HELPLIB.HLB  —  PMDF  ENCODE
    Encodes a binary file into a printable format for transmission
    as an e-mail message. Encoded files can be decoded with the
    DECODE utility. Both the standard MIME encodings as well as a
    few additional encodings (e.g., UUENCODE) are supported.

1  –  Restrictions 

    None.

    Syntax

      PMDF ENCODE  input-file-spec encoded-file-spec

    Qualifiers            Defaults

    /ENCODING=type        /ENCODING=BASE64
    /FILENAME             /NOFILENAME
    /HEADER               /NOHEADER

2  –  Prompts 

    Input file:   input-file-spec
    Output file:  encoded-file-spec

3  –  Parameters 

 input-file-spec

    Specifies the name of an input file. The input file can be any
    OpenVMS file including binary files, keyed indexed files, or
    files with extended semantics such as DDIF files. Only a single
    input file can be specified; wildcards are not allowed.

 encoded-file-spec

    The name of the file to produce as output. The file output
    by ENCODE will contain all of the information necessary to
    reconstruct the original input file. The format of the output
    file is described in the Description section below.

4  –  Description 

    PMDF DECODE and ENCODE have been, for the most part, made
    obsolete by PMDF MAIL. If you use PMDF MAIL, then files which
    you send with the SEND command will be encoded automatically,
    if necessary. Encoded messages which you receive will be decoded
    automatically, if necessary, and can simply be extracted to a
    file with the EXTRACT command. If, however, you do not use PMDF
    MAIL, then read on.

    The ENCODE and DECODE utilities are provided with PMDF as a means
    of transmitting OpenVMS binary files via MAIL. With ENCODE,
    a file can be encoded in a format which uses short records
    containing only printable characters. Such files can then be
    transmitted through most any mail system without being altered
    (e.g., lines wrapped, characters removed or replaced, etc.).
    ENCODE preserves all file contents and all file attributes
    when encoding a file. The contents and attributes are properly
    restored when decoded with DECODE. Absolutely any type of OpenVMS
    file can be transmitted with these two utilities - even indexed
    files with multiple keys and files with extended semantics such
    as DDIF files.

    Encoded files have two parts. The first part is a conventional
    RFC 822 message header. Header lines are used to describe the
    file format; this information includes a conventional OpenVMS
    FDL (file description language) description of the file and
    a description of the encoding used to convert the file into a
    printable form for transfer. ENCODE creates this header; DECODE
    reads it and uses the information it contains to reconstruct the
    file.

                                   NOTE

       Many encoded messages received with PMDF are automatically
       decoded for you, thus obviating the need to use PMDF DECODE
       at all. This is especially true when you use PMDF MAIL whose
       EXTRACT command will extract any MIME encoded message or
       message body part. If you use VMS MAIL, however, you can
       occasionally receive an encoded message which PMDF could not
       deliver in its decoded form to VMS MAIL owing to limitations
       of VMS MAIL itself.

5  –  Qualifiers

5.1    /ENCODING 

       /ENCODING=type

    This qualifier controls the type of encoding used to encode the
    input file. The possible values for this qualifier are BASE64,
    CBASE64 (gzip compressed BASE64), BASE85, BINHEX (encoding only,
    not the file format), BTOA, HEXADECIMAL, PATHWORKS, QUOTED_
    PRINTABLE, UUENCODE, CUUENCODE (gzip compressed UUENCODE). BASE64
    encoding is the default; this is also the default decoding type
    used by DECODE.

5.2    /FILENAME 

       /FILENAME
       /NOFILENAME (default)

    When used in conjunction with the /HEADER qualifier, this
    qualifier specifies that the filename should be included in the
    MIME headers generated. Only the name and extension portion of
    the file specification will be used; any node, device, directory,
    and version number information will be discarded. This qualifier
    does not specify the input file to use; only the name to use
    for the name parameter of the Content-type: header line and the
    filename parameter of the Content-disposition: header line. By
    default, no filename parameter is specified in the Content-type:
    or Content-disposition: header lines.

    Or if used with /ENCODING=UUENCODE, the /FILENAME qualifier
    causes the filename to be included on the "begin 600" line.

5.3    /HEADER 

       /HEADER
       /NOHEADER (default)

    This qualifier controls whether or not a MIME-compliant header
    is placed at the beginning of the output. /HEADER is the default.
    /NOHEADER is used to produce output suitable for use in non-MIME
    messaging applications. Note that all structural information
    about the file is lost when /NOHEADER is used.

6  –  Examples 

      See the example provided for the PMDF DECODE command. In that
      example, the use of PMDF ENCODE is also demonstrated.
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