GNU Info
(bbdb.info)bbdb-srv
`bbdb-srv'
----------
`bbdb-srv' provides the ability to initiate the display of BBDB
records from outside of Emacs. This allows external programs to cause
the BBDB record for a given person to appear in the running Emacs when,
for example, mail is recieved from that person. One specific
application, described below, is the integration of Netscape and the
BBDB, allowing the display of BBDB records corresponding to Mail and/or
News messages displayed in Netscape.
`bbdb-srv' is composed of two parts - an external Perl script
(`utils/bbdb-srv.pl'), and an Emacs Lisp file (`lisp/bbdb-srv.el').
The external portion is used to send commands to the internal portion.
NOTE: `bbdb-srv' requires `gnuserv' and `itimer', both included with
XEmacs. `gnuserv' must be started with the `gnuserv-start' command
before `bbdb-srv' can be used.
In it's most basic form, mail or news headers are passed to the Perl
script. The Perl script then causes the BBDB record (if any)
corresponding to the passed headers to be displayed in the running
Emacs. While `bbdb-srv' will operate with just a `From:' field, it
works better when passed both `From:' and `To:' headers. When
`bbdb-srv' notices that the logged-in user is named in the `From:'
header, it will attempt to display the record (if any) for the person
named in the `To:' header. If no `To:' header is passed, it falls back
on the record (if any) for the logged-in user (the person named in the
`From:' header).
An example manual invocation of `bbdb-srv' is as follows:
% cat |bbdb-srv.pl
From: Jamie Zawinski <jwz@netscape.com>
To: Matt Simmons <simmonmt@acm.org>
<CTRL-D>
If the invoking user is Jamie Zawinski, the record for Matt Simmons
(if any) will be displayed. If the invoking user is not Jamie
Zawinski, the record for Jamie Zawinski (if any) will be displayed.
As mentioned above `bbdb-srv' can be used with Netscape Mail and
Netscape News. Please note that it can only be used with the UNIX
versions 3.0b2 and greater of these applications. To allow Netscape to
use `bbdb-srv', set the `NS_MSG_DISPLAY_HOOK' variable to
`bbdb-srv.pl'(1) as follows:
Bourne Shell (`/bin/sh') and variants:
# NS_MSG_DISPLAY_HOOK bbdb-srv.pl
# export NS_MSG_DISPLAY_HOOK
C-Shell (`/bin/csh') and variants:
% setenv NS_MSG_DISPLAY_HOOK bbdb-srv.pl
The following variables can be used to customize the behavior of
`bbdb-srv':
`bbdb/srv-auto-create-p'
This variable is similar to `bbdb/news-auto-create-p' and
`bbdb/mail-auto-create-p'. That is, when headers are passed in to
`bbdb-srv', a new BBDB record can be created if none exists,
depending on the value of this variable. Possible values are:
`t'
Automatically create new BBDB records if the headers passed
in do not correspond to an already-existing record.
`nil'
Do not automatically create new BBDB records.
FUNCTION
FUNCTION is called. If it returns `t', a record will be
created for the person named in the `From:' header. If it
returns `nil', no record will be created.
A suggested function for use is
`bbdb/srv-auto-create-mail-news-dispatcher'. This function
will attempt to determine the source of the passed headers -
whether they were part of a mail message or of a news
article. The action (if any) dictated by the value of either
`bbdb/mail-auto-create-p' or `bbdb/news-auto-create-p', based
on the determined source of the passed headers.
`bbdb/srv/display-delay'
`bbdb-srv' pauses between displaying the records corresponding to
each passed set of headers. This variable controls the length of
time (in seconds) of the delay between the display of different
records. Note when setting this variable that only one set of
headers can be queued at a time. If three sets of headers are
passed to `bbdb-srv' in less than the delay time, only the first
and last will be displayed.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Use the full path to `bbdb-srv.pl' if it is not in the default
path.
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