On Wed, 4 Sep 1991 16:41:43 EDT Tram Nguyen said:
>I am trying to change the mailform for a particular list on our LISTSERV,
>instead of using the default mailform available.  Is there a way to do
>this ?  If there is, what is involved and what are the steps ?
>
 
   The way we do it is to extract the parts you want to change from
$DEFAULT MAILFORM, create a file called  listname MAILFORM with those
parts and store it on LISTSERV's 191.  You should be in business.
 
   Look closely at how the $DEFAUL MAILFORM is structured.  For many
lists you need only include the SIGNUP blurb.  This would start with
 
*---------------------------------------------------------------------*
:$SIGNUP Standard blurb...
 ...
 ... and end with
:END
 
   Note that apostrophes (single quotes) include VARIABLE names and if
you want an apostrophe in your file you must double it (eg.  it''s great).
Also there are block oriented markup commands such as
 
.fo on  (default on entry I THINK)
.of off      to control reflowing of the text.
 
conditional blocks, etc.  This is probably all better described someplace
in the archives.  There is a lot of power there so be careful!  ;-)
 
>Also, is it possible to send a file along with the mail message that
>LISTSERV sends out when a user requests subscription or when a user
>is subscribed to the list ?
>
>Is there any documents on this matter available on another LISTSERV out
>there ?
 
    Here is an item of Erics that I saved (dated 1988).  There may be others.
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Date:         Wed, 24 Aug 88 12:43:23 GMT
From:         "Eric Thomas (CERN/L3)" <ERIC@LEPICS>
Subject:      Re: Subscription Responses
 
Gary,
 
On LISTSERV 191 you will find a file called $DEFAULT MAILFORM. Get a copy
of it, rename it to 'listname MAILFORM' and extract the mail form located
at the bottom and called $SIGNUP (ie delete everything else in the file).
You can then customize this mailform as desired - the control language is
fairly easy to understand (.bb/.eb  mark conditional sections, .fo on/off
is  like in  SCRIPT, etc).  What you  have to  remember is  that anything
INSIDE  quotes  gets evaluated  with  a  REXX "Interpret"  statement  and
substituted. If  you need to  put a quote in  the text, for  a possessive
case for  example, you  must double  it. If  you really  want to  send an
actual file  to the new subscriber,  it will be more  complicated because
you do  not know who is  being added to  the list ($SIGNUP is  a mailform
which is  imbedded in the mailforms  for the ADD and  SUBSCRIBE commands,
which are  slightly different of course).  You could probably do  it with
something like this:
 
.do Call LSVSENDF Word(destination,1),FILEID
 
That relies on the  fact that the person being added  is always the first
name in the list of recipients.
 
  Eric
 
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Tram Nguyen,
>University of Ottawa,
>Ottawa, CANADA.