TRANSFER Programming Manual

Folders
TRANSFER Objects
40970 Tandem Computers Incorporated 3–7
Through requests to the TRANSFER delivery system, an application can examine the
profile records for the correspondent that it is representing and can alter certain fields
within these records. A correspondent with system administrator capability can
examine and change certain fields in the profile records of other correspondents at the
node.
In addition to profiles for depots, system profiles exist that contain system-wide
parameters (information that applies to the entire local node) such as: default
language and character set, maximum package life span, and minimum delivery
windows for all packages sent from the node. Applications can examine system
profile records. A correspondent with system administrator write privileges can
modify certain system profile fields.
Folders A folder is an area where related items and packages are stored. For example, a
correspondent might keep separate folders for packages received from different
sources, separate folders for text and facsimile data, or a separate folder for packages
that are to be sent in response to earlier packages. The same item or package can
belong to more than one folder.
An application process can create and delete folders, add items and packages to them
in a predefined ordering sequence, and examine their contents. In addition to folders
created and maintained by application processes, the TRANSFER delivery system
maintains the following special folders:
INBOX folder—When a package arrives at a depot, the TRANSFER delivery
system saves it in a folder named INBOX. Packages remain in this folder until
they are explicitly removed, until the item-retention time elapses, or until they
expire without being examined, whichever event occurs first. After the
TRANSFER delivery system places a package in a recipient's INBOX folder and
invokes the appropriate agents, delivery of the package to that recipient is
considered complete. Clients can explicitly remove packages from the INBOX. If
a client never acknowledges receipt of a package, the TRANSFER delivery system
removes it from the INBOX and returns it to the sender when the package
expiration time occurs. An application can retrieve any item from this special
folder.
WASTEBASKET folder—A process that intends to delete an item at the end of a
session can save the item in a folder named WASTEBASKET. A session is defined
as the period of time during which a correspondent can submit requests to the
TRANSFER delivery system. When the process ends the session, the item is
automatically purged from this folder. An application can use WASTEBASKET so
that an operator who mistakenly deletes an item during a session can retrieve the
item before the end of that session. An application can retrieve any item from this
special folder.