NTSend version 1.4.0, Sunday, 22nd May, 2005
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THIS PROGRAM IS FREEWARE
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NTSend uses the Windows Messenger service to send popup messages
to other Windows machines
It can send messages to -
o The current MS domain.
o Users logged in to the domain.
o PCs in the domain.
o MS Global groups.
o Ad-hoc groups of the above.
o Custom lists of the above.
It can maintain a 'Favourites list' and can also maintain
custom lists of recipients. It can also save messages and their
associated recipients for re-sending.
Installation
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NTSend was written for Windows NT 4.0 and later.
It won't load in Windows 95/98 due to DLL differences :-)
Setup exe file
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I have created an installation program using the freeware
program Inno Setup. ( http://www.jrsoftware.org )This provides a
setup file which can now be downloaded at
www.ntsend.freeserve.co.uk/downloads/ntsend.exe
ntsendbin.zip file
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The zip file is available from
www.ntsend.freeserve.co.uk/downloads/ntsendbin.zip
This version requires no special installation as it contains only
two executable files, one help file and two text files. Put these five files
into a directory ... e.g. c:\program files\ntsend - or even on a shared
network area and create a menu item or desktop shortcut to point to the
NTSend.exe file.
Note: The help file should be in the same directory as the executable. The
second executable (ntlsend.exe) is for command line usage. See
ntlsend_readme.txt for more information.
The help file is invoked the first time the program is run just to get
you started.
Uninstall
~~~~~~~~~
If you installed NTSend using the setup exe file then just select the
Uninstall option on the menu. This will clear all installed files and
registry entries.
Manual removal
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NTSend stores some settings in the registry, so prior to removal of the
program, you should run it one last time thus ...
NTSend /clear
This will remove all NTSend registry entries from the current user's
registry area.
(The registry entries will cause no problems anyway, if left in place.)
Finally, simply delete the executable NTSend.exe and the help file
NTSend.hlp.
Support
~~~~~~~
All comments, criticisms, suggestions and praise are welcome.
You can email me at jkelly@ntsend.freeserve.co.uk but I can't guarantee
a response or a fix since this program is strictly a spare time project.
If you want the Delphi source code then you should be able to download
it from the website -
http://www.ntsend.freeserve.co.uk/downloads/ntsendsrc.zip
and the binary files -
http://www.ntsend.freeserve.co.uk/downloads/ntsendbin.zip
Amendments
~~~~~~~~~~
26th August, 2001
Set the size of some components during form creation as they were not being
scaled correctly when large fonts were selected.
The bug was reported by Eddie Lopez, Cuba.
Went up to version 1.3, since this is what it is advertised as on the download
sites. Over 1800 downloads so far.
29th Dec, 2001
Junior Gamez Aguilera supplied an amendment to implement a tray icon. I adapted
his code to suit my preferences by adding a setting to allow minimizing to a tray
icon. Went to version 1.3.1.
1st Jan, 2002 (Get a life eh?)
Fixed a couple of bugs. The helpfile location was hard coded (?). Tidied up
the parameter handling a little.
5th Jan, 2002
Simplified the 'Minimize to tray' option so that it no longer hides the taskbar
button while the application is active and visible. Now the taskbar button is
only hidden and the tray icon made visible when the application is minimised.
The taskbar button being hidden made switching between windows less convenient.
13th April, 2002
Got a bug report from Ralph Vloemans that an incomplete list of network items is
produced when run on a PDC. Found the problem in the LanManager call
NetGetAnyDCName. It returns an error when you are on the PDC. This meant that
users and groups didn't show on the list since these are usually read from the
Domain Controller which is blank on a PDC (?).
Now it uses 'nil' as the machine parameter when getting users and groups if the
DomainCtrl is set to ''.
Changed a 'classic' error message, a dialog box which said 'Help File not found'.
It had an Ok button and a HELP button. (?)
13th April, 2002
Version 1.3.2
NTSend is now compiled in Delphi 6.
If you are still using version 5 and it won't compile, try setting the Local
Symbols checkbox in the compiler options. Don't know why, but in 5 this
setting caused me problems.
18th April, 2002
Moved the Settings menu contents into the Options dialog. This is more accessible
because of the new Options toolbar button. Added a Server query timeout value.
This hopefully, will cut short any long waits for servers to respond. (Any
servers that don't respond correctly, can of course, be excluded from the list
by un-checking them in the servers tab.) Updated the Help file with pictures of
the new menu layout and the new Options dialog.
11th October, 2002
Version 1.3.3
Changed NetServerEnum API calls to NetServerEnumEx to avoid a known bug with the
previous call. (resume handle doesn't work so a continuous loop can be caused where
there are a lot of servers.) This loop condition was brought to my attention by
Michael Boley. Thanks Michael.
