ICBroker --- negotiate mailto: URLs between Netscape and MR/2 ICE
==================================================================

Don't look now, it's turned into a monster!

ICBROKER [/Idir] [/Xdir] [/Ndir] [/Mmailbox] [[//] Netscape parameters]

I'm releasing this version with considerable trepidation, because I've been
pushed to do things that IMHO are as likely to cause problems as they are to
"solve" them.  In particular, systems running Warp 4 with FixPak 1 and which
have not had PMDDEML.DLL replaced with an older, working version will not work
properly; and on a slow and/or low memory system, this may show up as an
apparent "lockup".  Just wait, it will eventually time out.


Parameters
----------

/Idirectory
	The directory where MR/2 ICE accounts are stored.  This defaults
	to the value of the ICEDIR environment variable, or the current
	directory if not specified.

/Xdirectory
	The directory where MR/2 ICE itself is stored.  If you do not
	specify this, it defaults to the /I directory;  as a special case,
	"/X" by itself tells ICBroker to use the PATH.

/Ndirectory
	The directory in which to start Netscape; defaults to the current
	directory.  You might want to set this to the directory where you
	prefer to put downloaded files.

/Mmailbox
	The name of an MR/2 ICE account.  (This is represented by files with
	a .CFG extension; the extension may be included or not.)  This
	defaults to the value of the ICEMAILBOX environment variable, or
	the "MAIL" account if not specified.

// ...
	Options following a double slash are passed to Netscape if it is
	started by ICBroker.  The double slash is optional in that ICBroker
	will try to detect things that look like they belong to Netscape
	(parameters beginning with "-" or which look like URLs) and pass the
	rest of the command line to Netscape, but it isn't guaranteed to
	always get it right; using the "//" is a good idea, if you can.


Usage
-----

Just run it, either from the MR/2 ICE directory or by specifying one or more
of the parameters above.  If Netscape is already running it will operate in
passive mode, registering with the running Netscape; if you subsequently exit
and restart Netscape, it will probably become confused because Netscape doesn't
notify DDE servers when it exits.  If Netscape is not running, ICBroker will
start it and exit when you close it.


Replacing Netscape
------------------

It should be possible to use ICBroker as a replacement for Netscape in many
circumstances; this will insure that it is always registered with Netscape.
It may not work if your MR/2 ICE programs and accounts are stored separately
and you can't control the parameters passed to it.  It also isn't likely to
handle multiple copies of Netscape properly.

Simply replace references to NETSCAPE.EXE with ICBROKER.EXE, including any
necessary parameters if possible (and appending "//" to insure that Netscape
parametes are handled correctly); if you have no control over the parameters
passed to it, use the environment variables ICEDIR and ICEMAILBOX in place
of the /I and /M parameters.


Autostarting MR/2 ICE
---------------------

It is safest to insure that MR/2 ICE is always running; since I run that way
anyway, I don't find it a problem.  ICBroker will try to start MR/2 ICE if
it is not running, but because ICE isn't normally on the system PATH and
LIBPATH it may not be able to do so.  You're on your own if it doesn't work,
especially if you keep the program and data separate --- but try the /X
parameter in the latter case.
