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Conference iosg::all-in-1_v30

Title:*OLD* ALL-IN-1 (tm) Support Conference
Notice:Closed - See Note 4331.l to move to IOSG::ALL-IN-1
Moderator:IOSG::PYE
Created:Thu Jan 30 1992
Last Modified:Tue Jan 23 1996
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:4343
Total number of notes:18308

3543.0. "Questions on PENDING.DAT" by ZPOVC::JONAHLIM (March on a healthy life...!!!) Wed Nov 17 1993 07:51

Hi,

I need to know how does PENDING.DAT being updated when an user receives a mail.

I have tried out by sending a mail to an user, the user's DOCDB.DAT gets 
updated immediately. I could not find any entry for that mail I have sent in 
PENDING.DAT. But when a mail being send out using SUBSCRIBER for example, I can 
find the entry inside PENDING.DAT.

I have users received a notification of new mail in their ALL-IN-1, but when 
they entered into the system to check, no mail was found. Why? The mail 
destination is definitely ALL-IN-1. 

Does each user correspond to one and only one record in PENDING.DAT. What about 
more than one record found in PENDING.DAT?

Your help is much appreciated.

NB: ALL-IN-1 is V2.4 patched.


Regards,

Jonah :-)
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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3543.1IOSG::MAURICEDifferently hirsuteWed Nov 17 1993 09:0123
    Hi,
    
> I have tried out by sending a mail to an user, the user's DOCDB.DAT gets 
> updated immediately. 
    
    Not true! The recipient's record in the PENDING.DAT file will be
    updated to contain the filename of the new message, and the unread
    count updated. 
    
    The key to the record in the PENDING file is "MAIL username" where
    username is the ALL-IN-1 account name of the recipient. The format of
    PENDING record is very similar to that of DAF records, i.e. unusual! If
    the record gets full, then continuation records are created.
    
    There are further details in the book "ALL-IN-1 A Technical Odyssey" by
    Tony Redmond. 
    
    Do you have ALL-IN-1 users sharing VMS accounts? If so they would get
    broadcasts for each other's mail.
    
    Cheers
    
    Stuart
3543.2ContinuationZPOVC::JONAHLIMMarch on a healthy life...!!!Thu Nov 18 1993 09:2123
Hi Stuart,

This is what I have been understood of the file PENDING.DAT. But when I take a 
look at the file itself, in fact my own record, I could only find the mail 
count but do not have filename of the new message yet I have new messages in my 
inbox. I did a search of my DOCDB.DAT, I could find those files correspond to 
the inbox mails in side. Why?

When you said a record gets full, a continuation record is created. Then, does 
it created with the mail count too?

Below is an extract of the file PENDING.DAT.

Regards,

Jonah :-)


FETCHER QUEUE                                                      0       
MAIL JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE                                         0       
MAIL JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE                ( JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDE  Y:  28      �
L��T��\��"d��*l��2
MAIL JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE                ( JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDE !��  26      Z�@OA$SHARB95:ZUYFPTDWD.WPL                                        @OA$SHARA69:ZUYHL92O2.WPL                                        @OA$SHARA57:ZUYHNR
MAIL JONAH LIM                                                   '#  29
3543.3The pending fileFORTY2::ASHMail Interchange Group, ReadingThu Nov 18 1993 10:1819
What happens is:

The mail is 'delivered' by either the Fetcher (remote mail) or sender (local 
mail) to the Pending file. The count is incremented, and the filename of the 
message is added to the list in the Pending record.

The user then does II - this creates an INBOX record in the DOCDB, and the 
filename is deleted from the Pending file, as the user now has the pointer in 
the FileCab.

The user then reads/prints the new message. The Unread count in Pending is 
decremented. So, you see the count refers to the sum of the entries in the 
Pending record and the unread messages in the Filecab. As all of your Unread 
mail is in your Inbox, the record is empty and the count is greater than 0.

However, I'm not sure how this helps you with your problem! Did you read the 
rest of Stuart's note?

grahame
3543.6Further queriesIOSG::MAURICEDifferently hirsuteFri Nov 19 1993 08:5327
    Hi,
    
    One thing that is strange is the key to your records. The key to the
    PENDING file record is the first 65 characters.
    
    Here's what it looks like: your user is running in an account called
    "JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE", but the pending file record being updated is
    for "JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE                ( JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDE".
    
    Can you check whether there is a record in the PROFILE with a key
    beginning "JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE                ( JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDE". 
    
    Also what is the mail destination (MAIDES) field value in the profile
    record of "JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE".
    
    Are there are spurious entries for this user in the NETWORK file (form
    NETWORK)?
    
    I tested by creating an account with the name "JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE"
    on our latest system and it all worked OK. But your system is very old,
    and so there may have been some problem with a space or or "-" in the
    user name that got fixed in the interim - but I couldn't find such a
    fix.
    
    Cheers
    
    Stuart
3543.7Check for invalid Addressee FormatIOSG::COTTINGHAMFri Nov 19 1993 16:1710
    As Stuart suggested the key to this problem probably is the extra
    characters following the User Name in the Profile key. In V2.4 and
    V3.0 Mail Sent to valid Usernames followed by spaces and extra characters
    following position 30 cause Mail delivery notification. However the
    Pending record is not accessable from the Users account as the key is
    incorrect. Fixed in a PFR. We have had several problem reports on this.
    
    Regards
    Alan
    
3543.4Further questionsZPOVC::JONAHLIMMarch on a healthy life...!!!Mon Nov 22 1993 04:1932
Hi Grahme,

You are right. I have actually do a trace how mails are being created into 
DOCB.DAT. Therefore, I should expect the PENDING.DAT should be containing a 
user record and the mail count of the unread mails as what it shows below.

MAIL JONAH LIM                                                   '#  29

Now, my question is what about those users who have mulitple records in 
PENDING.DAT. How am I able to get those continuation records which mentioned by 
Stuart. Below is an example.

MAIL JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE                                         0       
MAIL JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE                ( JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDE  Y:  28      �
L��T��\��"d��*l��2
MAIL JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDERE                ( JEAN-PIERRE DERUDDE !��  26      Z�@OA$SHARB95:ZUYFPTDWD.WPL                                        @OA$SHARA69:ZUYHL92O2.WPL                                        @OA$SHARA57:ZUYHNR


Looking at the first record, the mail count is zero although the rest of them 
does not show that. When this user enters into ALL-IN-1 and II, the form show 
nothing in II menu. Moreover, the user in fact was notified by the system 
that a new mail has been sent to him. The system has put the notified mail into
the continuous records. Why?

NB: Our setup here is one to one basis. Meaning, one VMS account with one 
ALL-IN-1 account. No sharing of ALL-IN-1 account.

Your help is much appreciated.


Regards,

Jonah :-)