APPLYING NETSCAPE TECHNOLOGY

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS


On Windows platforms you can control which Communicator components open initially, and what they do when they open, with command line configuration options. There are also some command line options that apply to Communicator on the UNIX platform.

Windows 3.1x and Windows 95

Options Syntax

Result Command Parameters
Open the Composer and load a particular HTML document -EDIT [file_name]
Open Navigator and optionally display a local HTML document   [file_name]
Open Navigator regardless of any conflicting preferences -BROWSER  
Open the Inbox -INBOX  
Open a specific folder as you would the Inbox -FOLDER [foldername]
Open the Collections window to see all folders -FOLDERS  
Open the Address Book -ADDRESS  
Import an LDIF file into the Address Book -IMPORT [LDIF_file_name]
Open Netscape Messenger -MAIL  
Open the Collections window and go to the first subscribed discussion -NEWS  
Open the Composer -COMPOSE  
Open the Composer with attachments -COMPOSE [@attachments] || [-attachment]
Open the Composer, automatically inserting message and attachments -COMPOSE [message @attachments]
[message -attachment]
Open the Composer, without a document -EDIT  
Set the online or offline startup mode   [OFF|ON]
Run Communicator using a particular user's profile (profile.cfg file) -P [user's profile name]
Before Communicator opens, ask the user to fill out a new profile -NEW_PROFILE  
Before Communicator opens, display the Profile Manager so the user can choose the correct identity -PROFILE_MANAGER  

Parameter Definitions

message The name of a message file, including its full path. The default search location is the temp directory.
attachments The name of an attachments list file, including its full path. The default search location is the temp directory.
foldername The exact name of the folder to open.
file_name The full path to the HTML document.
URL The URL of the page to display.
LDIF_file_name The full path to the LDIF file.
ON The online mode flag.
OFF The offline mode flag.
user's profile name The individual user's name as it appears in the Profile Manager

Syntax Rules

Windows 3.1 Differences


UNIX

Options Syntax

Result Command Parameters
List all command line options -help  
Position and size the Messenger and Collabra windows -geometry =WxH+X+Y (the default is 620x950+630+40)
Use a specific server visual -visual  
Install a private colormap -install  
Use the default colormap -no-install  
Set the maximum number of colors to allocate for images (when not using -install) -ncols  
Force 1-bit-deep image display -mono  
Set a specific X resource -xrm  
Execute a command in an already running Netscape process -remote  
The ID of an X window to send the -remote commands (if unspecified, the first window found is used) -id  


A Note About Kiosk Mode

Previous versions of Netscape Navigator offered a kiosk mode using a -k switch to open the browser without navigation features so users could be confined to the content displayed. Netscape Communicator replaces this feature with canvas mode, which uses JavaScript to expand your control over the appearance and features of the browser window. See the discussion of Canvas Mode Syntax for more information.


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