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How to setup the message editing choices in Marcel

With the release of Marcel 1.53 a number of useful additional display features have been implemented. One of the most noticeable ones is the 'Display' settings in the choices window. This allows you to use ordinary RISC OS fonts for the message text and to define various colours for different quoting levels when reading messages.
Marcel will also attempt to overwrite your editor settings to give maximum flexibility and control when composing new messages. Personally I use !Zap's email mode which has lots of customisable settings, but Marcel will also try to exert some control over !Edit.

Message Display Settings

When you are reading your messges, Marcel will automatically try to resize the display window according to your preference. However, sometimes you may find that the odd message will suddenly appear at the full width of the screen mode you are in, requiring you to resize it. Some people find this annoying, so it can be turned off via the following method.

This is the option I am most frequently asked about, but you may like to experiment to see the various effects obtained by turning the other Display options on or off.

Don't forget to open Marcel's choices window and Save if you want any changes permanently saved (until you edit them and resave, of course!).

Editor Control Configuration

This is a bit more difficult to change because it involves hand-editing a configuration file within Marcel's user configuration files itself. However, some people find the way Marcel controls your external editor irritating so the following instructions are for them....

Basically, Marcel can control four aspects of your editor;

To edit these functions, you need to locate the relevant user directory for the local user wishing to edit their settings (again, each user has their own preferences). Locate the relevant User Directory and open it by double-clicking on it in the usual RISC OS filer window. You should find it contains two directories; a !MarcelDir directory and a Mail directory.

The Mail directory is where Marcel stores the various mailboxes of the user, whereas !MarcelDir is where it's own configuration files are stored. Double-click on !MarcelDir to open it's configuration files directory. Inside here you should find a file called /marcelrc

Double-click on this to load it into your text editor application. Although the contents of this file look fairly complicated, various comments are included (lines beginning with a # (hash) symbol). Scroll right down to the bottom of the file, then look back up about 7 or 8 lines. You should find a comment saying ## Core facilities:
About 7 lines below this one there should be a comment starting # Editor flag word followed by some numbers and commands. The line below this should be;

core.editor=15;
The number may or may not be 15, depending upon whether it's been previously edited. To change the way Marcel controls your editor, you just need to change the value of this number and resave the file. :-)

It's actually quite simple as the number is actually a 4 bit binary number, with each bit setting (or unsetting) a particular function - as listed above. The following table will hopefully help you understand.

Auto open
editor window
(1)
Lock windows
(2)
Set editor display
(4)
Force save
(8)
Value
NoNoNoNo0
YesNoNoNo1
NoYesNoNo2
YesYesNoNo3
NoNoYesNo4
YesNoYesNo5
NoYesYesNo6
YesYesYesNo7
NoNoNoYes8
YesNoNoYes9
NoYesNoYes10
YesYesNoYes11
NoNoYesYes12
YesNoYesYes13
NoYesYesYes14
YesYesYesYes15

As you can see from the table, all you need to do is to work out which 'features' you want enabled, then add together the binary values to form a total value - which is inserted into the /marcelrc file. The default action is for all options to be on - hence the value of 15, which is 1 + 2 + 4 + 8.

I've pre-calculated all possible values for you, so you can choose the value to suit your own preferences.
Once you've chosen the required value, insert it into the core.editor= line and save the file. Marcel should then use the facilities you've set.

As always, you may like to experiment to see the effect of different settings.

I hope these instructions are suitable for even the most novice user, but if you would like more help please feel free to contact me.

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Last edit: 10th Apr 2016 at 1:55pm
(2900 days ago)

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