (con-
sisting of white space only) are ignored. Comments are
lines whose first non-space character is a pound sign (#).
The script processor reads each script line, ignoring
leading white space, into words. A word is defined as
either:
+o a sequence of characters delimited by white
space, or
+o a sequence of characters enclosed in single or
double quotes.
The first word of a script file is considered the command
word. If the last character of the command word is a
colon (:), the line is considered to be a label (the
object of a goto statement). Otherwise, it is assumed to
be a script command and is interpreted as such. Command
words are case insensative.
Some commands take one or more arguments. Each argument is
parsed as a single word as defined above. If blanks are
required in an argument, the argument must be quoted using
single or double quotes.
15
Script Command List
Below is the description of all commands that may be used
in the Seyon script language:
capture on|off (currently may not work)
The command capture on will enable capture. All
characters received during waitfor processing will
be appended to the capture file. The command cap-
ture off will close the capture file. This setting
does not currently extend to terminal mode. This
may be offered in a later release.
debug on|off
If the argument is on, all subsequent command lines
processed will be displayed on the local screen.
The exception to this is lines containing a trans-
mit command. These lines will just print TRANS-
MIT..., so that passwords, etc. can be protected.
If the argument is off, scripts will execute qui-
etly (this is the default setting).
dial <number>
Dial the specified number. Seyon supports generic
"Hayes" compatible modems for dialing. Note that
this command requires an actual phone number. The
phonebook is not used for this function.
echo <string>
Echos the given string to the terminal. Does not
send it to the modem (use transmit for that). If
the string contains spaces, it must be quoted. Note
that unlike the shell command of the same name,
this command does not accepts the switch -n but
always appends newline to the string.
exit Terminates the script file prior to the end of
file. Returns to terminal mode.
flush Flushes the modem, i.e. discards data written to
the modem but not transmitted and data received but
not read.
goto <label>
Goes to the specified label in the script file and
continues execution from that point. The label may
either precede or follow the actual goto statement.
A label is any command word whose last character is
16
a colon (:).
hanup Hangups up the line and disconnects from the remote
host.
if, else, endif
Syntax:
if <condition>
<statements>
[else
<statements>]
endif
Conditionally executes statements based on speci-
fied condition. Seyon supports the following condi-
tions:
waitfor: true if the last waitfor command was suc-
cessful.
linked: true if this script was executed from the
dialing directory.
Conditions may be negated using the prefix not or
the character !:
!waitfor: true If the last waitfor command timed
out.
not waitfor: same as !waitfor above
The else and endif keywords must appear on their
own lines. If statements may not be nested.
pause <time>
Suspends execution of the script for the specified
number of seconds. This is usually used for timing
considerations; for example, waiting a couple of
seconds after receiving the connect message and
typing ^C to CompuServe.
purge Reads and discards all data coming from the modem
for the duration of one second.
quit Terminates the script and exits the whole program
(returns to the shell).
17
redial Redials the last number dialed using the dial com-
mand.
send_break
Sends a BREAK signal to te remote host.
set <parameter> <value>
Sets the specified parameter to the given value.
Can be used to set the various communications
parameters for each host. The follwoing is a list
of the set keywords that Seyon recognizes. Keywords
marked with an asterisk set the current parameter
only, not the default one. Refer to the corresponig
resource (in parentheses below) for details of the
function of each keyword.
baud* (defaultBPS)
bits* (defaultBits)
parity* (defaultParity)
stopBits* (defaultStopBits)
stripHighBit (stripHighBit)
newlineTranslation (newlineTranslation)
del (backspaceTranslation)
meta_tr (metaKeyTranslation)
xoff (xonxoffFlowControl)
rtscts (rtsctsFlowControl)
autozm (zmodemAutoDownload)
idleGuard (idleGuard)
Boolean keywords accept on or off as their argu-
ment, other keywords accept the same arguments as
the corresponding resources.
shell <shell-command>
Executes the given shell command via the user's
shell pointed to by the SHELL environment variable,
or /bin/sh if the environment variable SHELL is not
set. Note that the command must be quoted if it
consists of more than one word. If the first non-
space letter of the command is the character '$',
then standard input and standard output will be
redirected to to the modem. This command can be
used to execute any external program from withen
Seyon. Example: shell "cd /usr/dl; rz -vv".
transmit <text>
Transmits the specified text to the remote host.
