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Internet Exchange Frequently Asked Questions

Internet Exchange Messaging Server
Web Mail Client Customization FAQ

Introduction
The Web Mail Client CGIs use style sheets to customize the format of the web user interface. The style sheet is used for customizing the color, font size and font style that is used by the Web Mail Client CGIs. You can configure the style sheets using the different configurable items found within the different CGI components.

Login Page
The Web Mail Client Login module provides a login page for users to log into. If you wish to override the default login page, you can build another web page using HTML with a FORM component pointing to /iev4/scripts/login.exe.

An optional parameter domainname is added to the CGI interface for supplying the Internet domain name. This allows you to design a login page where the user only needs to supply the "local part" of their email address.

Domain-based style sheet
The Internet Exchange Messaging Servers Message store is a multi-domain capable repository. The Web mail client allows you to setup different style sheets based on different domain names configured into the Message Store. By default, the web mail client reads the style sheet information from /iev4/style/wmc/ieclientstylesheet.css. As mentioned earlier if your mail system supports more than one domain then it is possible to implement style sheets based on the different domains. If you have two domains, i.e. "domain1.com" and "domain2.com" you can implement separate style sheets for each domain. You will have to make a subdirectory for each domain i.e. for "domain1.com" you will create a directory such as follows:

/iev4/style/wmc/domain1.com/
and then copy the style sheet from /iev4/style/wmc/ieclientstylesheet.css to the new domain directory:
/iev4/style/wmc/domain1.com/ieclientstylesheet.css
Now changes can be made to the style sheet in the "domain1.com" directory and the changes will be reflected accordingly in the web mail client for "domain1.com".

In case you did not create a directory for "domain2.com" it will keep on using the default style sheet i.e:

/iev4/style/wmc/ieclientstylesheet.css
Only when you create a domain directory and copy the default ieclientstylesheet.css to that directory will it implement the new style sheet.

To configure the various attributes in the style sheet, any editor that supports ASCII text input/output such as Microsoft Notepad can be used. Open the ieclientstylesheet.css in the /iev4/style/wmc directory for the default style sheet, or under the /iev4/style/wmc/ domain.com directory if you are using a style sheet to apply to a single domain. Modify the attributes based on your preferences. Save the file when you are done and click on the Refresh or Reload button on your browser to view the new style.

Domain-based Headers and Footers
The headers and footers found in the body and menu frames for the Web Mail Client can also be configured. The Web Mail Client can display an HTML/plain text file or run an executable in the headers or the footers. These headers and footers can be further defined for multiple domains in case the Internet Exchange Messaging server is setup to handle multiple domains. These headers and footers are applicable to both the menu side and the body side of the Web Mail Client Interface. All this is achieved by inserting the required settings in the IEMTA.INI file under the [WebClient] section.

To define headers and footers for the body side of the Web Mail Client in a single domain configuration, following entries are to be defined:

HeaderHTML=
FooterHTML=
HeaderEXE=
FooterEXE=

In the above settings you can use HTML/Plain text files for the Header-HTML= and Footer-HTML= or use an executable for the HeaderEXE= and FooterEXE=. This is a good way for ISP's/service providers to display banners on the Web Mail Client interface. These headers and footers are only for the body part of the Web Mail Client Interface in a single domain environment. It should also be noted that in the header/footer, you can use either a HTML (static) or an EXE (this is a program that can generate any HTML tags dynamically). In case it is decided to use EXE, the Web Mail Client will pass the currently logged in user name, which is his/her email address as the 'command line' argument to that EXE (program) file. For example,

HeaderEXE=c:\wmc\banner.exe
Here the Web Mail Client will launch the program via:
system ("c:\wmc\bannder.exe user@domain.com")

In this example the current logged in user is user@domain.com. It should be noted that only this one parameter is passed to the external program.

To define headers and footers for the menu side of the Web Mail Client in a single domain configuration, following entries are to be defined:

MenuHeaderHTML=
MenuFooterHTML=
MenuHeaderEXE=
MenuFooterEXE=

Similarly to define headers and footers for the body side of the Web Mail Client in a multiple domain configuration, following entries are to be defined in the IEMTA.INI file:

HeaderHTML-domain.com=
FooterHTML-domain.com=
HeaderEXEdomain.com=
FooterEXE-domain.com=

In the above, "domain.com" is the name of the domain. In case you do not define the domain in the header and the footer settings and you have multiple domains the default settings are used.

To specify the headers and footers for the menu side of the Web Mail Client Interface in a multiple domain environment, the following entries are to be defined in the IEMTA.INI file:

MenuHeaderHTML-domain.com= MenuFooterHTML-domain.com= MenuHeaderEXEdomain.com= MenuFooterEXE-domain.com=

The usage for the above mentioned is similar to the body part of the headers and footers.

Additional Documentation
Further information related to customizing the Internet Exchange Web Mail Client can be found in the following documents: