Instructions on using Internet WorkHorse
WorkHorse has been written to provide a base for Internet Commerce currently not available through
Netscape or any other browser. WorkHorse is clearly not as good a browser as Netscape, but there
are a number of things possible with WorkHorse that are not possible with Netscape. These notes
are written as a comparison between Netscape and WorkHorse and presume some experience with
the use of the World Wide Web. WorkHorse also operates as a basic server for a number of functions.
Structure of These Notes
These notes describe each of the functions in WorkHorse and indicate how to use them.
The File Menu
- New - creates a new window potentially for a new document
- Close - closes the current window (no edit warning)
- Open Disk File - loads an HTML page from your local disk
- Save HTML String - Saves the HTML page only (no HTTP conversation)
- Jump to a new URL (use the command dialog instead)
- Print - prints the current page - it does not reload or reformat the page and you
should, therefore, have a large window when running this. Some versions of Netscape
have a bug that prevents the printing of pages which are the result of submitting forms.
This does not.
- Print Preview - see above.
- Print Setup - as usual
- Recent Files - as usual
- Exit- as usual
The Edit Menu
- Undo - does nothing at the moment
- Cut - does nothing at the moment
- Paste - same as shift insert - inserts clipboard
- Copy - places highlighted text into clipboard. Note that if you highlight text when
HTML edit is enabled then it is placed in the clipboard with HTML control characters otherwise
it is plain ascii.
- Clear All - does nothing at the moment
View Menu
- ToolBar - as usual see later for forwards backwards and cancel
- Status bar - as usual
- Calculator - this allows calculations with very large hexadecimal numbers - to convert to
decimal flag as old calculations and unclick one of the checkboxes for the decimal number.
- Forwards - see navigating the web
- Backwards - see navigating the web
Window Menu
Each of the Web Pages is stored as a separate MDI window. Those windows are listed here. Only
around 10 are stored at any one time. See navigating the web.
Code View
WorkHorse stores an internal hexadecimal scratchpad. This menu generally allows access to
that scratchpad.
- HTML String - display any allow edit of the HTML string
- MIME String - see the HTTP conversation before the data was sent
- Hex Scratchpad - look at the start of the hex scratchpad
- BER Decode - assume the data in the scratchpad is ASN/DER/BER encoded, Decode it
copy the decoding to the clipboard in text format and display the result.
- PGP Decode - assume the data in the scratchpad is in a raw PGP form, Decode it
copy the decoding to the clipboard in text format and display the result.
- Load Base64 - presuming Base64 encoded data is in the clipboard and transfer it decoding it
to the scratchpad.
- Load as Ascii - transfer Ascii text to the scratchpad from a disk file
- To Clipboard B64 - code as Base64 putting in the clipboard potentially also placing
PGP delimiters around it.
- Domain Search - this is a DNS client which displays the results on the status display. It allows
MX, A, NS, AXFR, SOA searches.
- Save a 'C' constant - saves the scrachpad to disk as a C constant.
- UU Decode load - load from the clipboard presuming in UUencoding.
- Output UU encoded - transfer to the clipboard and UUencode as you are going.
- Load C constant from clipboard (or other hex format with spaces between bytes)
- To clipboard raw ascii - dump the contents in the clipboard
- Save as raw ascii - dump the contents on the disk.
Alter Menu
- My Details - your name, email address and bank details (for web cheques)
- Options - Fonts - specify main two fonts (fixed and proportional)
- Options - Get Default - does nothing as yet.
- Security
- Certficate Request - creates PKCS cert request for current private key.
- Cheque Request - creates ECheque for current private key.
- Read Request - reads ECheque in scratchpad and analyses it.
- PGP Public Key Out - as stated without signature
- SMTP Server Details - default smtp server address, IP address of DNS server,
IP address of machine.
- TCP Socket Debug - debugging function will go in long term
- Home Page Details
Mail Menu
- Write Email - writes email - by default it looks for a PGP public key in either the pgp\pubring.pgp
file or the scratchpad stores the plaintext and encrypted version of the file and emails the encrypted
version. If the target address is the address of a mailing list then it will send the mail to the mailing list.
- Read email received - if running SMTP server incoming mail ends up here. (It does not go anywhere)
will use \pgp\secring.pgp for private key if decrypting.
- Review Email out - allows holding and retrying of mail.
- Mailing lists - allows creation of a number of mailing lists. The mailing list codes must be
between 3 and 8 characters and the target addresses are stored in *.mls files (ascii text).
Currently there is no majordomo style maintenance and mail is not encrypted before being
sent out.
- Aliases - allows grouping of a number of Email addresses under one POP userid
- Spam - define Email addresses from which mail is not wanted
- Tasks - tasks to which pieces of email are associated.