The text argument should be quoted (using single or
18
double quotes) if there are spaces to be transmit-
ted. The text is transmitted as is (no case conver-
sions are performed).
Prefix characters:
^ is the Control character prefix: the next charac-
ter is made into a control character. For example,
^M is carriage return (0x0D) and ^J is newline
(0x0A).
\ is quote prefix: the next character is transmit-
ted verbatim. For example, \^ would transmit a lit-
eral ^.
tty on|off
This command specifies whether or not characters
received from the modem will be displayed on the
local terminal. Since the only time that the
script processor looks at the receive queue is dur-
ing waitfor processing, the displays may look a bit
erratic. Use the tty off command to disable local
display of received characters during script pro-
cessing.
waitfor <text> [timeout]
Waits for the specified text to appear from the
modem. The text argument should be quoted (using
single or double quotes) if there are spaces to be
transmitted.
Special characters are interpreted the same as for
transmit. If the timeout argument is specified,
Seyon will wait that number of seconds for the
string to appear. If no timeout is given, Seyon
defaults to 30 seconds.
During waitfor processing, characters received (up
to and including the last character found in the
text or in the timeout) can be captured to a disk
file (if capture on is specified), and/or displayed
to the screen (if tty on is specified).
when [<string-to-expect> <string-to-send>]
Sends string-to-send whenever it encounters string-
to-expect while waiting in a waitfor command, what-
ever the number if times string-to-expect is
encountered.
This is is useful if the order of prompts expected
is not known before hand. For example, some BBS
systems (notably PCBoard) change the prompts
19
depeding on the time of call, and a complete script
for such boards cannot be written using waitfor
only.
As many number of when commands as desired can be
specified. A when command with no arguments clears
all outstanding when commands. waitfor commands
take precedence over when commands if they expect
the same string.
A typical use of this command would be:
when "Continue?" "y^M"
when "More?" "n^M"
waitfor "BBS Command?"
when
The above script keeps sending "y^M" to every Con-
tinue?" prompt and "n^M" to every "More?" prompt
until the the string "BBS Command?" is encountered.
The lasy when clears all outstanding when commands.
FILES
The default Seyon files are startup, phonelist, and proto-
cols. These have to be in the current directory, Seyon's
default directory (~/.seyon), or the user's home direc-
tory. The default script directory is Seyon's default
directory. All of these files and directories can be over-
ridden by setting the appropriate resources. See the
description of those resources as well as the description
of the files above.
SEE ALSO
xterm(1), resize(1)
COPYRIGHT
Seyon is Copyright (c) 1992-1993 of Muhammad M. Saggaf.
Seyon is not public domain. Permission is granted to use
and distribute Seyon freely for any use and to sell it at
any price without reference to the copyright owner pro-
vided that in all above cases Seyon is intact and is not
made part of any program either in whole or in part and
that this copyright notice is included with Seyon. Permis-
sion is also granted to modify the source as long as the
modified source is not distributed.
BUGS
The script command 'set port' is not supported in this
release. If the action DialEntries is not the last in a
compound action stack, actions specified by the resource
20
postConnectAction may not work properly.
If Seyon is hung, it can be made to exit cleanly by
killing its main process by signal 15 (SIGTERM) from
another shell. Seyon's main process is the one that has
the lowest PID (Process ID) number. For example, if ps
shows:
1100 p0 S 0:04 seyon -noemulator
1101 p0 S 0:00 seyon -noemulator
1102 p0 S 0:38 seyon -noemulator
Then ``kill -15 1100'' or ``kill 1100'' would cause Seyon
clean up and exit gracefully.