* Added another option to clear the message text after sending.
* Set the signature on program start to be the last previously used.
* Improved the List Editor form.
* Added Export / Import Lists options to the main NTSend menu.
Updated the help file.
Added some conditional DEBUG code. Just define DEBUG in the
Project/Options/Directories/Conditionals/Conditional defines.
This will append to a log in c:\temp\ntsend.log
* Features suggested by Junior Gamez Aguilera.
Moved up to version 1.3.3.
11th December, 2002
Version 1.3.4
* Added another option to skip scanning the Domain. This is time-consuming
for people running WorkGroups only, or other types of network.
* Added the capability to type in Recipients and Favourites manually.
* Features requested by Tom Mariott.
Updated the help file.
7th, February, 2003
* Added the capability of saving the 'View Active Only' state. Also added
a toolbar button for this option.
Changed the systray icon behaviour. It remains in the systray and left
clicks will toggle between minimised and restored window states. Right clicks
still bring up a menu but the option toggles between Restore and Minimise.
Removed the 'Scanning network' form on startup. This just slowed everything
up and added no value.
* Feature requested by Remco de Vijlder.
8th, February, 2003
Tidied up the toolbar button access for 'Show Active Only' state when in
conjunction with the 'Scan for Domain info' option. There is no point in
changing this setting when there is no domain so it is greyed out.
8th, March, 2003
Sorted out the tab order in the Options box. Tabbing between these options
previously followed an erratic order. Fixed the Cancel/Close button
on the Status screen. It will now cancel a message run (eventually).
* Added a time stamp to the status output lines.
Added a status message. Now if a message isn't sent because the session
is not detected on the network, the status line says 'not sent'. If
the message was sent and failed then it says 'failed'. Previously, both
situations showed a 'failed' status.
Added a Help button to the Status window.
Update the help file with a picture of the new status window and a
description of the new status messages.
* This feature was requested by Charles Williamson.
15th, March, 2003
* Updated the Status window to show the message sent.
Minor bugfixes.
* This feature was requested by Charles Williamson.
9th, October 2003
Added a Save message feature so that commonly sent messages can be
stored and re-used. Stored messages also include the recipients.
I will also need to add an Export/Import messages option to the menu for
completeness.
15th, October 2003
The Export and Import of messages is complete. This will be released as
version 1.4.0. An installer file is now downloadable at
www.ntsend.freeserve.co.uk/downloads/ntsend.exe
26th, October, 2003
Included the Signature setting in the saved message.
Added a build number onto the version information in the About box.
Added use of Del key on the Saved messages.
Updated the help file.
30th, January, 2004
Minor bugfixes and an update of the help file with some additional
information.
9th May, 2004
Additional option. 'Display Extra information in status bar'.
Shows IP address of selected PC or full login name of selected user;
New option in View menu to show the message status window.
Minor bugfix.
Updated help file.
29th May, 2004
Additional option. 'Sender alias'.
Allows the sent messages to display a name other than the sender's
PC name by registering a new message alias. Retains last eight
aliases used. Removes invalid/failed/superceded aliases.
Re-instates last-used alias on start-up. Alias also is included in
Saved Messages.
Updated help file.
3rd August, 2004
Additional option. 'Minimise instead of Exit when 'X' button clicked'
This stops the application from exiting when the X button is pressed.
It minimises instead. Somebody wanted it. (?)
Updated the help file.
10th October, 2004
Added a call to list the message aliases when the program starts.
This has the effect of testing if the messenger service is running.
If there is a problem then the error message is displayed. Also added
a Messenger service topic to the help file. Ths should help with the
WinXP SPII issues.
16th October, 2004
Bugfix. When the Minimise instead of Exit option was selected, the
app wouldn't close when trying to log off or shutdown. This prevented
the system from logging off or shutting down. Moved the relevant code
from the 'OnCloseQuery' call to the 'OnClose' call.
20th May, 2005
Working on separating all strings into one unit for ease of translation.
Also started converting to Unicode using TnT Unicode components.
22nd May, 2005
Bugfix. Fixed a bug in the List message aliases routine which was causing a
program hang. I was using an incorrect value to specify the buffer size and
the resulting buffer size was insufficient in some cases. I hardcoded it to
512 which is sufficient as a working size. (Not a limit to the number of
names enumerated, just a limit to the number read at one time.)
Anybody got any other bugs they're not telling me about?
Credits
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John Kelly Author
Junior Gamez Aguilera Tray Icon code and some interface design suggestions
Colin Henderson Testing and some interface design suggestions
Michael Boley Testing
Tom Mariott Testing
bunch of good guys Testing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Kelly
Stirling
UK
jkelly@ntsend.freeserve.co.uk
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This program was written in Delphi 6 running on WinXP
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