- Addresses - of people with whom regular correspondance occurs
System
- WWW Server - enable/disable WWW server (please note that the server is only for test purposes - it is not properly secured)
- POP server
- SMTP server - enable/disable SMTP server
- Domain name server - enable/disable Domain Name server (uses ascii DNS.TXT file for
server. Only responds to information in DNS.TXT does not perform recursive searches.
- Conference Server - uses TELNET port (23) to allow multiple conversations to be
conferenced through one server.
- Security Control - change key - load new private key.
- Security Control - new key generation
- Security Control - load certificate - does not run at the moment
- Security Control - Load pgp secret key (from pgp\secring.pgp)
- Security Control - Generate Certificate (from current private key - PKCS format)
- Security Control - Read Certificate
- Security Control - Specify File names for Certificate and Key
- VRML Control - ignore these
- Enable HTML Edit - attempt at WYSIWYG HTML Editor - not very good
Help
- About Workhorse
- Display Free Resources - in local heap
BookMarks
The bookmarks file is always stored in HBOOKMRK.htm. It can, however, be loaded from
\netscape\BOOKMARK.HTM. This allows the Netscape bookmarks file to be automatically
loaded into WorkHorse. In addition you can store your password/userid in the bookmarks file
for sites which have password access, but only for statistics. This avoids having to remember
and type in considerable numbers of different password. It is not a good idea to use this
facility if anything particularly confidential is accessed by the password.
Editing the list is currently through text editing of the file.
Navigating the Web
Forwards and Backwards
WorkHorse stores each web page as an MDI window. When you click on a hypertext reference
it sets going a task to get another page in a new window. If you click quickly on two different
links then it will load both pages. When you tell the program to go forwards or backwards
(menu option, toolbar, Ctrl B/F or Alt cursor) then it pages through the windows which can
be confusing if you have gone back to a prior page. Inactive pages that you have not clicked on
are dropped first. If you want to remove a page and go back, therefore, use Ctrl F4 and close the
window rather than backwards.
Cancelling a page request
Clicking on the red button or pressing esc will cancel loading the last page you requested.
Ctrl F4 on a page will cancel loading that page.
History
The history is updated and colour of links changed when you request them not when you get
them.
Security and SSL
WorkHorse indicates the security history on the status window. It indicates whether you are
using 40 bit or 128 bit SSL and the size of the key exchange RSA key.
For testing SSL there is an inbuilt key that should not be used in the live environment. To run
an SSL server in a live environment the client needs to be Netscape Version 2.0 or later. You also
need to obtain a certificate in an ascii form saved as a file on the disk and specify this and your key file
(which must not have a password).
HTML support
We have not concentrated on HTML support as our priority was digital instructions and
security. WorkHorse supports basic HTML and some background features, but does not
support images.
PGP integration with Web
If a Mailto link includes a PGP key the mail will be encrypted with that key. If a form has a
PGP key and is mailto(ed) then it will also be encrypted.
ECheques
If a form is digitally signed and has been enabled by clicking the button for a digital signature
then an ECheque will be prepared. If the private key is not loaded beforehand it will be loaded
when the form is sent and erased from memory after that. We recommend that private keys
are not stored on the hard disk.
URLs and FTP/POP/DNS
If you are using FTP or POP to get a file or mail you may need to put your username and
password in the url. In this case us the form ftp://domain.com(UserName:Password)/
or pop://domain.com(Username:password)/
If you want to do a domain search the url is similar to dns://192.91.199.5/mkn.co.uk/MX
dns (IP address of server/ Domain to search/ type of search)
User File
The user file is updated on Alter Mydetails. This allows a number of users to be entered each with
their own details. This is also used for security controls in other parts of the system.
POP Server
This uses the User File to determine what access someone has. The email address specified is
the email list that is generated when the list function operates. In otherwords if you specify
a particular email address in the user file accessing that user will give that mailbox. If you specify
"*" as the email address you will get all undeleted mail in the mailbox.
Deleted mail is only flagged for deletion.
POP Client
This uses the user file to poll the defined pop server. The current user name and password are
used and the data is placed in the received email files. An HTML window is used to display the status
of the transfer. After retrieving all mail in the specified mail box it is flagged for deletion.
The server is polled at initial load and also at a frequency determined by the POPPollSeconds
variable in the INI file (defaults to 5 minutes). The hidden URL for this is
pop://pop.server.com/poll (poll makes it use the current user name and password) alternatively
any other pop://pop.server.com(username:password)/ will acheive the desired result for another mailbox.
This does not, however, poll the server unless requested.
File Reorganisation
No file reorganisation exists as yet.