AUTHOR
Muhammad M. Saggaf, alsaggaf@mit.edu. Snail Mail: Muhammad
Saggaf, Box 9863, Dhahran 31311, SAUDI ARABIA. I apologize
that I may not be able to respond to all correspondence I
receive.
xcomm 2.2 was written by Eric Coe and Larry Gensch.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
David Boyce for helpuful suggestions, the Imake file, and
patches for clean build under gcc -Wall; Joaquim Jorge for
the lex/yacc parsing routines contributed by him; and the
many people who sent me patches for various platforms:
Fred Appleman (SVR4), atae@spva.dnet.nasa.gov (Ultrix),
Alain Hebert (SVR3.2), Peter Davies (Sun Sparc), Eric
Schmidt (Apollo), David Sanderson (AIX), Jonathan Bayer
(Sun), Jeff Johnson (SVR4), Glenn Geers (SVR4-Esix), Tony
Vincent-Sun-Vienna (Solaris), Bob Smith (SunOS 3.x and
sgtty interface). (pardon me if I forgot to mention you).
I'm also thankful to all the nice people who sent me sug-
gestions or bug reports.
The MultiList widget used in the dialing directory is
written by the Free Widget Foundation. You can get it and
other FWF widgets by ftp from a.cs.uiuc.edu.
21
=======================================
Seyon Copyright (c) 1992-1993 Muhammad M. Saggaf. Seyon has its
roots in xcomm 2.2.
=======================================
Help: Gives you this help.
Set: Sets the program parameters. Parameters can also be set in the
startup file, in the directory file, and in a script file.
Dial: Takes you to the dialing directory. Double click on an item to
choose it. Clicking once highlights the item(s). Once the dialer
takes over, you can interrupt the dialing or script execution at
any time by pressing 'Cancel'.
Transfer: Takes you to the transfer console. You can double-click on
item to choose it and you will be promted for a file name if the
protocols needs one. Refer to the FAQ for a description of the
format of the protocols file.
Shell: Accepts a command for to be passed to the shell. If the command
starts with '$', stdio will be redirected to the modem. You can
use this to do file transfer as well.
Misc: Takes to some miscelaneous utilities, you can send a break by
choosing 'Break' under this button. You can also refresh
(restart) the terminal process by choosing 'Refresh' from here
this will not restart the terminal window, just the process).
Hangup: Hangs up the modem.
Exit: Exits Seyon.
=======================================
The name of the Seyon directory is '~/.seyon'. The startup file is
'startup'. That of the dialing directory is 'phonelist' and that of
the protocols file is 'protocols'. These have to be in the
current, Seyon, or home directoy. Three examples (startup,
phonelist, and protocols) are included.
=======================================
Send success stories and bug reports to alsaggaf@mit.edu. If you
like Seyon, send me email to that effect. This will give me the
incentive to continue maintaining it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
F R E Q U E N T LY A X E D Q U E S T I O N S
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Johann Miranda for his help in maintainig this FAQ.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warning: Some of the things below are terribly outdated. Tha
manual page, though, is always up-to-date.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: How can I obtain Seyon?
A: Well, the best way is to ftp to one of the following sites:
sipb.mit.edu:/pub/seyon
export.lcs.mit.edu:/contrib
nic.funet.fi
sunsite.unc.edu
The *newes* version of Seyon can be found at sipb.mit.edu. Beta
versions can found at:
sipb.mit.edu:/pub/seyon/new-beta
and context diffs against previous versions at:
sipb.mit.edu:/pub/seyon/new-beta/DIFFS
You may have to hunt around in other sites to find the most recent
release.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: How do I build and install Seyon?
A: Seyon comes with a file called 1-INSTALL, which basically tells you
what you need to do to install it. You should also create a
directory with the name ".seyon" in your home directory. Copy the
files ``startup'', ``phonelist'' and ``startup'' to this directory
(the mak
